BRINGING TUSCANY HOME Sensuous Style from the Heart of Italy

Where UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN was a passionate love letter to Tuscany, this book is an often tedious travelogue. "Knowledge of the superior destroys you for the ordinary," Mayes tells us, as she applies the maxim not only to dinners but also to her current lifestyle. Her haughtiness is softened by her slightly Southern drawl, and Mayes does redeem herself in the final section of the book when she indulges in the sensuous glories of Tuscan food, with recipes and how-to's via her husband, poet Edward Mayes. Details of the disastrous first pressing of wine from their grapes ("tastes like shoe polish") is, at last, a flaw in the perfection of life at their home, Bramasole. Mayes is human, after all. And the adventures of a wasp sneaking through a keyhole into the author's desk to lay its eggs is told with a sweetness that contrasts with the general pomposity of the narration. All in all, still a trip worth taking, but patience and perseverance are necessary parts of the baggage. M.T.B. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 05]