Rating: 
Summary: Under the Tuscan Sun
Review: I greatly enjoyed reading about the experiences of an American woman who decided to take a giant leap of faith onto another shore. Her descriptions of the land, food, and personalities of the people she has met in Italy reveal her appreciation for this place, and her willingness to flow with its rhythms. Her ability to share her world without becoming too much the center of it made me want to know even more about her as a person. She never claims to be an expert on Italian life, only familiar with her own life in that place. Her writing style is friendly and easy. I am reading "Bella Tuscany" now, and am enjoying it just as much.
Rating: 
Summary: Too Elite, trying to be cerebral and sometimes boring...
Review: The first part of the book was more interesting than the last half which I could barely bring myself to finish. I think the author is way out of touch with basic everyday reader and his basic everyday life. Dare I say she is an elitist? While she is a better writer than Peter Mayle (A Year in Provence), his book made me happy and and made me want to experience life more fully. I can't relate to Mayes' experience especially all the phony nonsense about the purchase of the villa that almost wipes them out, yet doesn't seem to stop them from making massive renovations. Most people are just trying to make it to the beach for a week for their vacations and here is Mayes buying a house she will only live in for three months of the year, going back and forth, buying "linens", installing marble countertops, collecting wines, etc.! And the pretentious parties she describes as if we are supposed to think they are quaint. Reading this book reminds me of the Martha Stewart phenomenon. You may admire her skill and organzation but you don't like having your face rubbed in it! Mayes was trying to best Mayle by adding a bit of philosophy about houses, rooms, dreams which sounded ripped off and fell flat with this reader.
Rating: 
Summary: Intelligent, insightful and introspective
Review: Having read Under the Tuscan Sun (twice), I was rather dismayed to see the unfavorable reviews it received from other Amazon.com patrons. Many lamented the fact that it did not replicate Peter Mayle's "Provence" series. Having read Mayles work after Mayes (in search of a similar commentary on life in a foreign land), I must say I had the very opposite reaction to the two authors. It quickly became clear to me why one author had a prior career as an advertising copywriter (Mayle), and the other as a professor of writing (Mayes). Mayes goes beyond the trite and amusing observation about the land she has adopted that characterizes Mayle's work. She uses her experience in Tuscany to examine her personal relationships and priorities. In the process, she rediscovers her connectivity to the land and an appreciation of simple pleasures. Her use of language is evocative, precise and wonderful. Though it is difficult for the ordinary person to imagine having the time and money to indulge such a mid-life crisis, the open-minded reader should be able to look beyond the circumstances and walk away with something of value. Ultimately Mayes' message is one that we would all do well to learn--slow down and enjoy the everyday process of living.
Rating:
Summary: GO BUY "A YEAR IN PROVENCE" INSTEAD
Review: Unfortunately I read Tuscan Sun before I read "A Year in Provence" by Peter Mayle. Tuscan Sun appears to be quite a rip off of Mayle's book. Mayle's book is quite wonderful and is lacking the self-pitying, superior attitude that Tuscan Sun has. So I would recommend skipping this book and going directly to A Year in Provence.
Rating:
Summary: A Poetic Fantasy, for the Real Thing Read As the Romans Do
Review: I enjoyed this book for its simplicity yet Mayes seemed quite naive to the complexities of life in Italy and to the Italian people. A much deeper, more accurate account of the Italians and what its really like to be there, I would highly recommend As the Romans Do: The Delights, Dramas and Daily Diversions of Life in the Eternal City written by Alan Epstein, who is a full time resident of Rome with his wife and two sons. I couldn't say it better than the Philadelphia Inquirer who wrote about As the Romans Do in this Sunday's (April 23) Travel Section: "Whether discoursing on the excellent cuisine or the historical foundations of the predominant habits and niceties of civil intercourse, Epstein captures the heady atmosphere of Rome so completely as to make this book essential for anyone who would understand [Italy] before heading there."
Rating: 
Summary: Don't bother - there are many better books
Review: I enjoyed parts of this and "Bella Tuscany" on a superficial, escapist level. I like sunshine, travel, Italy, good food, shopping and nice houses so these can be a pleasant escape from grey, rainy Scottish winters (and summers!) However, I have to agree with many of the negative comments made about the way the books are written and the way the author comes across. At times they can be deadly dull, unbelievably pretentious, as well as patronising and humourless. If you want to read about house renovating in Italy try "A Valley In Italy" by the fascinating Lisa St Aubin De Teran instead. Also, as many reader have previously mentioned, Peter Mayle and Tim Parks are much better on adjusting to life in a foreign country.
Rating: 
Summary: Thumbs down
Review: I am glad I didn't spend money on this book, it was loaned to me. The first third was of interest - how to negotiate buying a house in Italy vs my own country of France. It then became the story of a wealthy American couple pretending to have spent their last penny buying this farm but still managing to go there from California three times a year, spending what must have been a fortune installing a central heating system. What happened to the fireplace? They pretend to live like the locals and certainly don't blend in. We learn that the author owns a Sub-Zero refrigerator in San Francisco, how relevant is this to the story? we also learn that Ms. Mayes's mother had a cook. In brief, I found this pretentious and not worth the paper it is written on, made a great tax write-off though for the Mayes....
Rating:
Summary: Favourably slumming it in Tuscany
Review: This is the worst of the self-indulgent 'favourably slumming it' travel books I have read. We are meant to feel that the author has established a link with her environment and feels 'at home' in her holiday home environment, wheras she really is just another rich American pretending to be noble by doing some token manual labour whilst paying the locals for extensive house renovations. As an academic the author writes in a very pretentious style, and the inclusion of 2 chapters of recipes was a joke. Easily the worst travel book I have ever read. Look for something else.
Rating:
Summary: There were nice aspects to the book.
Review: The first third of this book convinced me that I was meant to live in romantic Tuscany. The second third of the book convinced me that if I was to buy a villa, I would not endlessly, tediously Americanize it! I couldn't bring myself to plod through the last third of the book. The descriptions of Mayes' arrival in Tuscany and purchase of a summer home were delightful. The gardens and the food sounded absolutely scrumptious! The recipes look wonderful. So cut the writing in half and add more recipes, and the book would be perfect... and we would be spared the pretentiousness of the author.
Rating:
Summary: a place in the sun
Review: having started this book during a trip to florence (and finished it on the plane!), i fell in love with the area as mayes does. her poetic descriptions of her encounters capture the true essence of life in tuscany. i found it to be the perfect mix of wit, humor, seriousness and lust for life. i congratulate her on her ability to transfer her magical experiences on to the written page.
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