Rating: 
Summary: A good read!
Review: I didn't think a book about buying a house in a foreign country would be interesting. I was wrong. Through very captivating and descriptive writing skills, the reader is allowed to journey and experience the writer's new adventure in the Tuscan region of Italy. Mayes allows the reader to see more than the tourist sites of Italy. Instead, the reader experiences a more personal view.It was a fun experience and great trip. What's more, I didn't have to buy a plane ticket or pay for a hotel room. All I extended was the price of the book. Now, that's a great deal!
Rating:
Summary: Italy at your fingertips
Review: Frances Mayes brings to her reader not only a detailed description of the world around her, but the magic and life she finds. While reading, I felt as if I could almost smell the gardens, taste the local cuisine, and that if I suddenly appeared on the terrace she would welcome me with open arms. In fact, she does welcome us into her life, sharing an experience that for her was so rich she had to let the world feel a least a piece of her joy. Overall, a fulfilling read, which I highly recommend!
Rating: 
Summary: A sensory feast
Review: I resisted this one for a long time, being particularly averse to financing the foreign house-buying jaunts of wealthy Americans and Brits but I gave in last week in Boston airport faced with a choice of Danielle Steel or 'Under the Tuscan Sun'. And I'm glad I did. This book is a feast of the senses. It has been a long time since I have got to the end of a chapter in a book and gone straight back to the beginning to re-read it. Perhaps it is a reflection of the current mood that I am in and my desperation for sensory stimulation, but I am enjoying every line. If I ever get around to writing, I would like to be able to put words on paper like this woman.
Rating:
Summary: Molto Bene!
Review: I found this book to be wonderful, at first I was put off by Mayes' constant rambling about every topic, but then as I got further into the book I realized that I was learning a great deal about the culture of Italy that I probably wouldn't get to learn in my Italian class. I plan on studying in Italy in a few years and this is a great way to get to know the country!
Rating:
Summary: A great escape book
Review: This was a perfect summer read. Every evening when I would read a chapter of this book, I was swept away to Tuscany. I've already ordered Bella Tuscany - looking forward to the next journey.
Rating:
Summary: Under the Tuscan Sun
Review: This is a wonderful book. Filled with the adventures of buying and remodeling a house in another country, this book makes the reader want to jump into a plane and experience it all on their own. I reccomend it to anyone who loves a good adventure, good food and Italy!
Rating:
Summary: A simply complex, yet strangely endearing book....
Review: I picked up this book at my mother's during the third of my many visits while she is dying from cancer; she said that my daughter had given it to her for this past Christmas, but that she really "couldn't get into it." Terminal cancer does that to you, I guess. I found it so wonderful...if you allow yourself to project beyond the occasionally convoluted prose...that I could actually imagine myself being there. In fact, so much so that I'm abandoning my immediate goal of returning to Greece..or going to Provençe...my goal for the last several years...and will go to Tuscany (perhaps after...or instead of...Cinque Terre) this fall or next spring. I found the book so compelling that I dug out a Nat'l Geographics map of Italy and found, as I was reading, many (but not all) of the places of which Mayes writes. I also did a search on the net and found numerous web-sites. My big disappointment was that her email address at SFSU had been disconnected...(I live 15 minutes away...) as I so much wanted to convey my thanks for such a simple, yet strangely complex and endearing book. I just started to re-read the book yesterday, 2 days after I first finished it. How many of you can say that about ANY book...? In the inimitable words of Roberto Begnini..."Molto Bene! "
Rating: 
Summary: A Must Not Read
Review: I didn't finish the first 20 pages of this book. The author seems very much a person who went to Italy to purchase a house and fields just to say she did (and does) it. No real interest in the history or culture of the area from what I read. Another reader said, "overeducated individuals with exagerated views" and hit it right on the head. To me anyway the book appears to be in the same vein as "Without Reservations." With that one, as well as Tuscan Sun, I went looking for a light summer read and this was disappointingly not it.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Lyrically written but ultimately quite disappointing. Unfortunately I have to agree with other readers who found this book pretentious and self indulgent. A vastly superior book about authentic Tuscan country life and food is Elizabeth Romer's The Tuscan Year. Tim Parks, a British author, and Paul Hoffman, the former Roman bureau chief for the NYT, have written a number of books about their lives as expatriates in Italy--Parks lives in the Veneto and Hoffman in Rome. Their books are keenly insightful and thought provoking and well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Escapism in the Hills of Tuscany
Review: As a university student in Italy "many moons" ago, I took delight in Frances Maye's rich, desriptive prose in "Under the Tuscan Sun". Her sensual words were as delicious as the edible bounty she discovers in the village markets. I was carried back to the time when I too discovered the warm embrace of the Italian people. The book makes for perfect bedside reading on a chilly, melancholy day. Unfortunately, the focus of the sequel, "Bella Tuscany", strayed more deeply into the personal trials and tribulations of Maye's life, and the result was a quick trip back to reality and the problems we all cope with on a daily basis. It's too bad she strayed from the original recipe!
| 
