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| Under the Tuscan Sun | 
 enlarge | Author: Frances Mayes
Publisher: Bantam Books
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy Used: £0.01
You Save: £7.98 (100%)
New (21) Collectible (8) from £0.01
Avg. Customer Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 11016
Media: Paperback
Pages: 287
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 0.8
ISBN: 0553506676
Dewey Decimal Number: 910
EAN: 9780553506679
ASIN: 0553506676
Publication Date: May 1, 1998
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: An ex-library copy with usual stamps, and with front endpaper removed. Some handling and shelving imperfections, and yellowing to page edges but clean text and bright cover, protected by plastic sleeve.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Is it just me, or is this book hard work?! February 11, 2006
9 out of 16 found this review helpful
I found this book really hard going. It was a tremendous effort to keep reading, but I had to give up halfway through. I bought the book because I thought it would be about the restoration of an old house in Tuscany. Okay, there were descriptions here and there, but they were interspersed with too many poetic, lyrical descriptions of lavish feasts laid out by the author for her simpering new friends, or descriptions of the quality of the Tuscan sunlight, ancient architecture and history. I even found the tenses she used annoying, and the tone of the entire book was patronising and self-indulgent. The film starring Diane Lane was much better and more interesting, though of course not true to the book. But, you know what they say - a picture tells a thousand words. I thought the book was so bad that I didn't bother to read the sequel, Bella Tuscany.
 A book to make you slow down and count your blessings September 23, 2005
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
I've been listening to a CD version of this book recently, and have been quite charmed by it. The reader's (Barbara Caruso)mellifluous and precise voice coupled with the fairly lavish prose (the write is a poet after all) slow my usually racing mind down to a walking pace, which is good in itself. The writer observes and admires the Italians' ability to live for the moment and enjoy it, and it is clear that she has learned to do this too. Her appreciation of her lovely house and its surroundings, of delicious indigenous food and consequent eating simply, are almost meditations on how the influence of Western urban living has removed us from good ingredients, birdsong, neighbourliness, uncomplicated pleasures. She has made me think again about taking pleasure in cooking for its own sake, and counting my many blessings.
 A treat for the senses June 9, 2004
13 out of 19 found this review helpful
Under the Tuscan Sun is a wonderful, vibrant book which made me long to return to Tuscany. Mayes and her partner buy the ramshackel villa in the Tuscan country side. The book follows their adventures in Italy and the trials of restoration in a foriegn country. (especially when the language barriers can create such interesting misunderstandings.)
The inclusion of several recepies which uses the local and in season produce sounded so delicious that I had to try them myself. This book painted such a vivid picture of rural Italy that I can hardly wait to go back.
Under the Tuscan Sun September 30, 2003
6 out of 11 found this review helpful
The tittle of this book encompasses the essence of the book. It is not a story but more of a biography of the struggles and joys of restoring a farmhouse in Tuscany.
If everyone had the wherewithal and the finances to accomplish this then there would be no need for the book. This book gives us dreams, hopes, and recipes.
Be aware that reading this book will make you want to eat Italian. And maybe pass a few more cars on the road
A few good recipes, but not much else January 21, 2003
9 out of 12 found this review helpful
Written in an annoyingly gushing fashion, although useful in part for those interested in Italian language and cooking. The author buys the house as a holiday home, and frequently returns to California, so these are not the words of someone undergoing a major life change. 'Extra Virgin' and 'Driving Over Lemons' are far better, in my opinion.
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