Rating: 
Summary: The last few hours I spent on this book made me happy!
Review: The Hills of Tuscany was a precious, delightful read. I enjoyed each and every moment and it made me love the land, people, food, animals, small towns, cities, sky, fields, and even those mushrooms, so well described. I was well nourished for the entire book. Thank you Mr. Mate and his wife for the delightful drawings!
Rating:
Summary: A glorious and vibrant portrait of a romantic land
Review: This book is the most fun I've ever had in Italy without actually ever having gone there (even though I'm a long-time Tuscanophile!). Ferenc Mate presents a vivid and vibrant celebration of Tuscany's gorgeous land, its fabulous cuisine, and uniquely friendly people, with a gentle humor and a personal touch that show his immense affection for the place and its inhabitants. This book is a wonderful preamble to a trip to Tuscany, or (in my case!) a fantastic armchair read!...And if you need a traveling companion next time, Ferenc, let me know! ; )
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful!
Review: This is a lovely book for anyone fascinated with the Tuscany region or anyone who has the travel bug and can't get away at the moment. Mr. Mate has an incredible ability to describe scenery, food, people, and happenings, and the book moves at a perfect pace.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful!
Review: This is a lovely book for anyone fascinated with the Tuscany region or anyone who has the travel bug and can't get away at the moment. Mr. Mate has an incredible ability to describe scenery, food, people, and happenings, and the book moves at a perfect pace.
Rating: 
Summary: A boring string of cliches.
Review: This is really a tiresome, banal litany of predictable cliches about living a life of luxury in Tuscany. The first half of the book is about how he and his wife look for a house, while the second half is mostly about food. Everything, of course, is absolutely perfect--the tuscan light, the tuscan hills, the tuscan food. This book is kind of an unintentional parody of the genre.It's also poorly written. Mate has almost no descriptive powers per se. He just tells us how sumptuous everything is. He also uses hyperbole so consistently that his observations become pointless. I thought a book like this would be interesting, but it's just self-indulgent and dull.
Rating:
Summary: A great book of wonderful imagery, like being there again.
Review: To read this book on the ferry to and from work was an escape to Italy twice a day. The imagery and general use of language was wonderful. Having come close to doing what they did, it makes me want to do it all the more.
Rating:
Summary: Great book. Nice gift.
Review: Well. I was going to write a killer review about how good this book is. However, there are other reviews in this forum, reviews that are so good about how good the book is that the reviews themselves deserved to be reviewed, that I decided to spare myself the angst and agony and write a succint, cogent, summarizing review: If you like Tuscany, food, travel or good books, you will like this book. And it will make a spiffy gift, too.
Rating: 
Summary: The epitomy of Tuscany.
Review: While romanticised a bit, this book is the epitomy of Tuscany. Having lived in Italy for four months myself, I felt the same frusterations and casualness reading this book as I did in Italy. This is a book worth reading if you are thinking of living in or visiting Tuscany or even if you just want a taste of the life, this book will take you there.
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