AUTHOR: Frances Mayes
STARTED: February 25, 2013
FINISHED: April 7, 2013
PAGES: 304
GENRE: Travel / Memoir
FIRST SENTENCE: Fortunate that cypress shadows fall in wide bands across the sunlit road; fortunate that on the first day back in Cortona I see a carpenter carrying boards, his tabby cat balanced on his shoulders, his tail straight up, riding like a surfer.
SUMMARY: [From BN.com] Having spent her summers in Tuscany for the past several years, Frances Mayes relished the opportunity to experience the pleasures of primavera, an Italian spring. A sabbatical from teaching in San Francisco allowed her to return to Cortona—and her beloved house, Bramasole—just as the first green appeared on the rocky hillsides. Bella Tuscany, a companion volume to Under the Tuscan Sun, is her passionate and lyrical account of her continuing love affair with Italy. Now truly at home there, Mayes writes of her deepening connection to the land, her flourishing friendships with local people, the joys of art, food, and wine, and the rewards and occasional heartbreaks of her villa's ongoing restoration. It is also a memoir of a season of change, and of renewed possibility. As spring becomes summer she revives Bramasole's lush gardens, meets the challenges of learning a new language, tours regions from Sicily to the Veneto, and faces transitions in her family life. Filled with recipes from her Tuscan kitchen and written in the sensuous and evocative prose that has become her hallmark, Bella Tuscany is a celebration of the sweet life in Italy.
THOUGHTS: I both adore and am infuriated by Mayes' work. Her writing is phenomenal. I feel like I am on this Tuscan adventure with her but, the fact that I am not makes me cranky. And I am cranky because this book sometimes smacks of a condescending and entitled tone. The entire time I was reading Bella Tuscany I dreamed of an Italian vacation and seethed with jealously.
So, Mayes is a very lucky woman. She gets to spend a lot of her time in Italy sampling the food, visiting the country, and generally have a grand time being an ex-pat. I want. I want that life of delicious meals, long days of sightseeing, and simple enjoying what it means to have leisure time in a lovely country. Mayes skillful crafts her memoir so that you feel like you are on the trip with her. The book is so rich in detail and description that you can taste the pasta and smell the aroma of the countryside. And those parts of the book are exceedingly beautiful to read. More please.
I would have rated this book a full on 10 if it weren't for the tone of entitlement that crept it. Mayes so differentiates between her life in Italy and her life in the states that you can feel her resentment at not being in Italy all the time.You can't blame her because, well, who wouldn't want to be on permanent vacation. But there is a simmering undertone to parts of the book where I just want to smack Mayes for being cranky about handling "real life." Lady, you got it good - just share the awesome stuff without the resentment.
So, 10 for the writing and 5 for the emotional tone. A delicious read, but I could without the smarmy notes.
RATING: 7/10 [Very Good]
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