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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
It's not that this was a bad book, it is simply that this was not a book for me. I really enjoyed the film and thought that I would be able to enjoy the book. I didn't make it very far into the book when I realized that it was not catching my interest. It begins by Mayes saying that the book was a product of a notebook that she kept while searching for and remodeling the house in Italy. It just didn't catch my attention. If you enjoy travel books, you may enjoy this one.
The book is a very good summer read - something along the lines of A Year in Provence. Nothing at all like the movie starring Diane Lane.
Anyone going to Tuscany MUST read this!! I read it last summer when we were in Tuscany and visiting many of the areas she talks about...it was amazing. The book is MUCH different than the movie and definitely worth reading.
Although I thought this book dragged a bit near the end, I really loved the story and the recipes. The author did a great job of transporting me to Tuscany, I very much felt like I had escaped to the relaxed, sun-ripened country surrounded by amazing food. Quite different than the movie but enjoyable in it's own right.
I enjoyed the first part but as soon as the major house renovations we're done the book didn't seem to know what to do with itself.
Still wish GoodReads had a half-star rating system, because this would likely fall at a 4 1/2.
Looking for a narrative arc? Put the book back on the shelf. Nothing “happens” from the start to the end of this book; or does a lot happen without grandiose gestures?
I (mostly) love the slow pacing of this book, because it reads like journals I’ve written when abroad to remember my time and the feeling of it all. I pay great attention to little details that intrigue me, even if it’s just what I had for breakfast that day, and I appreciate that Frances Mayes appreciates the same little delicacies.
It tends to lull in certain spots, but I’m a sucker for the excerpts of Italian culture and cuisine. I love that there are recipes tucked in! I will likely pick up another of her books, and by god, of course her cookbook!
Looking for a narrative arc? Put the book back on the shelf. Nothing “happens” from the start to the end of this book; or does a lot happen without grandiose gestures?
I (mostly) love the slow pacing of this book, because it reads like journals I’ve written when abroad to remember my time and the feeling of it all. I pay great attention to little details that intrigue me, even if it’s just what I had for breakfast that day, and I appreciate that Frances Mayes appreciates the same little delicacies.
It tends to lull in certain spots, but I’m a sucker for the excerpts of Italian culture and cuisine. I love that there are recipes tucked in! I will likely pick up another of her books, and by god, of course her cookbook!
I enjoyed it, but by the end I thought okay, yeah, we get it. Italy is great and you're living your best life.
This book started very slow for me, but it has left me dreaming of a trip to Italy and a slower paced life.
Rich woman buys a house, does a bit of manual labour, thinks she's discovered something new.
Really sounded like she got in the way most of the time (they just tore down a wall?? For fun??? When the workers were on the way over???). Also weirdly voyeuristic about Italians living their lives. The book is obviously a product of it's time (some vocab is pretty yikes), but my God I can't think of anything more unrelatable than her stress over spending so much money on a summer home/Italian mansion that she visits when shes on her many-months-long summer break from San Francisco where she works as a tenured prof? Also like...questionable origins of her family wealth (grandma's family owned a lot of cotton fields in Georgia???).
Food sounded good though.
Really sounded like she got in the way most of the time (they just tore down a wall?? For fun??? When the workers were on the way over???). Also weirdly voyeuristic about Italians living their lives. The book is obviously a product of it's time (some vocab is pretty yikes), but my God I can't think of anything more unrelatable than her stress over spending so much money on a summer home/Italian mansion that she visits when shes on her many-months-long summer break from San Francisco where she works as a tenured prof? Also like...questionable origins of her family wealth (grandma's family owned a lot of cotton fields in Georgia???).
Food sounded good though.
It is entirely obvious from the first paragraph you read that Mayes is completely in love with Tuscany, and Italy itself. She loves everything about it-from the food, to the people, to the very land. Reading her novel is like reading someone's diary- seeing their world through rose colored glasses. Her descriptions of everything are so vivid, so colorful, so deep, that I can almost imagine myself in Cortona, and I've never been to Europe. Mayes' writing is romantic and completely immersive, and that's what kept me going. It took me a long time to finish, because I kept having to put it down and come back to it later- simply because I was sick of reading about Italy.
I think I would have enjoyed this book more if I loved cooking like Mayes does. I don't like cooking. I'm not good at it. I see it as a chore. I am more than happy to have someone cook something for me than do it myself. I found that I was skipping the chapters that contained recipes. Perhaps I would also have enjoyed it more had I already visited Italy, and truly loved it.
Mayes is a fabulous writer- but I found that I just wasn't really interested in the topic.
I hardly ever say this, (does anyone, really?) but I liked the movie better. In the movie, Frances is newly divorced, and buys the house in Tuscany on a whim, and is by herself for much of the film. Slowly, she makes friends, learns the language, falls in love and gets her heart broken, and transforms the house. It keeps the soul of the book- so I'd actually recommend that instead.
I think I would have enjoyed this book more if I loved cooking like Mayes does. I don't like cooking. I'm not good at it. I see it as a chore. I am more than happy to have someone cook something for me than do it myself. I found that I was skipping the chapters that contained recipes. Perhaps I would also have enjoyed it more had I already visited Italy, and truly loved it.
Mayes is a fabulous writer- but I found that I just wasn't really interested in the topic.
I hardly ever say this, (does anyone, really?) but I liked the movie better. In the movie, Frances is newly divorced, and buys the house in Tuscany on a whim, and is by herself for much of the film. Slowly, she makes friends, learns the language, falls in love and gets her heart broken, and transforms the house. It keeps the soul of the book- so I'd actually recommend that instead.