Rating: 
Summary: SIMPLE QUICK SUGGESTION!!!!
Review: Look at the reviews. You either love the book or hate it. There doesnt seem to be much of an inbetween. If you are thinking of buying the book then go to the bookstore and sit down and read the first chapter or two. If you think you can handle more of the same then you'll probably like the book. If you keep thinking....whens the story going to begin and when am i going to stop hearing about the house....youre out of luck...put the book away! I like detail....but this book is like talking to that one person that will never let you leave a conversation and has to tell you about people you dont know and are so descriptive they have to tell you the name of ever intersection they passed in their story. I think this will probably be the first time I've EVER said this.....THE MOVIE IS MUCH BETTER THAN THE BOOK!
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Summary: Under the Tuscan Sun
Review: I bought this book from Border's because I wasn't sure I would have time to see the movie. The book has Diane Lane on the front making one believe this book is "something" like the movie. It is nothing like the movie. I was very disappointed and returned the book.
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Summary: A Quest for Contentment
Review: Reading Frances Mayes tribute to Tuscany is akin to sitting in a hammock on a bright sunny day listening to a bumblebee droning amongst the flowers in a nearby garden: the luscious descriptions make me thirst for some equivalent in my own life, while the lack of overall plot drowses me to a gentle lull of sleep. This latter result, by no means represents an insult to Mayes' writing style; on the contrary I commend her abilities to create an atmosphere so dense with detail that this old insomniac had no other choice but to close her eyes being nearly blinded by the bright gold of the sunflower fields and deafened by the bombardment of so many adjectives and adverbs used in chains of prepositional phrases that rival the links in a DNA helix.
In my opinion, Mayes, like Martha Stewart, capitalizes on her found good things. As she put together a scrap book/journal of the time spent renovating her home and her life in Cortona, her publisher, some other artsy friend or "right connection" wondered at the marketability of the saga of yet another American looking for La Dolce Vita in a foreign land. The 'Under the Tuscan Sun' corporation was hence born and is now growing rather steadily and quite nicely, morphing from one book into three, a movie and now associated merchandise. Alas, America has now recreated Tuscany at Walmart prices.
For the most part "Under the Tuscan Sun's" popularity rides solely on its ability to recreate the Italian ambiance. But you don't need Mayes for that, anyone who has visited Italy understands the sense of well-being and almost childlike happiness that bursts out of you like some mystical revelation when you first see the rolling hills, the citadel villages and experience the warmth of the people. American writers have been pondering over this treasure trove of simple living for well over a century.
Although Mayes describes her conversion from one way of life to another with the effervescence of a newly uncorked bottle of spumante, she still lives part time in the United States. Perhaps the yearning note in her poetry and prose suggests that the glass is somehow still half empty rather than half full---an idea alien to the Italian spirit which Mayes strives so competently and technically to replicate. The desire to analyze a way of life that defies description---and actually has no need for such rigorous retelling is almost criminal. Such an existence simply is and will continue to thrive without, indeed in spite of, the spotlight of Mayes' making.
So instead of buying into this American globilization of Tuscany, book that trip to Italy and make a scrapbook of your own. If you already purchased Mayes' book, take it along: it has some really good wine suggestions and explains the concept of seasonal eating. I have not tried any of Mayes recipes, but I am sure they are good, if you can find the ingredients in the US. Recommended to those who want to get a sense of life in a foreign land, shed their Americanism and travel back to the old country where life is simpler. If you are buying the book because you have seen the movie, forget it---the movie's plot revolves around a theme of renewal after emotional disaster rather than the search for a simpler life.
Rating: 
Summary: Gorgeous!
Review: UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN by Frances Mayes is the exquisitely written memoir/travel book about her experiences finding, buying and renovating a house in Tuscany. In this book, Mayes relates her experiences in beautiful, flowing prose, with the culture and the difficulties that she must face in adapting to a new culture. She also describes in great deal her love affair with the Italian culture and landscape, once she has finally adapted. I particularly found her focus on the archeological aspects of the area that she lived in fascinating, since it contributed to a mysterious feel of the place. A truly wonderful book! Also recommended: THE LOSERS' CLUB by Richard Perez
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Summary: Beautiful Book!!
Review: Reading this book makes me want to go to Italy right now! The book is mainly about the renovation of Bramasole, Frances Mayes's house, in Tuscany. The book also discusses the people, the history, food, and the arcitecture of different areas in Italy. This book is written in such detail it really gives the reader a great ideal of what the area is like. This book also includes recipes, which sound delicious, but I never intend of cooking :)The one thing that I did not like about the book is that it did seem to jump around from topic to topic. However, it was pretty informative. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to travel, but doesn't have the money to go to Italy :)
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Summary: Arrividerci...I'm off to Italy!
Review: I found myself laughing out loud. Especially at her description of Italians using their hands to talk and her significant other's penchant for Espresso before bed, giving him the strength to sleep. The recipes are a delightful bonus. I can't wait to see the movie.
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Summary: Cortona
Review: I've read several books of this genre recently, and I can't seem to get enough of them. As an American living in Southern Italy, my friends and I often muse that we too can author a book about our collective experiences. Anyhow, just a couple of weeks ago I went up to Cortona for the first time. I imagined it as a quaint, sleeply Italian hill village; it is anything but this. Also, I was shown Bramasole, the renovated villa. I pictured something completely diffferent and certainly something a bit further out of town and more isolated. The area is, however, spectacular and worth a visit
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Summary: Solleone
Review: The Italian suffix '-one' expands the noun. Solleone = big sun. And that is what this wonderful little book is about - the sun that floods the pages of this book about a renovation of a house in Tuscany, about growing in touch with the self, with what is important in the process of living, with what makes being apart of this universe a beautiful and enigmatic. Frances Mayes writes well and has captured the imagination of the dreamers of this country with her books about the simplicity of discovering the natural pace of life in the small towns of Italy. She makes this 'journal' touching, informative, entertainingly funny, hostess-like in the sharing of the recipes for the inimitable foods of her Tuscan kitchen, and encourages us to observe, to while away our cluttered lives as the Italians do with a mid-day siesta, learn the land and the connection to history and past cultures. She is in her finest mode in her chapters 'Relics of Summer' and 'Solleone' where her gifts as a poet take center stage and she simply shares her re-connected life with us. This is a bountiful book, one to be savoured in any season. One hopes the soon to be released movie version of Frances Mayes' tender meanderings retains the glow of the original.........
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Summary: Terrific book and now a terrific movie as well!
Review: I just saw the film starring Diane Lane. I loved it and was immediately drawn to buying the book. I have read about three quarters of it and so far LOVE IT. The movie is more dramatic but the book is excellent as well. Both the book and the film are highly recommended. 5 stars!
Rating: 
Summary: The good the bad and the brutto
Review: I was torn about this book, there were sections of it that I truly enjoyed reading, which was during this spring while on a month and a half exploration of Italy.
But somewhere towards the end there was something in the tone of the narration that was starting to bother me. Upon reflection it occurred to me that it seemed somewhat self congratulatory and lacking in any real humility.
It was kind of an anti-"Europe through the back door" approach that made a point of always emphasizing the joy of things only available to those with substantial wealth, whereas for me the most beautiful enchanting experiences in Italy were the things that money can't buy.
As for the recipes, I personally thought there were way too many of them, but then I'm not much of a cook.
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