Author: Nina George
This book starts out feeling almost dreamlike and then the main character has an emotional crisis. Jean is still heartbroken over a failed relationship nearly 21 years prior to the start of the story. Every day he opens his bookstore, on a boat in one of the Paris canals, and treats his customers. Yes, treats. He sells books as if they are medicine. He recommends and sells books based on his customer/patients emotional needs. A true romantic notion of the written word. And for 21 years, he has been in love with a women who left him.
The story is that of how Jean fell in love, how he lives after she left, and Jean's voyage of discovery of why she abandoned him.
Truthfully, I've set this novel aside for the time being. I'm in need of something less real and more fantasy. I'll pick this story up again another day when I'm ready for Jean.
For more information on this title, visit Goodreads.
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Monday, September 28, 2015
Monday, February 28, 2011
Under the Tuscan Sun
www.francesmayesbooks.com/books/
I imagine I was first introduced to this title like most people, by the movie staring Daine Lane. It remains a movie that leaves me enraptured with the idea of moving to Europe. Sometimes I daydream of Tuscany, but other days it's a lock in Scotland, or a cottage in the French countryside. It's a movie that leaves me jealous of Frances and her "creepy Italian trees". The book surprised me.
The movie is based on a memoir of a professor and her partner who vacation, repeatedly, in Italy and decide to look for a farm to buy. They find a run-down farm and fall in love with the property, their neighbors, the community and the lifestyle. The memoir does include friends and family visiting as well as a wedding. While the memoir lacks the dating drama, there is romance. You'll find the wall collapse scare as well as the Polish workers and snakes. What readers will find in the memoir that isn't as apparent in the movie is the recipes and discussion of food. Frances Mayes describes aspects of farming, processing, cooking and eating. She even talks about regional flavors.
If you loved the movie, you'll love the book. If you dream of extreme acts such as moving to another country, then you'll want to read this book every year or two. That's my plain.
I imagine I was first introduced to this title like most people, by the movie staring Daine Lane. It remains a movie that leaves me enraptured with the idea of moving to Europe. Sometimes I daydream of Tuscany, but other days it's a lock in Scotland, or a cottage in the French countryside. It's a movie that leaves me jealous of Frances and her "creepy Italian trees". The book surprised me.
The movie is based on a memoir of a professor and her partner who vacation, repeatedly, in Italy and decide to look for a farm to buy. They find a run-down farm and fall in love with the property, their neighbors, the community and the lifestyle. The memoir does include friends and family visiting as well as a wedding. While the memoir lacks the dating drama, there is romance. You'll find the wall collapse scare as well as the Polish workers and snakes. What readers will find in the memoir that isn't as apparent in the movie is the recipes and discussion of food. Frances Mayes describes aspects of farming, processing, cooking and eating. She even talks about regional flavors.
If you loved the movie, you'll love the book. If you dream of extreme acts such as moving to another country, then you'll want to read this book every year or two. That's my plain.
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