The current book I am reading, started whilst we were still under the Tuscan sun, is a very different matter - Tim Parks' Italian Neighbours is a joy - a real ex-Pat living and working near Verona - this book captures the real Italy without the distractions contained in Bella Tuscany.
I have still to read the third book In Tuscany which I bought for the photographs (coffee table top book!!) - sorry Frances, if I wanted recipe book I would have bought another one to match those in the cupboard. If Under The Umbrian Sun appears on the book shelves, I don't think I'll bother.
We are now privy to Fran's ramblings on her ingrate houseguests, the Mafia, various odd phobias, the inconvenient timing of Ed's mothers death, along with the fact that she is apparently unable to recognise the father of her own child at her daughter's wedding. Oh the horrible burden of having to jet back and forth between Tuscany and San Francisco. The financial hardship of renovating not one but two homes simultaneously (oh the inhumanity, make it stop!!) All this with that shop till ya drop attitude that makes Fran twitch with excitment in her quest to find the perfect 400 thread count sheets.And what about dear Ed? I think he is either a figment of Fran's imagination or he must spend a great deal of time in a vino induced state to endure her.
This book is NOT about the real Toscana, it is pure unadulterated drivel.
