Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 50
 Too Much Remodeling Detail April 17, 2008
Mystery Lover (Pennsylvania)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I picked up this book when it first came out and couldn't get through it because of the painfully detailed descriptions of the remodeling. This is less a book about beginning a new life in Italy and more about the remodeling of a house which just happens to be in Italy. I picked up the book again last week and did manage to finish it. I'm really surprised that this became a bestseller and would probably not read other books by this author. Julia Child wrote a wonderful, wonderful book called "My Life in France" that I would definitely recommend as a great example of travel writing.
Running Away to Italy February 8, 2008
docklly (Athens, GA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The lanuage and visualizations are stunning. I enjoyed the pictures the author paints not just of the country itself but of the food and the people. The base story is a bit hard for me though, most of us that have such trials in our life can't afford to "buy" happiness so it makes the heroine a bit tiresome.
 Under the Tuscan Sun October 31, 2007
M. F. Moon (Orange, CA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This delightful book is all about Tuscany and life in the author's adopted village and her in-progress renovation of an old stone country house (a huge place) and gardens with such a view!
Stories provide delightful reading about the trials and tribulations of renovating a once-fine old house in the Tuscan hills, using local craftsmen and materials. Characterizations of the local people are warm and humorous; challenges of working in another language and different culture of ancient, historic origins are described gently, with touches of humor. There are wonderful descriptions of great foods, festivals, and travels here and there in Italy that provide a definite feel for the terrain, buildings, and people. Oh, and there are a few mouthwatering recipes too.
All is very well written by an author with a fine way with words and knowledge of writing -- and life. Truly enjoyable.
 Italian get-away July 23, 2007
Bryan Robertson (San Francisco)
The reading starts out fairly interesting and attention getting with all the desciptives of the Italian countryside, but starts to dddrraaagggg as you get towards to middle of the book. It does pick up the pace again towards the end. It's not one of those books that you just couldn't put down and had to finish reading in one day. I think I actually put it down ten or twelve times before I finished it. It's one of those books you can take with you when you're going to lay out in the sun on your day off. You can read it over a period of several sessions of sunbathing like I did.
Lovely ! July 1, 2007
Muirgen (Cyprus)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought this book because I had loved the movie that was based on it.
That movie arrived at a very special moment in my life, and inspired me to follow some "terrible ideas" and change my life. When I left my own home country I had no idea of what was going to happen to me, I just felt that I could not go back and that something good had to come out of taking a leap and following my heart. It did.
9 months after that, I got married in Florence and, while on honeymoon in Tuscany, I bought the book, and immediately loved it. Mayes sounds happy and in love with Italy, and so was I when I was reading it. Both the book and the movie made me want to cook, travel, plant basil and rosemary in pots and have a glass of wine on a breezy summer evening. They reminded me, in the most wonderful way, that life still has beautiful surprises for all of us around the corner.
I have given several copies to my friends since I bought it, and I highly recommend it to all those who would like to travel at least with their imagination to bella Toscana!
|
