false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171940605m/127682.jpg 127682 3 Frances Mayes continues her love letter to Italy in this sequel to <I>Under the Tuscan Sun</I> and <I>Bella Tuscany</I>. The restoration of her home, Bramasole, is complete, but Tuscany keeps unfolding. While the earlier books chronicled her and her husband's first years in Italy, this one is less full of stories than meditations on the elements of Tuscan pleasures, accompanied by photographs that give color to the place Mayes has described so lovingly and well. <p> "What makes the people so friendly, no, not just friendly, so genuinely kind and generous?" Mayes asks an Italian friend, then turns her intense attention to answer the question herself. Her answers range from <I>baci</I> (kisses), an intimate expression that "keeps alive the joy we all are born with," to <I>la piazza</I>, the navel of Italy's intense sense of community, to a deep love affair with food and seasonal delights. (Mayes shares the latter and once again gives recipes from the traditional to the idiosyncratic while her poet-husband Edward treats us to a description of the olive harvest). Then there is the Tuscans' territorial attachment to the land. Place, Mayes writes, makes you who you are and it is by reading the landscape that you find the story of how the people lived. Like a guidebook written by a good friend who reveals to you all the secret places they've found, Mayes leads us from out-of-the-way towns to great frescoes to tiny restaurants with exquisite delicacies (and even gives you their addresses). Turn down any one of Mayes's streets and there is something to contemplate.<p> <blockquote>In the distance you see villages crowning a hill or protectively stacked against a slope. Every one pulls me toward its altarpiece, special triptych, arched gate, gothic window, or fountain. Every one has its opinionated, eccentric, friendly, and intrinsic characters who make each place deeply itself. </blockquote><p> Once again, Mayes presents Tuscany as an irresistible place where the pleasures are unexpected, sumptuous, and downright enviable. Immersing yourself in <I>In Tuscany</I> is the next best thing to being invited home to Bramasole. <I>--Lesley Reed</I> 3028964 31 10 2000 In Tuscany total:160|5:30|4:58|3:59|2:13|1:0| 160 585 253 9 127682 0767905350 9780767905350 158 9 3.66 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171940605m/127682.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127682.In_Tuscany 2 1 false Fri Feb 08 08:21:16 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 08 18:20:27 -0800 2008 127682 0767905350 9780767905350 158 9 3.66 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171940605m/127682.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127682.In_Tuscany 4 1 false Tue Apr 29 12:47:37 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 29 12:56:19 -0700 2008 127682 0767905350 9780767905350 158 9 3.66 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171940605m/127682.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127682.In_Tuscany 4 0 false Sat Jul 04 17:27:05 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 04 17:27:44 -0700 2009 127682 0767905350 9780767905350 158 9 3.66 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171940605m/127682.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127682.In_Tuscany 4 0 false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon May 11 14:56:25 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 14:57:41 -0700 2009 127682 0767905350 9780767905350 158 9 3.66 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171940605m/127682.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127682.In_Tuscany 4 0 false Sun Jan 11 21:57:44 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 11 21:58:00 -0800 2009 127682 0767905350 9780767905350 158 9 3.66 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171940605m/127682.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127682.In_Tuscany 5 0 false Tue Nov 25 18:26:53 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 25 18:27:07 -0800 2008 127682 0767905350 9780767905350 158 9 3.66 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171940605m/127682.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127682.In_Tuscany 4 0 false Tue Feb 19 13:12:48 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 19 13:12:48 -0800 2008 127682 0767905350 9780767905350 158 9 3.66 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171940605m/127682.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127682.In_Tuscany 5 0 false Sun Sep 02 16:20:13 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 02 16:20:13 -0700 2007 127682 0767905350 9780767905350 158 9 3.66 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171940605m/127682.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127682.In_Tuscany 5 0 false Mon Feb 04 12:08:34 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 04 12:08:49 -0800 2008 127682 0767905350 9780767905350 158 9 3.66 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171940605m/127682.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127682.In_Tuscany 3 0 false Mon Nov 30 16:58:26 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 30 16:58:26 -0800 2009 127682 0767905350 9780767905350 158 9 3.66 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171940605m/127682.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127682.In_Tuscany 4 0 false Wed Nov 25 22:32:03 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 25 22:32:10 -0800 2009 127682 0767905350 9780767905350 158 9 3.66 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171940605m/127682.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127682.In_Tuscany 0 0 false Sun Nov 22 18:05:44 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 22 18:05:44 -0800 2009 127682 0767905350 9780767905350 158 9 3.66 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171940605m/127682.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127682.In_Tuscany 0 0 false Thu Nov 19 19:38:52 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 19 19:38:52 -0800 2009 127682 0767905350 9780767905350 158 9 3.66 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171940605m/127682.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127682.In_Tuscany 0 0 false Wed Nov 25 15:43:35 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 18 16:33:30 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 25 15:43:35 -0800 2009 127682 0767905350 9780767905350 158 9 3.66 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171940605m/127682.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127682.In_Tuscany 0 0 false Mon Nov 16 11:03:55 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 16 11:03:55 -0800 2009 127682 0767905350 9780767905350 158 9 3.66 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171940605m/127682.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127682.In_Tuscany 0 0 false Sun Nov 08 15:47:58 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 08 15:47:58 -0800 2009 127682 0767905350 9780767905350 158 9 3.66 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171940605m/127682.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127682.In_Tuscany 0 0 false Fri Nov 06 09:19:14 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 06 09:19:14 -0800 2009 127682 0767905350 9780767905350 158 9 3.66 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171940605m/127682.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127682.In_Tuscany 0 0 false Wed Nov 04 00:32:08 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 04 00:32:08 -0800 2009 127682 0767905350 9780767905350 158 9 3.66 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171940605m/127682.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127682.In_Tuscany 0 0 false Tue Nov 03 21:26:55 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 03 21:26:55 -0800 2009 127682 0767905350 9780767905350 158 9 3.66 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171940605m/127682.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127682.In_Tuscany 3 0 false Tue Nov 03 09:52:00 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 03 09:52:00 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=127682