I hear a lot of crap about how this book is silly, fluffy, boring, slow, unstructured, unserious. I've had three people now (all men =p) tell me it's "chicklit." First of all, is that supposed to be an insult? Second: What? Perhaps this all has something to do with how popular the book was and continues to be. Regardless, don't let the naysayers dissuade you from giving it a try.

The writing is poetically beautiful, illuminating a place that is equally so. Plenty of "place writing" does a disservice to the locations it tries to praise, but Mayes isn't just in love with Tuscany, she's also an astonishingly good writer, and she's sensitive to the fact that she is an outsider and therefore writes as one who does not "know" the culture. She's constantly delighted with new discoveries, and she shares them in such a way that you can share them, too.

The real genius here, though, is in the scope. It's not all sweeping vistas and Renaissance churches in this telling; Mayes transforms the details of daily life, and she considers big questions, too. Food and drink, new friends and neighbors, the non-human inhabitants of her house and land, the joys and frustrations of foreign gardening, the colors and textures and tastes daily encountered are all given their moments. The next moment, Mayes ruminates on the vagaries of renovating a house in a foreign country(this is what the book is ostensibly about), the reasons a person leaves their own homeland to find a home elsewhere, and the ways a person is changed by what they find in that elsewhere.

Is it cliche to say that I was changed by the experience of reading this, and that I am again, every time I revisit the book? Too bad, then -- this book is on my top shelf. I wish I could write like Frances Mayes.

To prepare myself for Tuscany this summer, I read Under the Tuscan Sun, and well...if you can’t make it to Tuscany, this book is the next best thing! Author Frances Mayes tells her story of buying an old abandoned house in Cortona and her efforts in trying to remodel and rebuild it. In her narrative she weaves in the history and food of Tuscany (her property itself has an old, Etruscan wall). The book is exquisitely written. The language itself is as much of an offering as the incredible wine and food of this immaculate countryside (I have to admit that we did ship home several boxes of wine from Montepulciano and the Chianti region!).

This is a kind of Eat Pray Love, I got divorced, have a new boyfriend and I'm making big life change like-- buying an old, dilapidated 250 year-old stone house in a country that's not mine, that's changed its government regime 61 times since WWII, that moves very slowly, almost at backwards pace, in the countryside of a place that's removed, and starting something new! I enjoyed reading all of her challenges and unexpected joyful moments. I loved this book!

Here is a passage from the book to give you a sense of the depth and rich tapestry of the language:

"Italy always has had a magnetic north pull on my psyche. Houses have been on my mind for four summers of renting farmhouses all over Tuscany. In the first place Ed and I rented with friends, we started calculating on the first night, trying to figure out if four pooled savings would buy the tumbled stone farm we could see from the terrace. Ed immediately fell for farm life and roamed over our neighbors' land looking at the work in progress. The Antolinis grew tobacco, a beautiful if hated crop. We could hear workers shout "Vipera!" to warn the others of a poisonous snake. At evening, a violet blue haze rose from the dark leaves. The well-ordered farm looked peaceful from the vantage point of our terrace. Our friends never came back, but for the next three vacations, the circuitous search for a summer home became a quest for us--whether we ever found a place or not, we were happening on places that made pure green olive oil, discovering sweet country Romanesque churches in villages, meandering the back roads of vineyards, and stopping to taste the softest Brunelli and the blackest Vino Nobile. Looking for a house gives an intense focus."

A chance to journey along looking over a person's shoulder as they go from summer holiday tripper in Tuscany to owning an old Tuscan farmhouse needing a vast deal of TLC was an intriguing prospect.

I had seen the movie adaption of this book, but the movie is only one small facet of all that is covered in gently-paced slightly distant reflections on a years' long labor of love and life. This book reads like a blend of journal-scrapbook-ideas-memorabilia-organizer all wrapped in one. And that's pretty much what the author says it is- the tidied version that is.

I immersed myself in Frances and Ed's (two American university professors) summer and other holiday adventures in buying and restoring an old Tuscan farmhouse. There are details of their personal projects, the entertaining attempt and moderate success of working with Italian contractors and laborers in spite of a limited knowledge of the language. Details of acquiring their home pieces and indulging in the amazing produce and other foods of the region from growing their own, to markets, to cooking and entertaining. Social engagements of encounters with the locals, meeting for dinners around at the homes of an international community of ex-pats including a famous writer that Frances is a fan. The anguish of disappointment and humor, too, in the contractor hired to work while they are away back in America and then the hum of industry while they pull out all stops to deliver a fabulous wedding for their friends. There is so much more including a section of her Italian recipes that I was grateful to find in the center of the book after all that talk of food.

I will say, that I'm probably the opposite of most readers. I got bored during her sightseeing trips in the region, reminiscing of the past during her childhood in Georgia, or her thoughts on her life and how its changing, but I was really into the restorations and projects around their home along with talks of marketing and cooking.
It is slow-paced for certain and meanders a great deal. It reads better in small bites of time rather than larger consumption of pages at a time. It follows a general linear time line and offers episodes in their Tuscan summers so its not messy, but it won't read crisply or quickly either.

All in all, it was a pleasant reading experience that gave me a lovely vicarious trip to Tuscany. I definitely don't think I'm up to restoring an old Tuscan farmhouse, but staying in one and shopping in the market or eating in the restaurants or going tourist on the region would definitely be a dream come true.

I found this book incredibly difficult to finish, and frankly, if not for my completionist OCD, I would have stopped reading it about halfway through. I went in expecting to learn what it is like to be in Italy as an American, what I got instead was Extreme Home Makeover: Italy edition. Random page long recipes sprinkled throughout the book didn't help either.

I really can't see any reason why so many travel websites would list this as a top read before you go to Italy. Save your time and look for something else to read (unless you're a middle aged someone looking for the next exciting Italian bruschetta recipe to win your grandkids over).

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم :


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وصفة كعكة الليمون : يخلط كوب من الزبدة مع كوبين من السكر وتضاف لهما ثلاث بيضات واحدة تلو الأخرى ، وفي وعاء أخر يمزج ثلاثة أكواب من الطحين مع ملعقة صغيرة من مسحوق الخبز " باكينغ باودر " وربع ملعقة صغيرة من الملح ، ثم يضاف هذا المزيج على مزيج السكر والبيض ويقلب جيدا وويضاف كوب حليب كامل الدسم وثلاث ملاعق كبيره من عصير الليمون الطازج وقشر الليمون المبشور ، تخبز في فرن درجة حرارته 180 درجة لمدة خمسين دقيقة . وتقديم مع كريمة الزبدة والتي تتكون من نصف كوب من الزبدة الطرية وكوب ونصف من السكر المطحون " البورد " وعصير ليمون ملعقة كبيرة .

تتحدث الرواية عن منزل ريفي مُتهالك اسمه "براماسول " يقع
في مدينة كورتونا الواقعة على حدود أقليم توسكانا و أمبريا ،
وتعود الحياة لهذا المنزل بعد أن تقوم الكاتبةبشرائه لتبدأ
بعدها رحلة الترميم التي لا تنتهي ! . وخلال هذه الرحلة نتعرف على الكثير من عادات أهل المنطقة ونكتشف أيضا جمال الطبيعة المحيطة بهذا البيت ويقال بأن الكاتبة أصدرت أيضاً ثلاث كتب تتحدث عن تجربتها بالإنتقال من حياة الصخب في كاليفورينا إلى حياة الهدوء والبساطة في إيطاليا مما ساهم في دفع عجلة السياحة هناك .
من الواضح جداً إن هذه الرواية لا تتعدى كونها مجرد مذكرات ، ودليل سياحي وجاءت التفاصيل بها مُملة فعلاً ، لفت نظري حب الكاتبة للمطبخ وشغفها بإعداد الطعام وهذا ما جعلها تتخم صفحات الرواية بالكثير من الوصفات المنزلية لأشهر الأطباق الإيطالية وقد أعددت كعكة الليمون التي أوردت ذكرها في مقدمة المراجعة لأنها فعلا تستحق خمس نجمات في حين يكون تقيمي للرواية بالمجمل لا يتجاوز النجمتين .


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صورة المنزل " المحور الرئيس في هذا العمل :

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#أبجدية_فرح
انستقرام candleflame23

OMG, this book is boring!!! Not what I was expecting at all. This is rambly with no point, going on and on about technical renovation stuff. For the life of me I can't fathom what turned this into such a bestseller. Save your time and read something better.

This is the best cookbookI've ever read. Tbh, I found this book in a random thrift store when I was maybe 17. I had no idea it was a movie, I had no idea it was a best seller, I just flipped it open and saw recipes and was like "Ayyyy" and took it home.

This book literally does nothing more than prime you to be extremely hungry for all the incredible recipes inside it. I absolutely didn't read this book to get immersed in some storyline. There are tons of other books for that. I absolutely read it because she spends like 8 pages leading you up to what appears to be the most delicious salad ever and then tells you exactly how to make it. And then when you /do/ make it and you're sitting down to eat it with your friends and family, those 8 pages preceding it set the mood of how you feel while eating a recipe the MC did within her circumstances. Whether that's at 10pm at a restaurant with a window so large that you can wave your arm around out in the street, or leaving you with images of freshly washed tomatoes plucked right off the vine.

I honestly think that people who watched the movie who came to the book for something similar got the raw shaft of this experience. Because they came hunting for a romance novel and while looking for it, missed out on the best italian cook book of their entire lives.

Znači zbilja sam uživala u čitanju ove knjige, u opisima prirode, u opisima preuređivanja kuće, vrta, maslinika, a nadasve u opisima hrane i objedovanja. Čisti hedonizam i nimalo stresa.

n  “Do you know the most surprising thing about divorce? It doesn't actually kill you. Like a bullet to the heart or a head-on car wreck. It should. When someone you've promised to cherish till death do you part says "I never loved you," it should kill you instantly. You shouldn't have to wake up day after day after that, trying to understand how in the world you didn't know. The light just never went on, you know. I must have known, of course, but I was too scared to see the truth. Then fear just makes you so stupid.”n

n  “Splendid to arrive alone in a foreign country and feel the assault of difference. Here they are all along, busy with living; they don't talk or look like me. The rhythm of their day is entirely different; I am foreign. ”n

n  “I'm mixed on figs. The fleshy quality feels spooky. In Italian, il fico, fig, has a slangy turn into la fica, meaning vulva. Possibly because of the famous fig leaf exodus from Eden, it seems like the most ancient of fruits. Oddest, too—the fig flower is inside the fruit. To pull one open is to look into a complex, primitive, infinitely sophisticated life cycle tableau.”n

Трагична книжка. И Италия харесвам, и да готвя обичам, и къща ремонтирам, но нищо от нещата, които разказваше авторката, не ми беше интересно или вълнуващо. Текстът е показно интелектуалски поръсен с всякакви Пиетро Кавалини, Джото, Брунелини, че и Анри Русо чак, а Франсис Мейс е отчаяно вгледана в собствения си пъп, като ученичка, която се харесва (похвално впрочем), но смята, че никой не ѝ обръща подобаващото внимание, и решава сама да спомене между другото дори колко хубавко се е била облякла. Сред лавината от ежедневни събития, които ѝ се случват, има дори катастрофа, в която виждат младо момче, проснато вече умряло на предната седалка на една кола, но мисля, че настоящото мое изречение съдържа повече чувство и съответно може да предизвика повече емоция от описанието на Франсис Мейс. Сегашното време е изключително досадно и объркващо, съвсем не се разбира кои "седим на масата и ядем простичката, но фантастична салата Капрезе (домати, моцарела – ние предпочитаме биволската, бос��лек)" се случват веднъж и кои са повтарящи се действия. Няма никакъв ритъм, освен някаква трескава задъханост, която препуска напред, но не увлича, а само уморява.

Plot: Author summers in Tuscany, buys an old farmhouse, refurbishes it, travels through Italy, and cooks constantly.

Review: Open up a "Sunset" or a "National Geographic Traveler" magazine, and imagine reading a beautifully descriptive & evocative 6-page essay on what it's like to live & work & cook in Italy. Then, when you finish it, flip the pages back and start the article again. But substitute the Zuppa Toscana with Porcini Risotto. The Pesto Crostini for the Fontina Bruschetta. A full-bodied Montepulciano for the earthy Sangiovese. And keep reading. Over and over again.

It's hard to read a 280-page book that has no plot. It's just hard to keep opening it up on the bus everyday. Each passage is very interesting, but a travel article - which is what it is - can only sustain a reader for so long, even when done well.

This book makes me want to visit Italy (Oh!, wait, as it turns out, we're going there on our upcoming honeymoon; lucky us!). It makes me want to bake a slice of bruschetta & top it with a rub of garlic, a dab of olive oil, & roasted eggplant. It makes me want to work in the garden & enjoy the sweat of manual labor before laying down for a lazy August siesta. It makes me want to say things like "Etruschi," & "Arrosto," and hang out with guys named Francesco and Primo. It makes me want to slowly sip a glass of Brunello di Montalcino in the fading evening sun. Essentially, it makes me want do something other than continue reading.

It makes me want to be somewhere else: Somewhere sunnier, where the cheese is richer, the vino is bolder, the afternoons are slower, and the magic of human civilization is much much older and wiser. I have the thrill of giving this book the most unforgettable and interesting bad review I've given so far.

My first ever DNF. Definitely not what I expected. You can tell she’s a talented writer, but I just couldn’t continue to read about the renovations (boring) and certainly couldn’t sympathize with her problems associated with her Italian SUMMER HOME