Every Day in Tuscany

Seasons of an Italian Life

By: Frances Mayes

Narrated by: Frances Mayes

In this sequel to her New York Times bestsellers Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany, the celebrated "bard of Tuscany" (New York Times) lyrically chronicles her continuing, two decades-long love affair with Tuscany's people, art, cuisine, and lifestyle.

Frances Mayes offers her readers a deeply personal memoir of her present-day life in Tuscany, encompassing both the changes she has experienced since Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany appeared, and sensuous, evocative reflections on the timeless beauty and vivid pleasures of Italian life. Among the themes Mayes explores are how her experience of Tuscany dramatically expanded when she renovated and became a part-time resident of a 13th century house with a stone roof in the mountains above Cortona, how life in the mountains introduced her to a "wilder" side of Tuscany--and with it a lively engagement with Tuscany's mountain people. Throughout, she reveals the concrete joys of life in her adopted hill town, with particular attention to life in the piazza, the art of Luca Signorelli (Renaissance painter from Cortona), and the pastoral pleasures of feasting from her garden. Moving always toward a deeper engagement, Mayes writes of Tuscan icons that have become for her storehouses of memory, of crucible moments from which bigger ideas emerged, and of the writing life she has enjoyed in the room where Under the Tuscan Sun began.

With more on the pleasures of life at Bramasole, the delights and challenges of living in Italy day-to-day and favorite recipes, Every Day in Tuscany is a passionate and inviting account of the richness and complexity of Italian life.

a little too relaxing a listen

Would you try another book from Frances Mayes and/or Frances Mayes?

I joined audible with a new job that has an hour commute - this book made me very sleepy. Also - there is supposed to be a pdf attachment with recipes that I did not get. Perhaps audible cannot attach pdf's?

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

I don't think so.

very disappointed

What did you like best about Every Day in Tuscany? What did you like least?

I have read the book and enjoyed it and was looking forward to listening to it at leisure. However after a couple of chapters I had to give up. How somebody who had spent considerable time in italy during the past 20 years could have such terrible pronunciation is beyoud me. It became irritating.

Would you be willing to try another book from Frances Mayes? Why or why not?

Yes, provided no Italian was involved.

Would you be willing to try another one of Frances Mayes’s performances?

Possibly.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

Must be more careful in the future. Even if it is a good storey the narrator can kill it.

Interesting

I use Audible as my way of reading as I love the voices and the readers pronunciation of words I dare not attempt. In reading this book it says to get the pdf of the recipes however I guess I miss out on the recipes by listening. It’s to bad.

I only made it about 15 minutes before…

i had to return this book because the narration, unfortunately, is so drab and dull. I’m sure the story is great but the narration killed it for me. I’m really bummed because I was looking forward to listening to this book. I may have to read it instead of listen to it.

Informative on Italian Art and Cooking, but.......

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

If I had been interested in Italian cooking and/or someone's personal opinion of Italian art I would have loved this book. I'm sure I did learn something from this, but I had hoped for a good story set in Italy. This book is written like a diary or a day to day account of events with no plot. I believe Frances Mayes is a very intelligent woman with lots of energy and a lust for life, but her narration is almost unbearable. Her voice is unpleasant and her pronunciation of Italian words is irritating. She seems bored and disconnected when reading the book. It was hard to keep listening.

Would you ever listen to anything by Frances Mayes again?

Probably not.

Would you be willing to try another one of Frances Mayes’s performances?

No

Could you see Every Day in Tuscany being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No! Well, maybe a TV cooking show.

Any additional comments?

I really wanted to like the book because I am going to Italy soon, but it was so hard to finish listening to it.