No comments about Sicily: Landscapes of, a countryside guide (Landscapes S.).

1 comments about Sicilian Passage.

1. Taken between 1982 and 1991, the 40-50 photos here are a mix of landscapes, portraits, candids, and abstract jumbles (rubble, construction materials, twisted trees, etc.). And while they certainly capture a certain old-world Mediterranean quality, there's something very unengaging and undramatic about them. Roma is well-known in photography circles (two time Guggenheim Fellowship recipient, solo MOMA exhibit, Director of Photography at Columbia, etc..), so I'm not really in any place to judge, but... The photos all come across as somewhat flat -- lacking in depth or contrast. This may be a product of the the harsh sunlight, or possibly the age or treatment of negatives or the printing, or maybe it's intentional. Whatever the case, there are very few images in the book with any real tension to them in terms of subject or composition. I suppose some may find the book interesting in terms of its portrayal of Sicily as a fairly unmodernized "old world" place, but that strikes me as feeding into a romantic vision of the place, rather than a striking revelation.

5 comments about Botticelli Blue Skies: An American in Florence.

1. As some of the other reviewers mentioned, there's a lot of complaining at the beginning of this book. This almost put me off, but I was intrigued (perversely, I guess) by someone who did not consider a chance to spend a semester in Florence to be something to jump at. What was the matter with this woman?
   
   When her husband tells her the university they both teach at is sending him to Florence for a semester to conduct a class, she just doesn't want to go. By being a reluctant traveler, Gerber is able to show how Florence managed to captivate her in spite of herself. Rather than going to Italy as an already-intoxicated tourist, she resists at first, but it is Florence, after all, and even she comes to love it. I found this an excellent antidote to the gushing let's-move-to-Italy (or France) travelogs.
   
   And she isn't just taken with the usual Florentine charms of museums, churches, wine, and food. She discovers the thrift shops and grocery stores that most tourists would miss entirely. As a temporary resident, she has to deal with the landlady and the staff at the local Chinese restaurant.
   
   I almost gave up on this one, but am very glad I kept going, and suspect that is what Gerber intended all along.



2. Having read the previous reviews on this book, it appears that it's sort of a "love it or hate it" proposition. I guess I'm weighing in on the "love it" side, and here's why.
   
   Most people who read travel books love to travel. Therefore, when we travel-lovers read a travel book by someone who doesn't really like to travel, we get annoyed. I can see that reaction from some of the reviewers (e.g., "what's wrong with this woman?"). And yet, there ARE some people who don't enjoy travel for travel's sake. They like their creature comforts, their familiar surroundings, their loved ones close by. They don't like the frenetic rush-rush pace of travel, the disorienting feeling of being in a strange place with strange customs and a strange language, where the simplest transaction can be confusing and exhausting. This author was, I think, this type of person. And what's wrong with that? And what's wrong with someone like this writing a travel book? Her experiences and her opinions are just as valid as those of someone who throws themselves into a foreign culture with gusto and inexhaustible energy.
   
   To me, the author was not so much complaining ("poor me"), as she was honest and forthright about her difficulties in adjusting to a foreign culture. Once we understand that, we can approach the book with different expectations. Why should we expect a middle-aged woman with a career and family obligations to learn a foreign language when she is only going to be in a country for three months? Why should we expect her to necessarily be enthusiastic about leaving her career and her caregiving responsibilities for her dying mother to spend three months in Florence? Why should we expect her to put on a happy face at all times? Why not accept that travelling in and adapting to a foreign culture can be a difficult proposition for anyone?
   
   What I liked best about this book, I think, was the honesty of the author. She didn't gloss over the day-to-day trials of living in another country. And yet, all in all, I had the sense that if she had it to do over again, she would go back to Florence in a heartbeat. This tone of this book was NOT primarily negative and whining, in my opinion. That she didn't portray her life as all rosy and wonderful is a testament, I think, to the frankness of the author -- and I would rather read a book like this than one where all is sweetness and light, and where the author treats every problem as an opportunity for comic relief.



3. When the author's husband is offered an opportunity to teach for a semester in Italy, she doesn't know at first if she wants to join him. It would mean leaving her sick mother, her friends and her familiar, comfortable life in California. She eventually decides to go, of course, and the result is this wonderful book. I see that other reviewers have accused the author of being "whiny". Did she comment on the things that puzzled her about life in Florence? And were some of these things not to her liking? Sure. For example, she was not particularly interested in viewing the museums and churches that Florence is famous for. But there was just as much that she found charming about the City. She found the people (both men and women)to be beautiful. She noted that lovers could be found everywhere and that romance thrived. She shared friendships. She sampled and enjoyed the food and wine.
   
   The thing I enjoyed the most about this book was the opportunity to tag along with the author on her daily jaunts. Rather than take the standard package tours, she opted instead for the luxury of traveling and exploring at her own pace. As a result, we are given an opportunity to experience the little, everyday things that make up life in a city - from a trip to the grocery store, to riding a bus, to finding an address in a city where street numbers are not necessarily sequential. We also get to escape with her on occasion to travel to the countryside. My favorite photograph in the book is one she took as she and her husband walked down a quiet road. It shows a nun, dressed all in white, standing in the shadows of the woods - looking like an apparition.
   
   The fact that she is not a seasoned traveler is what makes this book stand out. Her experiences are fresh, and her reactions - whether you consider them whiny or otherwise - are always honest and human.



4. When Merrill Joan Gerber's husband is offered a semester's teaching in Florence, together with his full salary and a rent-free apartment -- she doesn't want to go. She agrees, but she doesn't like it and she doesn't want to like it.
   
   The idea of the reluctant tourist is an interesting one, and I suppose I could be glad she tried it. But she comes across as being so negative and so abrasive that the humor gets lost, as does the reader's patience. She looks at the Forum in Rome and pronounces it a pit full of rubbish. She walks out of St. Peter's (her feet hurt, or something like that) and ends up missing an appearance by the Pope, which is probably a metaphor for her whole Italian experience: she's so busy fretting about buses and stairs and the things that inconvenience her that she misses out on just about everything. She's not impressed by the artwork that makes Florence famous (the rooms are too dark; she can't see; her feet hurt; there are too many stairs) although she does appropriate a papier-mache set of genitalia someone has attached to a wall. She refuses to even try to learn Italian; she takes pictures in places where photographs are prohibited. I don't know what she's like in person, but in this book she comes across as the sort of American other U.S. tourists don't want to be associated with. At the end, she expresses a pang about leaving Florence, but it's too little too late.



5. I wanted to like this book. There's a place in travel writing for the works of the accidental (or incidental) tourist, the person dragged unwillingly to some foreign destination by an enthusiastic (or merely dominant) spouse, partner or friend- a destination of no particular interest to the person being hauled along. Their responses can be as interesting as those of the enthusiast. But in this case the author is SO unpleasant- the kind of woman where you have to wonder how her husband has put up with her all these years. To use a Yiddish term, Merrill Gerber is a big-time "kvetcher," a woman who makes a career out of complaining about everything, and not just complaining, but whining, sulking, making imperious demands, exploding into temper tantrums, and doing the adult equivalent of the three-year-old who goes limp when a long-suffering parent tries to move the child from one place to another.
   
   She's dragged unwillingly to Florence - oh, poor baby!!! She'd so much rather be at her home in California than on a free three month excursion to one of the most marvelous cities in the western world. But not marvelous to her. Despite being the wife of a history professor, it's hard to imagine that this woman is even a college graduate, she's so determinedly anti-intellectual. She refuses to learn a word of Italian; remains willfully and appallingly ignorant of the art that's all around her (her ignorance makes her defensive, and she seems actually hostile to art!); she refuses to listen to any of the knowledgeable guides provided for her husband's students, and instead of exploring the city on her own, she mopes around the couple's apartment, spending a fair amount of time huddled under blankets, listening to adolescent-level music on her Walkman, and, presumably, making notes for this book. Except for local grocery shopping, she hardly ever goes out except in the company of her husband.
   
   She does admit to occasional moments of being delighted, especially toward the end of her stay, but they are few and far between. Most of her responses are relentlessly negative. I give her credit for one thing: she does capture the sense of bewilderment and frustration, and the moments of sheer exhaustion, that can overcome the first-time traveler to a foreign culture. But she's a lot better on Italy's aggravations than on its charms.

No comments about AA Road Map Italy: Tuscany (Aa Road Map Italy).

5 comments about Frommer's Italy 2006 (Frommer's Complete).

1. I have a copy of Frommer's Italy '98 and it reads almost exactly the same as the "new and improved" 2006 edition. The copy is virtually unchanged under the section Best Travel Experiences. Apparently, the only changes that have been made are the lire is now the euro and the prices have been updated on food and lodging. I guess this book would be helpful if it's your one and only choice.



2. If you are planning a trip to Italy, this is a book you should take with you.



3. Frommer's Italy 2006 is a very complete and easy to read travel guide. I especially enjoyed the restaurant tips (off the beaten track and very "Italian") and the maps.
   To be even more appealing and to obtain 5 stars, it would have to have more pictures to get a better impression of the sites.



4. This is a great book for planning your travel. I wish I'd bought it before I'd booked my leave. The only downside I can think of is the included map. From the product description I thought it would be of all Italy but it's only a map of Rome.



5. Having grown up in Italy for 15 years, I think I understand the place really well, but I still learnt a lot from this book. Great indepth coverage on restaurants, hotels and places to visit. Plus the color maps are very useful.

5 comments about The Rough Guide to Rome, Second Edition.

1. This book delivers the right contents. There is no question about that. It has the quality of the other Rough Guides. It is practical, it is funny, it has a different view on things and it makes you want to go and see them.

   The only thing I thought was lacking is some kind of overview or highlights section. Traditional full-blown Rough Guides usually have a 'Where to Go' section in the introduction. I could have appreciated a similar section in the beginning of this book as well, preferably taking into account that there are people who will stay for a week and others who will only stay for a few days. I don't suggest that people are being taken by the hand with complete itineraries as other guides do but some more suggestions would be useful.

   Personally I believe that the maps could be better. I used them to see in which area I had to look (which for each site is nicely indicated in the book) but then switched to the map I got in the tourist office. I assume that this is one of the drawbacks of the otherwise excellent and handy format.




2. I bought this book while I was living in Rome, and in my six months there saw nearly all the sights listed and more. I especially loved the book's size--I could hide it in my pocket and not look so much like a tourist, and I didn't have to walk around with a big huge map unfolded in front of me. If only the maps in the book could be a little more detailed (like, including the names of the piazzas and churches mentioned in the text!). The bars and restaurants recommended are places I actually went and would recommend to other travelers.
   I did find some errors in the text, but unless you're searching for specific works of art, etc. like I do, this shouldn't be a problem. Definitely my favorite of my 5+ Rome travel guides.. I like it even more than the one in Italian!



3. I really don't care for Lonely Planet's Italy guide so I bought this one. Many of the descriptions are brief.



4. If you want the real lowdown, and the fine detail on travel to Rome, this is the best guide book I've found. There are literally hundreds of recommendations for places to shop, see, eat and stay. I checked out the restaurants mentioned around The Spanish Steps, and completely agree with their picks. As someone who makes part of their living by writing about Rome, through my web site, I can tell you that this is a well researched, up to date book that will not disappoint.



5. The Rough Guide to Rome is the easiest to read guide I've ever owned. The writing far exceeds the usual highlights featured in other books.

No comments about Villas of the Veneto.

No comments about A Pilgrim's Guide to Rome and the Holyland : For the Third Millennium.

No comments about Insight City Guide Venice (Insight City Guides (Book & Restaruant Guide)).

No comments about Venice: The Anthology Guide.