Rating: 
Summary: so beautiful
Review: The word "Tuscany" alone conjures up rich images of rolling green hills and an endless flow of red wine. This book was a pleasure to read. The beautiful descriptions of castles and food ... and more food made the daydreams we all have had about packing our bags, leaving the smog, and setting up house on an Italian countryside almost a reality.
Rating:
Summary: Worth reading again
Review: This is the only book I have ever finished - and immediately turned back to the beginning to start reading it again!I struggled with Under the Tuscan Sun first time round but love it so much now that I'm having to buy a hardback copy because my paperback copy is worn out. I've found new things on each reading and would thoroughly recommend it. There is something in this book for everyone.
Rating: 
Summary: I was transported to the Tuscan countryside
Review: Others have used the words self-indulgent, pretentious, shallow to describe the book. I disagree. I've spent an enjoyable Sunday reading the book from cover to cover and I was totally absorbed in the experience of living In Tuscany and meeting the locals. I was disappointed that there weren't any photographs and I found myself constantly looking at the cover on the book to try and fit in with some of the descriptions. A delightful read.
Rating: 
Summary: Shallow beyond endurance
Review: This book is pretentious, shallow, badly written and snobby beyond endurance. I wish I had borrowed the book from the library instead of wasting money buying it. Hopefully, the people of Tuscany will not have too many more rich and condescending writers snapping up their properties, thus saving us from another infinitely boring read.
Rating:
Summary: Self-Indulgent and Tedious
Review: I agree with those who are stumped by this book's popularlity.It was not well-written: minute descriptions of trival things make fortedious reading. Mayes comes across as very self-indulgent in assuming that her personal life--one without much incident--could interest others. I got about a third of the way through the book and had to put it down. It's not a good sign for a book when one suspects that the writer's motivation for writing it was solely to pay off the bills she had incurred in renovating her house. Peter Mayle and Tim Parks are far better at this genre.
Rating: 
Summary: this is a book about life and how to live it
Review: This book has something special, something, that few others have: it goes deeply under your skin. Italy is far ahead of us in the art of living, and Frances Mayes understood, watched, enjoyed, and then shared it. She was very brave to dare buying a house in Tuscany. I did the same, therefore I know. I feel as if I know her personally, and I hope her book helps that many other people understand the importance of realizing at least one of our dreams.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing--not what I expected.
Review: I thought the calendar would have pictures of Bramasole, which I was very interested in after reading Mayes' two books. But it only offers a few outside shots of the building. Where are the kitchen they labored over, the fireplaces, etc.? I'm not interested in pictures of grapes, vineyards. I wanted to see THE HOUSE.
Rating:
Summary: This book was great.
Review: Reading Under the Tuscan Sun was like eating a delicious ice cream sunday one spoonful at a time. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Frances Mays really takes you to Italy. You can feel the heat, you can smell the flowers and herbs. I thoroughly enjoyed it and plan to go to Italy because of it.
Rating:
Summary: A Martha Stewart travel book
Review: "Under Tuscan Sun" is a "pick and move to another country" book, in the same vein as "A Year in Provence." As I progressed through the chapters, a few things started bothering me which took away from the book. One is that Francis Mayes has a way of romanticising the mundane. The book could have easily been written about moving to a small town in the United States (her native country), and it would have sounded just as exciting given the same flowery treatment. The second nagging thing is that this is very much the Martha Stewart treatment of the genre. Ms. Mayes and companion did not pick up and move to a foreign country, they simply purchased a summer home. That they don't have any financial issues in maintaining complete homes in different countries, having extensive remodeling done to one of them, and flying back and forth between Italy and the US a number of times a year tends to take the adventure out of it for me. I grew tired of their only problem being that renovations to their house were never done on time. If you don't have these qualms, it is a good travel book. Otherwise, Ferenc Mate's "The Hills of Tuscany" is perhaps a more authentic alternative.
Rating:
Summary: A good read about having the courage to live your dream.
Review: Easy to read but sometimes overdetailed. Overall this was a wonderful account of buying a home abroad and coming to love your new home and culture.
| 
