Rating: 
Summary: Too boring to finish
Review: The book started out interesting, and I did enjoy the descriptions of the renovations and the countryside. However, by the time I got to the middle of the book, I was bored! Maybe I should have kept reading, but there are too many other fabulous books out there.
Rating:
Summary: Idealizing Italy...
Review: As an Italian living in Italy, I generally find books describing my country written by foreigners as funny, but this one was a total delusion. The author claims to describe "real" Italy to her fellow Americans, but half the quotations in Italian she made are simply ridiculous, out of context, and full of spelling and grammatical errors. Moreover, she reports with amusement some very rude and offensive swearwords in Italian that nobody would dare to write in a "poetic" book if they really understood them. Imagine that I write a memory of my months spent in New York filling it with four-letter-words, citing all those funny Americans, talking in their weird-sounding and colorful language. People descriptions in Mayes' book were just pathetic, disney-like characters whose solely purpose was to make the author feel compassionate about them. Ah, the old fascist with Mussolini's portrait on the wall, those wonderful, simple Poles, and the green-eyed boy, so similar to a faun! Please, give me a break! People in Italy, like anywhere else, are real men and women, with real people feelings and real life problems, not out of this world aliens whose only preoccupation is to enjoy their "siesta" (not an Italian word, by the way) and to stroll leisurely day and night. If you want to read about real life in real Italy, try "Italian neighbours" and "An Italian Education", by Tim Parks, who at least actually lives in Italy, not in an idealized Tuscany, and doesn't bore you with endless descriptions of house renovation and shopping experiences. The recipes, although, sounded authentic: I've nevere heard about most of them, but I'm not familiar with Tuscan cuisine.
Rating:
Summary: Very boring and dry.
Review: Most definitely NOT a page-turner! I found this book to be dull and passionless. She tells her story in a dry, emotionless style which is devoid of insight, creativity or humor. (She teaches creative writing?!) That this book is a best seller can only reflect Americans' love of anything Italian! Our book discussion group read this book based on its popularity and our love of Italy. Well, half of the group couldn't even finish reading it due to total indifference and boredom. We unanimously found it tedious and difficult, if impossible, to "get into." And those persistent souls who determindly finished the book found no shred of insight explaining the author's motivations for buying and restoring this house. I'd have to say this book is a loser.
Rating: 
Summary: Some beautiful descriptions, but could be better.
Review: The descriptions of Tuscany and the surrounding areas are beautiful in this book. After reaching the end, I was left feeling, in many ways, like I had somehow visited this region myself and had absorbed its beauty. Mayes, however, does come across a bit snobbish. Perhaps the greatest disappointment was the ending, where she begins to wax religious for a time. In an attempt to sound educated? metaphysical? enlightened? trendy? Mayes mainly comes across as confused and searching, but not willing to be humble enough to admit her lack of understanding. While I enjoyed the quaint picture of Tuscany she painted, I ended up pitying her in the closing pages.
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable, but with serious flaws . . .
Review: Overall I enjoyed this book, despite some serious flaws. Ms. Mayes writes well and I particularly liked her descriptions of the Tuscan countryside and its food. The recipes were an added bonus. What detracts from the book, however, is Ms. Mayes' rather aloof attitude regarding the Italian people. I get the feeling that she doesn't have much interest in interacting her Italian neighbors, other than the necessary business exchange. The few times she writes about the people, it is with a sort of benevolent exasperation. As if, while she finds them quaint and amusing, she really wishes they were, well . . . more AMERICAN. I was most put off by her writing on Catholic churches and saints. By describing them in such a trivializing and condescending manner, Ms. Mayes displays an appalling lack of understanding of, and appreciation for, the Catholic church -- key part of the historical, social and cultural fabric of her supposedly adopted country. I can only hope that Ms. Mayes will apply her considerable talent and energy -- instead of to her incessant home improvements -- to truly learning the Italian language. She can then immerse herself in the life and culture of Italy and "examine her life in another culture and move beyond what she knows," as she claims to be striving for in the beginning of her book. Otherwise, she should have built her beautiful home in Napa and saved herself an awful lot of commute time.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating view of Tuscany but a minority world view
Review: Mayes manages to make a potentially drab subject very interesting. I enjoyed a really atmospheric impression of what Tuscany is like. Occasionally humorous, great insight and well chosen detail for an introduction to Italy. The disappointment is in the unusual world view that sees such great value in relatively unimportant matters. Descriptions of food and landscapes sometimes descend into ridiculous meaningfulness. Rescued toward the end of the book by the beginnings of a religious exploration.
Rating:
Summary: self-indulgent, snobbish, awful book
Review: I read this book after reading a good deal ofmPeter mayle's books and expected to like it. First of all, I was very exited abiut the recipes, But that was the only part of the book I enjoyed. Ms. Mayes just gloated about her money and time. Don't expect me to pity your pine nuts was not a good harvest this year.
Rating:
Summary: There is a life next to the Stock Market !
Review: It is always refreshing to share people's passion and that is what this book is about: passion. It is true that sometimes the narration is a little tedious or too "Martha Stewart"-like. It is certainly a pleasure to discover that for some Americans there is a life next to McDonald' s and the Stock Market. As far as the "grammatic errors" (as pointed out by another distinguished reader from Bucks County - July 24, 1999) are concerned, suffice it to say that in English we say "grammatical errors".
Rating:
Summary: The Tuscan Sun Shines Elsewhere
Review: Someone gave us this book--and that's the only good thing we can say about it. Apparently this type of book--overwritten, cloying, simplistic--easily fills the void in the American spirit. By reading it we become "spiritual voyeurs", content to witness anothers foreign achievements, however meager and poorly written they might be. Yes, we should have books written by authors residing in foreign climes--but not druidic, pseudo-poetic extrapolations like this! But the obvious success of Ms. Mayes' nonsense (with recipes!) has made her rich and that is what America exists for.
Rating:
Summary: the worst book I ever wasted time reading
Review: I can't believe that this book was on our best-seller list in the USA. No wonder the European countries percieve us as unintelligent and mediocre. I am also baffled that this woman, Frances Mayes, is an instructor of creative writing. I felt ill (embarassed for her) when I read the descriptions of the countryside or maybe a description of one on the men working for her. I almost threw the book out the window of the train on the way to Venice, but decided that I paid too much for it in Florence. I also felt that I should at least give the recipes a chance when I got home. Did anyone bother to edit this book? I can not believe the grammatic errors! I can never again, unfortunately, read about the Etruscans and their tombs. It was overkill. However, even though I did not enjoy the book, it gave me the confidence and the reassurance to know that I can do anything and could get some kind of praise or recognition for it.
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