Under the Tuscan Sun

Pages: 280 📖

Year Published: 1996 🕰️

Days to Complete: 17

Author:

Frances Mayes was born and raised in the American south and teaches creative writing at San Francisco State University where she also earned her masters degree. She is most-known for this book but has several novels and other books about her adventures in Italy and travels around the world. She divides her time between North Carolina and Cortona, Italy and has one daughter.

Learn More about Frances Mayes

Three words to describe this read:

Encouraging- As someone who has always viewed home ownership as a harrowing feat, this book confirmed my suspicions but also made me feel that it was possible. Just like most things, buying a home (especially in another country), remodeling it, and maintaining it can be daunting and seem completely overwhelming from time to time, but people do it. They focus on one thing after the other and get it done. This seems to be a great example of being rewarded for taking a risk and hard work.

Descriptive- Mayes is very detailed in her descriptions of the house and the projects that they undergo over the course of three summers. After I stopped reading like I was going to have to take a quiz on the smallest details, I didn’t mind the nitty gritty so much and was able to get through to the more heartfelt and personal moments.. As well as the recipes.

Honest- While there were beautifully described scenes of delicious meals under shady trees and mountainous views besides foggy lakes, Mayes was sure to describe difficult and frustrating scenes of renovation with the same clarity. It both romanticized and brutally represented how purchasing and remodeling a house in a foreign country must be.

Quote:

“Where you are is who you are. The further inside you the place moves, the more your identity is intertwined with it. Never casual, the choice of place is the choice of something you crave.”

This quote struck me. I’ve always had a desire to ~be somewhere~; like the place would feel right. I’ve longed for places where I’ve never been. Based on this quote, I wonder what the deeper meaning of those longings might be. I also like that this quote suggests that your surrounding impact who you are and I believe that to be true.