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| A Summer in Tuscany | 
 enlarge | Author: Sandra J. Swanson
Publisher: 1st Books Library
Category: Book
List Price: $17.15
Buy New: $10.63
You Save: $6.52 (38%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $6.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  (24 reviews)
Sales Rank: 562913
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 268
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.7
ISBN: 1585004162
Dewey Decimal Number: 910
EAN: 9781585004164
ASIN: 1585004162
Publication Date: February 20, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
A Summer in Tuscany is an insider?s guide to making the Italian vacation more enjoyable. The author gives the reader the confidence to travel to smaller towns where English is often not spoken, to "live Italian." There are lessons to be learned about food, wine, cooking, shopping, driving, and the Italian language. That said, once opened, the book is hard to close. Swanson?s writing style is similar to a good conversation with a friend. She writes in a visual way, so that one can see exactly what she describes. The reader feels that they are at her side, whether driving a perilous road, bargaining at the marketplace, dodging snakes, or sipping wine amid the vineyards.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 BORING-- limited audience July 23, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
As someone here said, "she's no Frances Mayes". If she was, the book would have been published by a mid-sized to large publishing house. This author self-published. The fact that the author went this route probably means that no publishing house felt it worthy......I guess her book appeals to wealthy tourists who don't speak Italian and want to shop, and who aren't bothered by a badly written, un-edited book. The book's audience is limited and there are much better books out there on experiencing Italy.
Sorry to Say - A Poorly Written and Annoying Book February 24, 2007
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
I wish there was a way to give this book a negative number of stars. Not because it was that bad (although it was pretty awful) but because it seems that friends of the author have given less than accurate reviews to put it mildly. This self published book is very amateurish and downright annoying. How many times do you need to explain how to pronounce San Gimignano (Sahn-Jim-ee-NYAH-noh). After about the twentieth time you will be ready to scream, not to mention when she switches to calling it San Gim and feels the need to explain that pronunciation also. The story goes something like this - Our villa was near San Gen (San JIM). It had a pool and a terrazzo (tair-AHT-sah); terrace. There was a ristorante (ri-store-AHN-tay); restaurant nearby. You had to pay in lire (LEE-ray) plural of lira. We were very hungry. The waiter said "Va bene?"
(vah-BEN-ay). We said "Si, Va bene" (See Vah-BEN-ay)... You get the picture.
And if you are a novice to foreign travel, please don't take advice from a woman who makes lunch reservations from the U.S. six months in advance, and paid $210 to ship a box to Italy with disposable cameras, a pillow, plastic wrap, soap, detergent, candles, writing paper and "reliable" pens. She learns how to say "taste", degustazione in Italian and when she sees grape vines, goes and knocks on people's door and asks to taste their wine. When they look at her like she's crazy she asks to buy some and is accommodated. If she had been able to laugh at herself and her faux pas, this could have been a hilarious book; however she seems to think she is extremely clever to have planned this trip and learned a few words of Italian.
I love travel, Italy, and travel narratives. I adored 1000 Days in Tuscany, The Reluctant Tuscan, Extra Virgin and was hoping for a similar read with A Summer in Tuscany but instead got a poorly written journal that never went any deeper than "got up, went swimming, ate a pastry, read a book".
 Chik lit May 31, 2006
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
My book club ultimately chose this book for our winter reading, preparing for our summer vacations. It also gave us the impetus to take group Italian lessons. When our club chair asked us to write a category for the book, we came up with "Chick lit." It's what Martha Stewart might have written if she wrote a travel book. We came up with a new category, "Martha lit." A Summer in Tuscany is all about what women love, food and wine and tips for finding a villa, and shopping and gardening and art. We loved it. Go for it.
 Needs editing...badly! May 7, 2006
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
Like one of the previous reviewers said, this reads like a dear diary. Just as background I've read a whole slew of books on travels in Tuscany -- from "Under the Tuscan Sun" to "One Thousand Days..." I love them. Every one I'd give a 4 or 5. So, based on similarity, I picked this one out. It's a fast read, in part because half the book is stuff like "We got on the 3:00 flight..." or "I told Robert to go to the store to get bread and cheese..." Clearly this was based on a journal the author kept while in Tuscany. That's a fine basis to start a book. But the problem is, the author seems to have no understanding of an audience. Next time please PAY AN EDITOR to edit this stuff before you try to pass it off as a book for general readership. In the meantime, I can't recommend this to anyone other than the author's immediate family that were on the trip with her... In my initial write up I gave it 2 stars, but now I wish I could change it to 1 or 0!
Cento Stelle January 20, 2006
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Grazie mille. An Italian American who didn't speak Italian before, now I am. Wonderful trip with you by my side.
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