As an addendum to Tuesday’s “looking forward to March” post, here’s another book that I know many of you will be eager to read. Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun, will release another memoir detailing her experience in Italy: Every Day in Tuscany: Seasons of an Italian Life. The book goes on sale on March 9.
In college, I wrote a series of travel essays for a creative writing project. Mayes’ 2006 collection A Year in the World was a beloved companion as I formed my own stories.
A paragraph from the memoir’s introduction stuck with me: “I asked an impulsive question, What if we did not go home, what if we kept traveling? Should you not listen well to the questions you ask out of nowhere? Only in looking back do you find those crumbs you dropped that marked your way forward.”
In reading the introduction from Every Day in Tuscany, it appears that Mayes is back in top form; vibrant imagery (delicious food! gorgeous landscapes!) and introspection abound. (An excerpt: “The journey itself is home. . . Transition feels sweet. I’m balanced between worlds and can roam forward and backward along the strada bianca, that white road of the innermost journey.”)
I don’t think Mayes is for everybody; her writing often feel like a series of vignettes, rather than a straight narrative, and I sometimes find myself reading sections of her books at random, rather than devouring the memoir from start to finish. (Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing.) In any case, armchair travel in Tuscany is sounding pretty good right now as the temperature drops in Nashville.
Do you have a favorite travel writer? You may find a new one in our December feature, “A globetrotter’s delight: Experience the world’s treasures, real and imagined.” Mayes fans should check out Slow: Life in a Tuscan Town by Douglas Gayeton.
Related in BookPage: Read an interview with Mayes about A Year in the World. I think many travelers will understand her “perennial tug-of-war” between setting off on wild adventures and being pulled by the comfort of home.
