I met Frances Mayes, author of "Under the Tuscan Sun" today!

[CTyankee]

She was promoting her newest book, "Every Day in Tuscany" at a reception for the staff members of Random House in Manhattan that publishes her book. My daughter in law is an editor there and invited me to attend...it was nice!

Mayes is a lively, 60s something woman with a soft, Georgia accent. She answered a query about whether she liked the change in her book for the movie and she said she loved the movie. She said that with a movie you can't have something that just "stirs the ragu." I loved that response. Of course, it must have brought her a LOT of money...but so what. she also said that the book was reprinted at one point with Diane Lane's (the star of the movie)picture on the cover and her friends complemented her on the photo!

I queried whether her original book had been a major factor in American tourists increasing their numbers of tourists in Tuscany in the 90s, but she declined, saying that Tuscany has had tourists since prehistoric times...nice deflection, but I think she was too modest...everyone I have talked to who has read this book comes away thinking they've GOT to go to Tuscany, the sooner the better! I know that was my response...

Oh, and I'll be there in September, folks...

[tanyev]

1. How cool!

And she's being very gracious about the movie. I kept thinking all the way through the movie that I would have preferred something closer to the original story. Of course you wouldn't be able to stop them from throwing in fictional elements, but I would have enjoyed a story about a couple who buys a house in Tuscany and their trials and tribulations in restoring it.

[CTyankee]

4. She talks so lovingly about her friends and the workers she's used in Tuscany on her house.

She just loves these folks. She said she had written a lot of her works there in Bramasole. She is now working on a memoir about her southern life here and someone asked if she wrote about stuff in the U.S. when she was in Italy. The answer was yes, she did write about America in Italy.

She talked a LOT about the food there, which is one of the main subjects of her books. It was fascinating...little kids eating tripe and stomach and all things we would find repugnant, and they eat them with great verve....

she also writes about having wild boar (Pigs) in her property and the damage they do. So there are a number of increasingly sophisticated ways to discourage the boar population to leave you alone...

All in all, a great little seminar. I love her books and look forward to reading "Ever Day in Tuscany."

[demmiblue]

2. Lucky you! I just bought a copy at a library sale.

I saw the movie, but books are always better!

Enjoy the Tuscan sun!

[CTyankee]

7. I think you'll LOVE the book. It is quite different from the movie but a wonderful recounting

of her and her partner's experience rehabbing this old villa in Cortona. But it's more. It's all about the people there, the flora (all the stuff they eat that we don't!), the language and the customs. Quite a book...you'll fall in love with Tuscany...the big problem with this book is that you read it and want to go to Tuscany IMMEDIATELY...trust me, you will too...

[FarPoint]

3. An unforgettable,

breathtaking experience I'm sure. I hope you snagged a picture and/or signed book.O8)

[CTyankee]

6. I got a signed book. It's very nice, with a picture of Cortona from the campanile of the church.

Campanile is Italian for bell tower. Mayes challengeed this photographer to go up there and take the shot. It almost looks like a painting...

I may go to Cortorna when i go to Florence in September. I would love to see the Annunciation by Fra Angelico. It is more colorful and a bit more, er, grandiose than the Annunciation in the San Marco convent. Hey, it's a half hour train ride from Florence...big deal...

[LisaM]

5. I remember watching the preview for that movie

I had no idea what it was actually for, and kept thinking, that name, Bramasole, sounds so familiar. I could hear similar murmuring throughout the theatre, and when they announced "Under the Tuscan Sun", everyone started laughing, in a "you've GOT to be kidding" kind of way!