Tuscan Elements

Rating:
Summary: dreaming
Review: I have not been able to put this book down since I received it. I have always dreamed of visiting Italy, but until that time comes, I have been redecorating my home to reflect that dream. I now have a "Tuscan kitchen" that makes me very happy to be in. I bought this book for new ideas,and also to confirm that the elements in my home already are the correct ones. I was thrilled to find these "Tuscan elements" such as pottery, stones, tiles discussed throughout. And the photographs inspire me to pay attention to details. It's all about the textures of the walls, the colors, how you display your ceramics....the pictures are beautiful. I may not get to Italy any time soon, but this book helped bring my dream a little closer to home.

Rating:
Summary: Tuscan Style
Review: I normally don't buy tabletop table books because I don't feel that they represent a value or add much to my understanding of a subject. Tabletop books full of incredible pictures just do not fully capture my imagination or attention. Consequently, most tabletop books get a cursory flipping through before I put them down.

However, `Tuscan Elements' is more than a book of pretty pictures and it is worth more than just a cursory flipping through. The author, Alexandra Black, has organized her effort to capture the elements of Tuscany. The four elements are stone, wood, earth, and water. These four elements are expressed in the homes, furniture, terracotta, and ponds, respectively, of Tuscany. To stand alongside the pictures of these four elements, Ms. Black takes the time to build a supporting story from a historical and literary point of view. Quoting D.H. Lawrence and Pliny the Younger, the story of how these elements have been woven into the ebb and flow of Tuscan life since before the Roman Empire emerges with an impressive clarity and vividness.

As a lover of Tuscany I am drawn to images of Tuscany and its way of life. The seductive beauty of the Tuscan landscape and the romance of the Tuscan lifestyle as expressed in the prose and images of this tabletop book is the stuff of dreams. This tabletop book provided me the fodder for those dreams and never once disappointed me.


Rating:
Summary: At least I can dream
Review: Well, I'll never own a villa or even an old farmhouse in Tuscany, but this book gives me plenty of fodder for dreaming. Since Frances Mayes put Tuscany on the map with her Under the Tuscan book's phenomenal success, everybody wants to visit the region - and most covet some ole building, yearning to do what Mayse did: buy, renovate, live, and enjoy.
This book brings to life the colors, textures, and aesthetics of Tuscan houses - the magnificent stone work, the hardwoods used interiorly, the earthy terracotta and brick work, and water. Everywhere, water: ponds, fountains, pools... We can, on these pages, explore the tiled roofs, the thick stone exterior walls and the vine-covered loggia, the exposed wooden beams, luminous frescoes, courtyard gardens, ancient kitchens. It's all here in this seductive book that captures the essence of what is so special about the Tuscan style: stone, wood, earth, and water. Sit down with a cup of espresso and relax with Tuscan Elements, ripe for reading, browsing...and dreaming.