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Title details for A Year in the World by Frances Mayes - Available

A Year in the World

Journeys of A Passionate Traveller

by Frances Mayes
Cassandra Campbell
Audiobook
3 of 4 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
3 of 4 copies available
The author who unforgettably captured the experience of starting a new life in Tuscany in bestselling travel memoirs expands her horizons to immerse herself—and her readers—in the sights, aromas, and treasures of twelve new special places.

A Year in the World is vintage Frances Mayes—a celebration of the allure of travel, of serendipitous pleasures found in unlikely locales, of memory woven into the present, and of a joyous sense of quest. An ideal travel companion, Frances Mayes brings to the page the curiosity of an intrepid explorer, remarkable insights into the wonder of the everyday, and a compelling narrative style that entertains as it informs.
With her beloved Tuscany as a home base, Mayes travels to Spain, Portugal, France, the British Isles, and to the Mediterranean world of Turkey, Greece, the South of Italy, and North Africa. In Andalucía, she relishes the intersection of cultures. She cooks in Portugal, gathers ideas in the gardens of England and Scotland, takes a literary pilgrimage to Burgundy, discovers an ideal place to live in Mantova, and explores the essential Moroccan city of Fez. She rents houses among ordinary residents, shops at neighborhood markets, wanders the back streets, and everywhere contemplates the concept of home. While in Greece, she follows the classic Homeric voyage across the Aegean, lives in a bougainvillea-draped stone house in Crete, and then drives deep into the Mani. In Turkey with friends, she sails the ancient coast, hiking to archaeological sites and snorkeling over sunken Byzantine towns. Weaving together personal perceptions and informed commentary on art, architecture, history, landscape, and social and culinary traditions of each area, Mayes brings the immediacy of life in her temporary homes to the reader. An illuminating and passionate book that will be savored by all who loved Under the Tuscan Sun, A Year in the World is travel writing at its peak.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    March 14, 2006

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780739353141
      • File size: 500179 KB
      • Duration: 17:22:02

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Actually it was five years, but who's counting? These essays are Mayes's account of the many, mostly Mediterranean, countries in which she and her husband have immersed themselves. From flamenco dancing in Seville to boating in Turkey to strolling the dusty streets of Morocco, she, aided by Cassandra Campbell's excellent reading, makes you feel right there. Meals are served orally with savory sensuality, the pace ensures that you won't miss a word, and the few negative experiences (tawdry rental houses, crowds at popular Greek sites) are described with a slightly arch tone. Foreign phrases, whether Turkish, French, or Greek, pose no problem. You get the sense that Mayes would be a wonderful traveling companion, so come along. J.B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      Frances Mayes endeavors to make the listener feel as much at home around the world as she made them feel in Tuscany with her first bestseller, UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN. She transports the listener to houses and apartments in Morocco, England, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and Portugal, with some side trips to other parts of her adopted Italy and a cruise to Greece. The trips were taken over a five-year span and include the details expected of Mayes--history, shopping, scenery, and, most importantly, food. However, Mayes's monotone reading lacks the enthusiasm one would expect and shines only when describing the people in her life. Still, the abridgment is well done, making her occasional detailed ramblings about history or descriptions much more bearable. H.L.S. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      Starred review from September 15, 2006
      Using their villa in Tuscany as a home base, Mayes ("Under the Tuscan Sun") and her husband travel to Spain, Portugal, France, and the British Isles and then on to the Mediterranean, where they experience Greece, Turkey, and North Africa. She shares her observations about the history, architecture, art, and customs of each locale, excelling at describing the cuisine of each country, province, city, and town and creating mouth-watering impressions. The author is such an enthusiastic and passionate traveler that she inspires listeners to start planning their own trips, but the finest feature is her own narrative style, which is melodious and enchanting. This is truly a travel journal of the observations, encounters, and many meals Mayes and her husband experienced over five years. Cassandra Campbell's mellifluous voice is suited to the pronunciation of occasional foreign words or phrases and provides a soothing delivery for Mayes's commentary. For anyone interested in armchair travel; highly recommended for all public libraries." -Gloria Maxwell, Penn Valley Community Coll., Kansas City, MO"

      Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      December 5, 2005
      Even people who don't normally read travel books are aware of the old Italian villa that Mayes and her husband restored, chronicled in Mayes's bestseller Under the Tuscan Sun
      and three other books about Tuscany. So it's somewhat surprising when Mayes declares her wanderlust, her passion for other beautiful places in the world. She adores Tuscany, but also loves tasting other people's cuisines, learning their gardening habits, reading their poetry, swimming their waters. She's always looking around and wondering, "How do place and character intertwine? Could I feel at home here? What is home to those around me? Who are they in their homes, those mysterious others?" In this luminous volume, she and her husband visit southern Spain, Portugal, Sicily, southern Italy, Morocco, Greece, Crete, Scotland, Turkey and places in between. Usually they rent an apartment or villa, so they can cook, sprawl and feel like "locals." They survive a couple of package trips (a cruise around the Greek islands, a small charter around Turkey) which only highlight the pleasures of independent travel—having the freedom to wander and discover things for themselves, without a schedule. And happily, there's no mention of prices to mar readers' escapist fantasies.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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