Frances Mayes Books

First of all, my new engagement calendar arrived in pristine condition, very sturdy cover, heavier quality than I expected, with beautiful pages of Tuscany. The added treat was lovely sayings, recipes, and quotes throughout. The scenic photos carry one away to a glorious place. Pages also of great quality! I will love carrying this dreamy calendar around to sooth me during each and every day this year.

Wonderful, inspiring, soul lifting pictures.

Always one week and one picture open.

Lays flat.

This is a beautful calendar. Has lots of room to write on each date. If you loved her books you'll enjoy owning this too.

How wonderful to get yet another Tuscan diary from Frances Mayes- 2008.
I have been buying Under the Tuscan Sun diaries since 2000.
Come September I am checking on Amazon to see if it is available.
It is truly such a magic moment when it arrives in my postbox!- all those great pictures and words of wisdom and joy in life.
I have read/ own all Frances Mayes' books- imagine my delight when on a trip to Italy some years back I FOUND her villa--and took my own pics of this beautiful house!
The yearly diary is such an ongoing reminder of my travels in Tuscany and indeed of so many things Italian.

My spirits are lifted by the beautiful pictures and quotes in this planner. Does a great job keeping me organized.

Beautiful and useful. I was looking for a desk calendar to remind me of my visit to Italy six years ago, this calendar is perfect and it also reminds me of one of my favorite movies "Under the Tuscan Sun" - not surprising since Frances Mayes's is the author of the best selling book "Under the Tuscan Sun". The photos by Stephen Rothfeld are delicious visual feasts. Every page brings a delightful surprise, visual and words. It transports me back vividly to some happy memories of time spent in Italy. Thank you!

A beautiful book, ideal for the cofeetable. It nicely documents private devotion in Italy. The photos are outstanding.

The tittle of this book encompasses the essence of the book. Frances Mayes retires to Italy and obtains a rural farm house and olive trees. It is not a story but more of a biography of the struggles and joys of restoring the farmhouse in Tuscany. Also the trials and tribulations of working with the Government and several diverse cultures from the workmen tot the subcontractors. It is the details that make the book so interesting.

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. Also enjoyed the audio version.

Be aware that reading this book will make you want to eat Italian.

This is another of Francis Mayes books that I have thoroghly enjoyed. I am a bit prejudiced, thought, in that my daughter married and established her family in Florence, Italy, and I have been so very fortunate to have visited and traveled there often in the last eight years. Florence, Cortona and Tuscany in general are so beautiful, and the people have made my family feel so welcome.
Ken Irons

I have read the other Frances Mayes books on Tuscany, "Under the Tuscan Sun" and "Bella Tuscany". This book is the perfect complement to those works as it portrays the very essence of what Mayes finds so appealing and charming about life in Tuscany. The pictures are gorgeous and recipes she includes are easy to prepare and delightful to behold. I recently gave a copy of this book to a friend who had just returned from the area and she felt it captured the essence of the place.

Her books have probably sold millions. Good thing the buyers didn't have to listen to her! Her voice is absolutely not suited for a CD or any other recording. I could only take it for about five minutes before my ears cried out for relief and my strong forefinger punched the eject button. It's a shame because I'm sure the content would have been worthwhile.

This book is exactly what we wanted. We have lived in Europe for 7 of the last 9 years and LOVE Italy. We plan to purchase a house there soon and have decorated with all things Italian. This coffee table book was just the ticket. Beautiful pictures and food too!

This book is quite different from Mayes' first two books about Tuscany, which were more like travel memoirs. This book's focus is photographs, accompanied by some commentary, thoughts, and insights from Mayes, as well as some recipes. Frankly, I didn't read the text at all. I just enjoyed the photographs. I wish I'd had this book when I was reading Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany because all the places she talks about in those books are scattered throughout the pages of this book in beautiful photographs. We finally get to see what Mayes' charming Bramasole house looks like, as well as the town of Cortona and the surrounding Tuscan countryside. If you haven't read Mayes' first two books, read them and have this one handy so you can see for yourself just how beautiful these houses, towns, and people are.

This product was very helpful. My professor actually required it for an intro to poetry writing class, and the text is very well organized and understandable. It helps you to write all kinds of poems from free verse, to sonnets, and helps break down certain tools and poetic devices used in all poems. It's definatly a well written guide to poetry, and all of the poems used as examples are very interesting and fun to read!

As a poet who has been writing poetry for about 5 years, I find this book very helpful. It is not only a guide to writing poetry, but to reading poetry as well. The book includes many selections of inspiration poems that coincide with the topic covered in each chapter. A great guide for beginning poets and for those who desire to increase their skills in reading and writing poetry.
'kansaspoet'

I used this book as a last minute replacement in teaching a collegiate, first year poetry class -- the anthology I intended to use had it's publication date pushed back. As such, I used it essentially sight unseen, figuring the low price would cover my not having seen it first hand. But even with the price I was terribly embarrassed for using it.

This is a miserably constructed work. Its discussions of poetry are ridiculously shallow, frequently to the point of being incorrect or misleading. It is written at the level of someone whose knowledge of poetry and poetics was gained only through reading other poor anthologies, at the level of someone who could not ever successfully demonstrate any sophistication or depth of knowledge in the field. I would be embarrassed by this book even if I was teaching _high school_ freshmen. As far as the art of poetry is concerned, as far as even _basic_ knowledge of poetry is concerned, this is less than drivel. And all the worse because of how deceiving it can be. If someone read this with no knowledge of poetry and spoke from it as a source of authority, they would frequently find themselves looking quite foolish. To me that is an egregious fault.

Yet more bleakly hilarious than how poor are the discussions is how bad the writing is. There are many places where the writing looks like it was edited from five pages to one paragraph, taking two sentences a page to make the condensation. And too often I came upon places where the poor writing created misconceptions. You would think that someone who makes their living as an author would have a little more pride in their work than permitting this to be published in their name. The writing is bad enough that I now have no desire to ever crack one of Mayes's novels.

Just to say, as an anthology, it is tolerable. There is a decent selection of poems for the price. (And it is only the price that makes it tolerable.) But in using it you will quickly find that while there may be a variety of authors, there is not a great variety of styles -- that is, there might be one or two representatives of a style or technique, but rarely enough to create a demonstration toward understanding. I was often (in my class) frustrated by not being able to find a representative of styles of verse that should be present in number in any anthology. Too much of it is contemporary, and too much of that rather unremarkable poetry. There is not nearly enough non-contemporary poetry to name itself a "field guide," not nearly enough variety to even be considered a decent sampling of the art form.

Stay away from it. It is not well crafted. For the errors and misconceptions you should definitely look elsewhere -- if you look to this to teach you something, what it will teach you (how little that is) will be error-ridden. Spend the extra money and get something of value. As someone who claims to love poetry, Mayes has done the art a great wrong, mocking it by speaking of it carelessly, revealing through her shallow presentation how little she's truly devoted herself to poetry's secrets and graces.

This book has made poetry accessible to me for the first time in my life. The descriptions and explanations are easy to understand and are, on many occasions, lyrical. The author has helped to unravel some of the mystery of poetry for me. Indeed, I am now beginning, from the varied pieces of poetry in the book, to identify particular poets whose work I will explore further. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has always felt daunted and intimidated by poetry.

Poetry is a very personal art form, and there will always be divergent reactions to the same work. I have read several textbooks and anthologies. This may not be the strongest text or the broadest anthology, yet taken as a whole it is the most inspiring book about poetry I have ever read. This is a text that stirs the readers emotions to someting other than boredom. It was refreshing to find a text that admits that the scansion of a poem is not set in concrete but can be open to interpretation. The selection of poems is broad and avoids the flood of dated political "poems" that have dominated college texts in years past. Any professor would do well to include this in their book list. I am amazed that any teacher would think a course in poetry or literature could be taught from only one text.

Go to the back of the book--check out the poem "Punahou Reunion"--set at the high school campus attended by Presidential hopeful BARACK OBAMA!

The words that spill out of Hawaii-born, Punahou graduate Wright tend to seize you right by the lapels. SLAM BAM! The "prose" selections are like rambling liner notes for an art-rock project, fascinating while accompanied by music. The more formal "poems" are punchier, and in their spareness have greater power to goose the imagination. Some are award winners, such as "Aloha, Liliuokalani," and all show an eye for detail and weight.

This is a wry voice, reporting a discriminating and sometimes merciless eye. The first half of the book suggests that each poem is an experiment in itself. It's interesting, for example, to see poems with no perceptible structure utilizing first-word caps in every line, a sparseness of articles. It's even more interesting to come upon an occasional rhyme that makes us wonder whether it might have been thrown in as a mere tease, since it's a unique offering in its poem.The intrepid refusal to stick with any one approach lends the conviction that this poet knows exactly what he's doing. The mystery of why is a goad that impels the reader along page after page.

It's nice to read a book of "original" poetry--poetry that has sense of reaching for the deep, blood meaning. BEFORE THE CITY has a lot of substance, expressed in creative, heartfelt observation. At once sarcastic, then ironic, maudlin, angry, hopeless; ultimately hopeful--it's all there, like a painting that provides the eyes with a multitude of lines, colors, shapes, and dimensions. Many beautiful lines reminding of me the surrealism in reality. No one poem overwhelmed me, but all as a group impressed upon me a strong ability to see, to hold onto the feeling and "milk it dry." Very few poets should keep using up precious trees to implant their words-- but Kirby Wright should keep doing it.

I lived in Hawaii for a year; Kirby Wright lived there a lot longer than that. Hawaii's a different country, a more innocent land, a different "state" than the rest of the US. It infects you, that state does, and when you're infected by Hawaii and find yourself in Northern California, and Southern California, and Sunnyvale, and New Jersey you look at those places differently than if you were from just another part of the country. Or Kirby Wright does. He can't help it. There are more poems set in California in this book than there are poems set in Hawaii, but what we get to see when we read it is what the rest of us look like to a guy with this thing they call Aloha in his heart. It's a cool thing to have in your heart. I never quite got it but I recognize it when I see it. "Love in the Library," that's my favorite. It could have happened anywhere. As could many of the other pieces...well, except for the ones that happened in Hawaii. For those you pretty much have to have been there, or you have to be Kirby Wright. Thanks. G.

I read this book first, as I have all Frances Mayes books, from the library. Wanting the great ideas and recipes at close-hand, I purchased this as well as her others. I used many suggestions on my trip last Fall to Italy.

Francis Mayes does such an incredible job of bringing Tuscany to the rest of the world. This book includes fun recipes and beautiful photos...a joy to read!
--Vicki Landes, author of "Europe for the Senses - A Photographic Journal"

This a wonderful exploration into Italian design. Loved it. Highly recommended for the designer or homeowner.

Mayes's poetic assemblage of words, captures your attention from the moment you open this book. Accompanied with luscious visualization, her words even further embrace the art of Italian living. The colors and textures of the country melt upon the pages of this book, as Frances's emotional connection with the folks of the sun drenched terrain and their joyful heritage and love for family and food, are celebrated in this work.

I purchased this book along with another Your Home A Living Canvas: Create Stunning Faux Finishes & Murals with Paint and was amazed at the similarities of these two books. Though completely different writing styles, Mayes's book "descibes the essence" of Italian lifestyle, while Heuser's actually "captures the rich color and artistic spirit" of the Tuscan home. Both authors suggests unique ways to recreate the warmth and beauty of the Tuscan country home into your personal life - Heuser's "Your Home..." is an actual how to book, giving the reader over 30 step by step, well illustrated projects on how to easily achieve the timeless old-world atmosphere. Like the Italian inspired murals painted in Mayes's home, Heuser shares the secrets to creating "period" styled finishes and mural detailing throughout every room in your home. Both lovely books are accompanied with unbelivable art photography, with Heuser's packed with unimaginable before during and after shots illustrating the transformation of a 1890's historic home into an Italian paradise. I highly reccomend both of these titles, "especially "if you are seeking interior inspiration for creating the authentic Tuscan look and feel in your home decorating!

I was so excited when I ordered this book and so let down after getting it and looking it over. The cover is VERY deceptive. This is NOT a style/decorating book. This is the story of a couple renovating a wonderful old home in Tuscany. It is well written and at times charming and warm. It is also often quite boring reading about what stone to pick for the house and who they visited and what wine they drank. It almost seems as if the author were forcing another book out for publication!! There are VERY FEW photos...barely any really in the book. The photos present are of wine, friends, a few of the house and a few of home decor/furniture layout, and food. The photos are very striking and pretty....if you enjoy seeing their friends and not really getting any basic decorating ideas. There are about 30 recipes and photos of the food, as I said above. Some recipes are nice but I really didn't see anything new and inspiring. A good Italian cookbook would be a better investment. As for the cover....it is very deceptive to say the least since it focuses on a very pretty vignette: furniture, art, pottery and style of arrangement. This is most definitely NOT what this book is about. In fact: I found the cover to be the best part of the book. I decided to return it and look for a better book really focusing on design. The author clearly loves Tuscany and if you want a nicely written and warm hearted book to read about hers and her husband's story of renovation, friends and their love of food, wine and Tuscany then you will like this book. It is not a picture book at all but rather a reading book with a story that seems rather forced and often VERY VERY boring and drawn out for the purpose of publication.

This is a book by my favorite author, Francis Mayes. Francis took me back to a fascinating but sad, fictional story about a family that could have been from her own deep Southern roots. Her creativeness came forward as she wove a mysterious multi-generational long held secret into a place where the characters were able to accept the outcome and move on. I loved the descriptive, colorful contrasts between Mayes own life in Italy and her native Georgia. I enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

Being a daughter of the South myself, I can honestly say the characters in this book are uniquely southern. I was constantly going, yes, I know that place -- I pass that on my way home -- I have a friend from there, etc. She did a perfect job in her characterization, and her sense of place is phenomenal. The story itself was very easy to read mostly because it pulled you in and made you interested in what became of these people. The plot was interesting and had enough twists to keep you coming back for more. One thing I loved was Mayes' ability to surprise. I would be reading along, engrossed in the story, when suddenly I would have to back up and reread a portion (usually at the end of a chapter) because what I read couldn't possibly be what she wrote. And yet it always was -- interesting bits about the characters that just got slipped in. Altogether, I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting a good read.

this book is a downer from the get-go. so depressing. loved under the tuscan sun so tried this one. don't waste your time/

Mayes' writing is utterly beautiful. If you love language as only a poet can deliver, well-drawn characters you're unlikely to forget, and a story that pulls you in from the very beginning, don't miss this lovely, haunting novel.

This book left the reader with too many loose ends. There were many mysteries in the story... and too many left unsolved. Yes, it would make for good discussions, but left the individual reader adrift and without any closure.

This was a frustratingly uneven collection - when I pick up a book like this I expect consistent quality because the editors have done the work for me. But like another reviewer, perhaps I should have considered the fact that Frances Mayes edited this collection, and I'm not a fan of her work.
That said, a number of these pieces are worth seeking out. The best include Michael Finkel's "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Void," which will take you into the heart of the Sahara. Devin Friedman's "Forty Years in Acapulco," William Booth's "Throw Junior from the Car," and Lawrence Millman's "In the Land of the White Rajahs" are all very funny takes on the people and places that move us to travel. Kate Wheeler's "The Fist of God" is a stunning piece on the shocking fight festivals still held in some corners of Bolivia. Isabelle Tree's "Spetses, Greece" is a charming glipse of a corner of the world she has made into a home. And Tom Mueller's "Ancient Roads, Walled Cities" is a moving meditation on Roman roads and the power of stone to hold memory. David Sedaris' "The Man Upstairs" is funny but quite short.
On the downside, three pieces on 9/11 challenged my definition of travel writing. Only Scott Anderson's "Below Canal Street" had anything new to say on the topic, although to be fair all were writen much closer to that tragic day. Steven Bodio's "Sovereigns of the Sky" was much less about a place than a sport, and an archaic one that I didn't want to see up this close - hunting with birds. Rod Davis' "A Rio Runs Through It" told us a lot about the state and culture of life along the Rio Grande, but it is overlong and gets redundant. And I found Elizabeth Nickerson's "Where the Bee Sucks" to be a self-indulgent mess.
When this collection is good it's very good, but when it's bad it's awful.

If you like short stories and travelogues you'll love this book. These are the best of the best. And like some reviewers have already mentioned, there are a wide variety of experiences and information in this collection of essays. I found myself laughing in Devin Friedman's "Forty Years in Acapulco" and Lawwrence Millman's "In the Land of the White Rajahs" and learning new information from Molly O'Neill's "Home For Dinner." I admit, however, that I did enjoy soem of the essays much better than others, but they are all very well-written and image provoking. It's as if I traveled the world without leaving my room.

I have been a big fan of this series and really enjoyed last year's compilation edited by Theroux. I also must admit that I really enjoy Theroux's travel writing as well. This year's edition, edited by Mayes, has the same faults that her books do, namely, they are long on description and short on plot. I have not gotten all of the way through The Best American Travel Writing of 2002 yet but what I have read is very similar to Mayes' "Under the Tuscan Sun". If you really like tales of flowery, descriptive (and dull) walks though Italian streets, etc. you will probably enjoy this book but if you are looking for more "great adventures" travel stories, try the 2001 edition instead.

What a convenience to be able to find high-quality travel writing all condensed into one volume. This book covers the globe in its range of articles and essays, from Papa New Guinea to the Texas/Mexican border, from Greece to the Sahara, from Bolivia to Israel.

I found several inclusions to be truly excellent - especially Scott Anderson's piece on 9/11, Rod Davis's article on the US-Mexican border in Texas, Michael Finkel's article about the void in the Sahara, Elizabeth Nickson's piece on Salt Spring Island, Molly O'Neill following a Cambodian chef home, Kira Salak in Papa New Guinea, and Kate Wheeler in violent Bolivia. Some pieces though were a bit blah and the fact that they were alphabetically arranged meant the flow wasn't ideal. For example, the first 144 pages of the book were all by male writers, leaving me starved for a different perspective by the time I reached Kate Hennessey's piece.

There is a decidedly male tone to the book, which I found disappointing, with only 7 women represented among the 26 writers. This was reflected in a thematic focus of finding the most outlandish, isolated place on earth. I would have liked a little less reading about people setting out to do what no one had done before, and more human interactions with people of different places and cultures.

But overall, this book offers armchair travelers the opportunity to enter many different worlds from the comfort of their favorite reading place.

Although I didn't like most of the stories in this anthology, there were a few that I really, really, really loved. And they made it worth the price of the book, over and over.
The introduction by Frances Mayes is a gem and really sets the tone. Especially if you were wondering why a report on 9-11 would qualify for "travel writing". (After you read that introduction, you'll -unbelievably - have to agree that it does).

The story "40 years in Acapulco" is worth the price of the book by itself. I came away feeling almost guilty like a voyeur, as if I had just gotten a sneak peek into somebody elses life. I was literally transported.

The 2000 version is much more upbeat than this one. But then, I suppose we were living in a much more upbeat "travel" world then.