Rating: 
Summary: This is Italy?
Review: I slogged through this book hoping I could learn something about a part of Italy that I have only passed through. Instead I was subjected to the mid-life crisis of a pampered, spoiled woman for whom everything must be JUST SO. She doesn't experience Italy, she engineers "experiences" of "Italy". I rolled my eyes at her dismay in having to take her wedding guests to a downscale, unatmospheric, but tasty pizzeria when all the others were closed. Hey, if the pizza's good, who cares? One summer in Naples (my fave) and her fairy tale image of Italy would crumble like a rock slide on the Tange. (Might have to try her hazelnut gelato recipe, though...) Paolo Tullio's "North of Naples, South of Rome" isn't about Tuscany, but it's a more insightful and realistic introduction to rural Italy.
Rating: 
Summary: Encouraging... Not to Mention Delicious!
Review: I am reading both of Mayes' Tuscany books with my bestfriend across the country. We thought this would be a neat way to keep in touch and enhance our love of all things Italian. Having just finished Under the Tuscan Sun, I know I'll have no trouble zooming through Bella Tuscany with relish.Tuscan Sun is a semi-travel journal mixed with recipes, home renovations, gardening adventures and Italian culture. I loved reading each new chapter and could almost believe I was alongside them. As I spent the early Spring planting flowers, herbs and vegetables, I felt encouraged and comforted reading Frances's entries. If you're looking for a unique gift that will be treasured, this is it! Enjoy!!
Rating:
Summary: Not too excited about cookbook fiction
Review: I'll be honest: I think this book is over-rated. After all the hype I had high expectations that weren't met. As an avid European traveller I love "travel fiction" and was pleased with "A Year in Provence." But this book was really slow...it took me weeks to read it. It's heavy on descriptions and slow on action. However, if you're a cook you might really enjoy the recipes and food adventures. It does effectively show the style of Italian life and the colorful personalities in the author's small town. But unless you're really seeking Tuscan recipes or heavy descriptions of Italian life, you're not missing out by not reading it.
Rating:
Summary: a bit ga-ga, with the underside rumbling underneath
Review: When I move to a different country, I almost always read books by other foreigners about what it was like for them. For me, this follows a cycle: 1) I gobble them up, 2) begin to tire of them as I find life for me, as interesting as my own experience is, just isn't what it was for them, and then 3) burn out on them for the rest of my stay. When we moved to Italy, I vowed to read only a few this time. Well, I started with this one and can report that I have reached my third stage already! The country that Mayes portrays is one of ever-lasting beauty and courtesy in spite of all the hassles of disorganization and dishonesty, which she experienced in spades when trying to renovate a Tuscan house. She soaks in the sun, always seems to fine the best food, and unearths antiques buried on her property with just about every footstep, or so it seemed to me. Her time in Tuscany, for it is only during the summer and Christmas break that she goes there, always seems a kind of timeless ecstacy. It appears as a kind a never-never land that is the oppositie of the mundaneness of her California life. Well, I am sorry to report that I know of no one here - in Italy - who believes anything near her idealised version of our chosen home. It is an extraordinary hassle to get the simplest things done here, people can be as obtuse and rude as they are anywhere (if not more), and the weather isn't always nice! The Italians have a talent for beauty, but NOT for organization. THe proportion of difficult fools, I must add, seems rather high. And getting paid for what you have done in accordance with a contract! Now I won't even begin to go into that... While she does explain some of this negative side in her house adventure, I suspect that the limitations of her medium - the travel book - made her need to emphasize the sunny side WAY OUT OF PROPORTION. OK, she is not a reporter, but people are going to read of her ecstacies and make real decisions. As such, her rave review of Italy is misleading and a disservice. For anyone who is contemplating buying a house here, I suggest trying to live her year-round first, to see what it is really like. Don't get me wrong, there are wonderful things about living here. We wouldn't stay here otherwise. It just needs to be balanced better against reality.
Rating: 
Summary: Under the Tuscan Sun
Review: This, together with "Bella Tuscany", is one of the best books I have ever read about contemporary life style in Italy. And, as an Italian born and raised less than 3 hours from Tuscany, I really think Mayes did a great job.
Rating:
Summary: Mayes brings this charming little city to life in words!
Review: I began reading this book, about a month before I left to study abroad in Cortona. I had heard that it would give me an idea of the place. At first, it seemed to be another collection of thoughts in a journal not unlike my own. Then I decided to wait to arrive before reading it. Once there, I read and used it like a guide all over town, finding those perfect little stores, and seeing those strange little cortenese people. And by description alone, I found my way to her house, and it is as beautiful as the imagery she uses to describe it. Cortona is a beautiful and fragrant little culture trapped in time. Mayes brought that into the spotlight... and now, remembering my studies there, I have read it again, and each time, I smile remembering those beautiful places, swearing that I will get back there. I will. I'm sure my copies of her "guides" will be packed in my bags.
Rating:
Summary: Almost unbearable to listen to
Review: I'm sure this writer is a very nice person, but she should NOT have been the reader on this book. There are some Southern accents that are musical and lovely, but this one is nasal, twangy, and worst of all, just deadly monotonous. No matter how lyrical the words are, the reading is a flat drone that makes it almost impossible to even understand what she's talking about some of the time. All sense of the magic and beauty of the place she's describing is gone. Compared, say, to Peter Mayle's own reading of his book "A Year in Provence," which is utterly delightful, this audio book is shudderingly bad.
Rating:
Summary: Terrible Narration
Review: Please leave the narration of audio books to professionals. Most actors are not writers, most writers are not actors. This narration is one of the worst I've ever heard. It was simply imposible to determine if I liked the book or not.
Rating: 
Summary: SPRINGTIME READING
Review: I know! There are tons of reviews for this book, but I thought I'd help rejuvenate its reputation and recommend it as a great SPRING read. I put this one on a shelf in the kitchen because it has great recipes. Try the wild mushroom and vegetable lasagna. My family teased me about my high-brow recipe source, but one taste and they were crooning in my dining room. Mayes has a genuine flare for personal reflection and, while some may not appreciate her familial background or seemingly pompous attitude, she shows genuine appreciation for her new summer home and a bravado for cultural exploration. Picturing her tending her herbs and vines at Bramasole made me want to put a little old-fashioned flare in my life. For more travel fun (sans the recipes), try Peter Mayle. His infectious humor will keep you reading about the quaint fench countryside. Then, push a favorite reading chair over to a window and let the warm breeze blow in...
Rating: 
Summary: Fascination followed by tedium and some confusion
Review: The book starts off well, and the archaological part of it, i.e. finding the artifacts, unearthing the stone sink, were fascinating. But after awhile I became distracted by the writer herself. Who is this woman? Who is this Ed guy? Her husband? Her boyfriend? I'm guessing the latter since she tells everything in the first person -- "I'm buying a house." "I'm on the plane to Paris." It seems pretty clear that the money is all hers. Poor Ed feels like an afterthought, good thing he was so handy around the house. The same goes for all the other people in her story. Okay, maybe it was just meant to be a travel guide, but couldn't she fill us in a little more on the actual life forms with whom she came into contact? Having said that, there were times when I bought into the mood she created entirely and forgot the above objections. After all, who doesn't dream of a fantasy home in Italy?
| 
