Having read Under the Tuscan Sun, I can certainly see what the hype was about. It is an interesting little book, not a novel exactly, more a sort of a diary of a divorced woman who decided to buy a house in Tuscany and documents her experiences. Her narrative voice is friendly and charming, and yet despite revealing some information about her private life, she never lets the reader in too close. Under the Tuscan Sun is not an autobiographical novel, so don't expect someone pouring their heart open to you sort of read. This book is a pretty light read, albeit packed with some interesting information. At no point does the narrative question the meaning of life, nor does it go into lengthily discussions. It's more a collection of author's thoughts and impressions, all bound together by her decision to buy a house in Italy. The book often functions as a reconstruction and food journal.

Who is the protagonist? She is a divorced University professor, and her summers are free. She decides that the perfect thing do to is to spend them in Italy. Why not buy a house there and really immerse herself in the experience? She is drawn to one particular house and area. Her partner Ed also has his summers off ( I think he is a teacher as well). Together they set on an adventure of restoring the old villa and spending their summers in Italy.

Under the Tuscan Sun is a lovely book written by an intelligent lady. It has a lot going in for it, and could easily be called a nice summer read. However, it is neither a meaningful nor a memorable book. It doesn't talk about any subject in detail, and often it feels like a collection of notes. At times, it is also a bit repetitive and predictable. I had a feeling that the author was almost pushing this idea about her great adventure- but really is buying a house in Italy really that revolutionary? I could sympathize with her as she recounted her 'construction problems' as I moved in my new home only a year ago, but after a while all that reconstruction talk got a bit old.

Under the Tuscan Sun has some minor faults, the book isn't paced all that great, and there were some boring parts, but altogether I can say I enjoyed reading it. Reading her impressions about Italy was interesting, as she is someone coming from a different culture and continent. As fun a read as it often was, as soon as I have finished the last page, I knew it is a book I will easily forget. Honestly, I don't think I would have missed much if I haven't read it. It's a nice book, I could feel the author's passion about finding 'new life' and trying something different, but in the end it's just not a book that will stay with me.

Edit: I mentioned in my review that the author paid $1,000,000 for this abandoned villa because she said in the book that she wrote "milione" at the closing so many times. But Ms. Mayes sent me a tweet questioning where I got that price and that it was a fifth of that or $200,000. That was when I realized that I hadn't converted the milione that she mentioned from lire to dollars! It was her entire savings from her marriage that she put into this home. Plus they did a lot of the work themselves. Quite a difference with the conversion. So thank you, Ms. Mayes, for this clarification!

I’ve long been familiar with this book but until now had never had the chance to read it. The 20th Anniversary Edition is being released so I grabbed the chance to read it all these years later.

This memoir is beautifully written and pulls you right into the atmosphere that exclusively belongs to Italy. Though I’ve never visited Italy, I do enjoy reading about it and believe it’s a very unique place. Ms. Mayes and her husband had the privilege and daring to buy a run-down villa in Tuscany 20 years ago and she and her husband undertook the extensive renovation of it. I must say that it left me quite astonished to hear that they paid $1,000,000 for this villa, were still able to put so much money into the renovation and that this was only to be their summer home. I couldn’t quite relate to that but regardless of that disconnect, I very much enjoyed reading of their adventures over the years.

The beginning of the book details their search for a home, their finding of Bramasole in Tuscany, their search for contractors and decisions made as to what the renovation would entail and the actual renovation. I love watching “This Old House” and other shows like it so enjoyed the first part of this section. However, I did become a bit bored with some of the renovation details.

But then she goes on to talk about her exploration of the neighboring areas and her finding of little known paths, roads and churches that she finds and I was entranced. And then, since she’s apparently a gourmet cook, there are the wonderful descriptions of the food of Italy and pages of her recipes that I definitely will be trying over the winter.

All in all, the author has shared her delight in Italy with her readers in a completely captivating way. Recommended.

This book was given to me by the publisher through Blogging for Books in return for an honest review.

In opposition to some (most) reviewers of this book, I'm happy to say that I have read and liked the book first, before they had ever thought of making a (silly, unrelated) movie out of it.

Heartwarming and delicious.
"Frances Mayes - widely published poet, gourmet cook oh, and travel writer - opens the door to a wondrous new world when she buys and restores and abandoned villa in the spectacular Tuscan countryside. In sensuous and evocative language, she brings the reader along as she discovers the beauty and simplicity of life in Italy. And accomplished cook and food writer, Mayes also creates dozens of delicious seasonal recipes from her traditional kitchen and simple garden, all of which she includes in the book.... A celebration of the extraordinary quality of life in Tuscany, (this book) is a feast for all the senses."
This book is written in a very poetic style. The author writes in a very eloquent and overly descriptive way which really adds to the taste and feel of how it is to be in Tuscany. A little bit difficult to read if you are not the poetic type. It can be a bit difficult to follow the storyline. However very beautifully written.
As in most cases the book differs from the movie just a bit. I personally like the film adaptation better than the book which is a rarity but it does happen. However I did enjoy the book very much and loved how the author wrote in such a way that you really feel and taste and see and imagine that you are there with her in the hills of Italy.
This is an absolutely gorgeous book that I would recommend to anyone looking for a light-hearted memoir.

Frances Mayes wrote this book based on her experience of buying and restoring a villa in Tuscany. I read it summer 2001 while I was visiting Meredith in St. Croix and left it for her to read. The descriptions of life, light, food and wine made me want to move to Italy. I remember a lot of the recipes contained pine nuts, which I didn't think I liked at the time.

Frances Mayes used to teach at UGA, and John knows her. I told my brother to read this book; he told me it changed his life.

The movie is nowhere as good as the book.

...for here there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.
- RILKE

I was at an airport.
I needed a book.
It was the 1990s (no e-books).
Another cross-country business trip.
This was it.

The Tuscan sun has warmed me to the marrow.

I read the whole thing from cover-to-cover on that journey. Maybe it was the writing, maybe it was the locale, maybe it was because I was leaving sun and flying into snow, but I really enjoyed this book. Frances Mayes had me turning pages to discover the results of her house renovations, her travels in Tuscany, and her recipes.

...there's always the fear that it's not real, you're not really allowed to determine your own life. It may be pulled back at any moment.

I changed my life.

Book Season = Summer (lemon cake, tangerine sorbet)

Frances Mayes bought a neglected villa in the Tuscan town of Cortona. The house was called "Bramasole", meaning "yearning for the sun", and the sunshine and warmth of Italy comes shining through Mayes' enthusiastic descriptions.

One gets a sense that Mayes is being reborn. After a midlife divorce, she is in a relationship with her future husband, Ed. The two poets both have demanding jobs as the heads of creative writing departments in their California universities. Both worked hard, along with Italian craftsmen, renovating the house in Tuscany during their summer and mid-winter breaks. They fell in love with the Italian culture, pace of life, and food.

The sense of time is so different in Tuscany with their villa surrounded by fascinating things from ancient times--an Etruscan wall, a Roman road, old churches, and a nearby Medici fortress. The walls of the old villa were thick slabs covered with plaster. Various owners had added on more rooms over the years so it was always a surprise to see what was under the last coat of plaster.

The Tuscan food is simple, fresh, and picked when perfectly ripe. Mayes' descriptions of the food and wine are sensuous, and she included a few recipes. Her tables are often topped with fresh flowers from the many gardens they planted.

I enjoyed the book, but wished I had spread the reading out more instead of reading it over three days since there is so much description. The mood of the book is upbeat, joyous, and often humorous. The Tuscan sun has definitely warmed up Mayes' life. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars.

Леле, толкова харесвам филма, чак не знам как е направен по тази суха, скучна и фактологично изброяваща събития книга. Скука е точната дума - 2 звезди само заради филма.

تجربة تغيير أسلوب العيش فى كتاب تحت شمس توسكانا ..


يعد الريف الإيطالي بمثابة الحلم للكثير من السواح الأجانب ، حيث تتوفر الطبيعة الخلابة ، والبيوت القديمة بطرزها المعمارية الفريدة والتي يعود بعضها للعصور الوسطي أو قد بُنيت فوق اخري تعود للعصر الروماني ، كما فى البيت الذى قررت الكاتبة والإكاديمية الإمريكية "فرانسيس مايز" شرائه وإعادة ترميمه وتجديده والانتقال للعيش والاستقرار بذلك البيت الواقع فى الريف الإيطالي .

مع بداية صيفها الخامس بذلك البيت تحدثنا فرانسيس فى كتاب "تحت شمس توسكانا" عن خوض تجربة التغيير والتحول في أسلوب العيش وسط الريف الإيطالي حيث يتوفر الهدوء و البساطة و الطعام اللذيذ والبيوت العتيقة الجميلة .

فرانسيس قررت شراء منزل قديم ، و مهجور فى مدينة كورتونا الواقعة على حدود أقليم توسكانا و أمبريا ، لتقود القارىء عبر صفحات الكتاب فى رحلة تجديد وترميم المنزل الريفي المسمي "براماسول" الذي يعني كلي شوق للشمس ، تقول عن ذلك : " ...قمنا بمعظم عمليات التجديد والترميم بأنفسنا، وهذا إنجاز-كما كان جدي سيقول- نظرا ً لجهلنا المطبق" ، حيث تنجح بعد جهود مضنية فى استعادة المنزل لمظهره الجميل.

تسرد فرانسيس الإجراءات القانونية لدي موثقة العقود الإيطالية ، و هواجسها حول قرارها بشراء منزل حجري متداعي وسط مزرعة مُهملة ، وتبديد مدخرات العمر على ماقد يعُد نزوة ، عن مغامراتها مع العمال الطليان الذين لايعرفون الالتزام بمواعيد محددة ، او يملكون حس تقدير المصاريف والوقت المطلوب لانجاز اعمال الهدم والبناء والترميم والطلاء و التزيين فى المبني القديم ، لهذا تقرر فرانسيس مع صديقها إد شريكها فى هذه المغامرة ، تقرر الهرب من هذه الهواجس و الاعمال المرهقة بالقيام برحلات فى المناطق المجاورة لكورتونا حيث يتذوقان الأطباق الشهية المبتكرة من المكونات المحلية البسيطة ، والتمتع بمذاقات أجود أصناف اللحوم والطيور و الصلصات المنُكهة بالأعشاب العطرية والتوابل ، و التلذذ بالمعجنات المحلية مع الجبن الفاخر ، و تذوق الحلويات وأنواع القهوة فى المطاعم الصغيرة الريفية المحتفظة بسحرها الخاصة ، التي لاينقصها الأناقة والذوق الجيد في الأطباق والمفروشات و تعبق بروائح الأطعمة اللذيذة.

بمواصلة فرانسيس بذل جهودها فى تنظيف الأرض المحيطة بالبيت ومتابعة اعمال الترميم وإعادة بناء بعض اجزاء البيت الداخلية ، تدريجيا ً تستجيب أشجار الزيتون المهملة للتقليم والتشذيب ، والفلاحة والحراثة ، فتستيقظ ا��أرض والبيت من سباتهم الطويل ، ليعود البيت مزدحم بالضيوف والأثاث الجميل ، ومحاط بأشجار الزيتون و مزخرف بنباتات إبرة الرعي و اشجار السرو والخزامي ، لتصنع لها بيت ووطن.

كما يصبح المكان و أسلوب العيش بالمدينة الصغيرة و بالأقليم ككل هو محور للكتاب ، و لاتكتفي مايز بذلك ، فهى تقدم عبر الصفحات الكثير من وصفات التحضير الشهية لكل فصل من فصول السنة في مطبخها القديم وحديقتها البسيطة والمزرعة التي تحولت من دغل كثيف من الأعشاب الكثيفة إلى مزرعة خصبة للزيتون والعنب ، بالإضافة لاستكشاف كلا من إقليمي توسكانا و أمبريا ، و اكتشاف العلاقة بين الطعام والثقافة .

يدفع الوصف الجميل و المفصل فى صفحات هذا الكتاب بالقارىء لمقاربة تجربة الكاتبة حتى يكاد يلمح وسط الصفحات سهول توسكانا الخضراء حيث المناظر الطبيعية الجميلة ،ويشم رائحة الشموع في الكنيسة، ويتمتع بمشاهدة الأسقف المزينة الجدارية وغرف العذاري من عصر النهضة . وأيضًا التمتع بمشاهدة الغروب ، والتجوال فى الحقول والطرق الترابية المتعرجة و الممتدة عبر هضاب ووديان المنطقة ، يشعر بالحياة النابضة للشوارع مدن وقري الأقليم التي تعود إلى العصور الوسطى.

***
الكاتبة فرانسيس مايز حاليا ً تعيش بين سان فرانسيسكو وكورتونا ، أصدرت ثلاث كتب حول توسكانا حيث نجحت بهذه الكتب فى جذب انتباه المستثمرين الأجانب من أجل الاستثمار فى القري المُهملة و انتعاش الريف الإيطالي ، بالإخص المدن والقري الواقعة فى توسكانا بعد ان تعرضت للهجر والاهمال والنسيان من قبل السكان المحليين .

حقق الكتاب مبيعات عالية ، ودخل ضمن قائم النيويورك تايمز للكتب الأعلى مبيعا ً ،كما انتج فى العام 2003 فيلم مقتبس عن الكتاب ، مع اغفال الكثير من التفاصيل الواردة فيه ، وقامت ببطولته كلا من: ديان لين و رؤوال بوفا واخراج :اودري ويلز.

صور لمنزل براماسول وللكاتبة وزوجها:http://almuheet.blogspot.com/2015/12/...

File under "Lifestyle Porn."

I need to preface this by saying that had this book been anything less than a monster success, I wouldn't trash it. But for the life of me, I can't understand why it's so popular. What if she had written about remodeling a house in North Dakota? Would that be interesting? Of course not, so why are the tedious details of doing the same in Italy any different? This book has about as much to do with Italy as it does with North Dakota. The movie is even worse if that is possible.

I had some friends come to visit me here in Spain and one of them was reading this book. I had read it before and thought very little of it. As I am now in the middle of editing my own travel book about Spain I violently yanked this away from them to reread. I have to say that my first impression of Under the Tuscan Sun was accurate. As I edit my book about life in Spain, I am a little worried about what I feel to be a lack of structure and focus in what I have written. After rereading this book, my work seems like a textbook example of structure. She just seems to comment randomly about her rather privileged life in Italy. This book should serve as how not to write a travel memoir. It's truly ghastly writing at every step without a hint of insight to be found anywhere.

This thing is like The Da Vinci Code of travel memoirs, or whatever the hell you want to call it. She is not as clumsy a writer as Dan Brown; I refer more to the immense popularity of this book. I just don’t get it. I just don’t see why it is that we all have to be reading the same book. I suppose that this is how the publishing industry works. They would much rather force one book down our collective throats than to print and market a series of books better suited for a range of tastes. I guess they find this sort of book to be inoffensive enough to cover a wide range of readers who are looking for a book about living in Italy. A more interesting take on this subject would be a lot riskier.

Just an anecdotal observation on my part, but in travel memoirs when writers don’t speak the local language very well they litter their writing in English with foreign words. The only time you should use a foreign word is when there is no English equivalent, and even then only sparingly. I'd wager that her Italian is pretty lousy.

For me this book is "creative writing" gone bad, and isn't all creative writing just writing gone bad? If you removed all of the adjectives and adverbs, this book would be about ten pages long.

I never felt like reading more of this, no matter where I was in the narrative. As far as the premise to the book, I really couldn’t care less about some prosperous couple’s work they are doing on an Italian country estate. I don’t know why this sort of story is so appealing to American readers (lifestyle porn, as I mentioned).

All of the home improvement narrative had little or nothing to do with Italy. One of the most important things to learn about life in Europe is how their cities work; at least this is one of the most important things that I've learned in my years in Spain. A country house is more for locals who are fed up with life in the city. It will take me many more years to reach this stage of assimilation. Being isolated on your Italian country estate doesn’t have much to do with Italy. She probably went weeks without ever speaking to an Italian that wasn’t among her service employees.

Every noun is propped up by a adjective, as if nothing is able to stand on its own. The Italians in the book come across as mere stereotypes. I’m surprised I didn’t read about Guiseppe, the old organ grinder with his monkey. For a woman who has spent a lot of time in the country, she has precious few insights about what life is like in that country other than her rather untraditional versions of Italian recipes.

On the back cover of the book they say that the author is a gourmet cook. The first thing that came to my mind was that she may have qualified as a gourmet cook in America back when the book was first published, but among the Italians she probably rates somewhere in the bottom middle of household hash slingers. From her recipes, I didn’t get the impression that she was creating any miracles in the kitchen. This isn’t trying to take anything away from her skills, it’s just that in Mediterranean countries, the bar for culinary prowess has been raised rather high. Like being a distance runner in Kenya, to be considered an above-average cook in this region of the world you have to be truly remarkable. Judging by the heavenly cooking smells wafting into the stairwell of my small building in Valencia, it seems that really good cooks aren’t exactly a rare commodity.

I suppose people are in love with the idea of moving to a country estate in Tuscany and nothing else really matters. I just couldn’t give a shit about her petty bourgeois issues with restoring a country home. For me it’s just a load of really uninteresting gibberish, like someone recounting a dream. The author revealed few truly insightful observations about Italy or Italian life. I doubt that she learned much Italian in all of her time spent there. As she is a university writing professor, she writes in the clunky college professor manner that has shaped and destroyed so much American writing. This just seems like it appeals to the fanny pack wearing crowd of international travel, the folks who read those awful yuppie travel magazines, keep their cash in a money belt, and see travel as nothing more than a shopping opportunity. I'd like to set the author of this book up on a blind date with the guy who wrote the equally-awful A Year in Provence.

I just noticed that this same author has a follow-up book to Under the Tuscan Sun with the sub-heading: Journeys of a Passionate Traveler. I think I need to throw up a little bit. First of all, you can't call something a journey if you use a credit card. Secondly, what the hell is a passionate traveler? Is that like when they do a porno movie on a desert island or you have sex in the bathroom of a train? It’s like those cooking shows for people “who love to eat.” Are there people who don’t like to eat? A “passionate traveler?” I just couldn’t get past the title of this book to find out what she is talking about. I seriously doubt that she has written a single thing of interest before Under the Tuscan Sun came out even though she taught creative writing. Has anyone who teaches creative writing ever written anything interesting?

Várhatóan ez nem lett az év olvasmányélménye*, de elég érdekes szöveg ahhoz, hogy kicsit kifejtsem, kb 120-130 oldal után hogyan hagytam félbe.
Először is, a szerző nagyon jól bánik a szavakkal, vagyis egy fél szinonimaszótárt beledolgozott ebbe az unalmas történetbe, és néha csak fogtam a fejem a bosszankodástól, hogy aki képes ilyen színesen kifejezni magát, ugyan miért nem kelti föl vele az érdeklődésem. Amerikai szerző, ez sem elhanyagolható: értelmes, analitikus, praktikus megfigyelések, óriási lexikális áradat a hely leírásával, a házfelújítás aprólékos részleteiről, vagyis főleg erről a két témáról értekezik hosszan és bombasztikusan, kimerítően, amíg már nem volt elég erőm és kitartásom tovább lapozni.** Olyan az egész, mint a tanárnő (vagy professzor? feltehetően, hiszen egyetemen tanítanak Amerikában év közben) egy iskolai esszévé tupírozott napló: mivel nyáron játszódik a nyári otthon felfedezése-belakása-mindennyavalyája, tényleg mintha a „mi történt velem nyári szünetben” beadandóját írná egy túlképzett, idő- és pénzmilliomos stréber, aki ráadásul valami döbbenetesen reflektálatlan módon (poszt-)koloniális figura, igazi pozitív kultúrrasszista. Úgy értem ezt, hogy egyfelől túlzóan, lihegve istenít mindent, ami az ő perspektívájában „olasz”, és emellett szinte agresszív lenézéssel utasít el minden mást ami nem kevésbé olasz, csak épp nem illik bele a fantáziájába: elsősorban a bizarrnak és problémásnak leírt olasz embereket. Ennek ellenére persze, hogy minden második mondatában szerepel minimum egy echte olasz nyelvű szó, hogy érezzük a nyelvtanulásának a gyönyörűségét. Emellett szinte kötelezően belevetik magukat a totális mellékszereplő/kellék/tettestárs Férj figurával ("Ed"-ként van rá hivatkozva, és hát nemtom, ha férfi író „bánik” így a narratívájában a mindenférfimögött-ottálló-Nő alakkal, azt rögtön belefojtanák némelyek egy nagy tartály extraszűzbe) kézenfogva az expatrióta életbe.
Ebben a tálalásban már az sem sokat javított az összhatáson, ha néha tényleg előkerült egy úgynevezett recept, vagy gasztro-kitérő, ezek már a rengeteg házfelújítós esettanulmány és élménytár közepette valahogy kilógnak***.
Összességében érdekes lehetett volna ilyen sok mindent megtanulni egy régi romos épület felújításáról, csak olyan antipatikus nekem az elbeszélő, és szándéka ellenére oly kevéssé nyűgözött le, hogy inkább levontam pár tanulságot (a „hogyan ne írjunk szöveget soha semmilyen körülmények között” vonalon) és becsuktam.
Amúgy Olaszország baromi érdekes!

*köszi @blueisthenewpink a lehetőséget, a figyelmeztetés dacára kitörő kíváncsiság jegyében :)
**vagyis pont hogy volt, mert mielőtt feladtam volna, előrébb lapoztam úgy 50 oldalt, hogy lesz-e valami szubsztanciális, tematikus, elbeszélői váltás a procedurában: ennek nem láttam jelét.
***kötelező elem lehetett a dolgozatírási kritériumok között? muhaha.

كتاب جميل ، يتحدث عن حلم جميل لفرانسيس في العيش في ايطاليا تلك البلاد الساحرة ، و من ثم امتلاكها لبيت جميل " براماسول " مع ارض مزروعه بتشى انواع الاشجار ، كل ذلك الحلم الجميل ، كيف تحوله لواقعها هي و إد .
احببت توسكانا ، و بحيرة تراسيمينو ، و كازا بارماسول ، صدقا اجادت الكاتبه الوصف ، لتجعلك تستشعر وجودك في تلك الاماكن ، و احساسك بالشمس التوسكانية على بشرتك .