2 comments about Frommer's Venice Day by Day (Frommer's Day by Day).

1. This one book has everything--explanations, pull out map, and a useful dictionary. I bought other products and this is really all I need for Venice.



2. My wife and I recently stopped in Venice on our honeymoon. We followed this book's recommendation of the best pastry shop in Venice and found ourselves in a piazza with a store that had a gelato stand and a couple of muffins. We've tried 3 of these Frommer's dad by day guides now and are always underwhelmed. We were impressed with the Rick Steve's book for Italy which had a large section on Venice. Your hotel or any store in the area can provide you with a much much better map than this book has for 3 euros.

5 comments about 1635: Cannon Law (The Assiti Shards).

1. If you can avoid this book, do so. It is boring, unreasonable, and doesn't even end well. I like this series in general, but this book stays in Rome the whole time, and swaps all the interesting plot implications for some characterization and mediocre action. Even if you have the rest of this series, this one isn't worth your time--if you can't avoid it, mine's selling cheap in the used book section.



2. Once you accept the premise in the first volume of this fun series (1632), following the many characters and how they affect history as we know it is fascinating and believeable. No wonder there are three volumes for 1634. How long can the authors keep this up? For a while more, I hope.



3. I love the rest of the books of this series, but this one falls flat and basicaly makes little sense. I had to ploww my way through it hoping for something better. Some good fight scenes at end. But Whew! the rest!



4. This is a splendid addition to the 1632 series, but as a standalone it may be a little confusing. Read The Galileo Affair first, especially. I have read this volume at least 5 times, and it improves with every reading. The characters come alive on the page like few other authors can do, and I can't wait to see what happens to Sharon and Ruy next! Buy it, buy many copies and force them on all your friends!!



5. This book picks up where 1634: The Galileo Affair left off, with Frank and Giovanna starting up a Committee of Correspondence and Sharon Nichols heading up the United States of Europe's embassy in Rome. The primary focus of the book is the political machinations within the Catholic church, with Spanish cardinals led by Cardinal Borja attempting to disrupt the effectiveness of the USE-friendly Pope's reign. There are also the more personal stories of Sharon and Ruy's blossoming love and wedding plans, as well as Frank's initial exploits as a tavern owner and revolutionary.
   
   The book starts out rather slowly, not grabbing the reader's attention and not progressing towards any obvious conflict or resolution. On its own, the first half of the book was quite disappointing, I'd say a weak 3-star rating. Luckily, the second half of the book really picks up the pace and develops into a very dramatic and exciting finale. More up-timers become involved, including Tom and Rita Simpson and Sharon's father. War breaks out in Rome, finally providing some action to a series that has lacked substantial excitement in the last couple of books. Covert operations to pull allies out of the way of impending disaster, fully displaying the utility of up-time weapons, make for a great ending. The book concludes without wrapping up the situation in Rome, demanding that a sequel be published sometime soon.
   
   Overall, better than the previous couple of books and advances the story (at least in Italy) around the Ring of Fire. Recommended for fans of the series.

4 comments about Sicily (Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides).

1. The Eyewitness Travel Guide for Sicily was my 10th in this series. We travel a lot and when we return home to look at our many photos that we have taken, the book is a tremendous help in indentifying these photos.

   We also keep a daily diary when we travel and the concise wording in the guide helps add to the documentation and color of our journals.

   I have used many guides in the past but the Eyewitness guide for Sicily and other locations is a must!




2. the pictures presented in the book give a good feeling on what to expect in various places. However, the book lacks on practicalitities and tips and as such I had to use another guide (Rough Guide) to accompany it.



3. I love Eyewitness Guides and have purchased them for several trips. However, other than one or two of the city guides which give in-depth walk-throughs of monuments, palaces, museums, etc., I'd leave them at home. The guides are excellent visual introductions to local art & architecture, food, etc. The photos and drawings are gorgeous and clear. The guides will give you a great idea of what you really want to see, but other than an occasional walking tour, they aren't worth the weight in your suitcase, because they simply lack real practicalities (where the train station is, how often the spot is served by public transport, opening hours for anything but the most major museums, no entrace fees, when English language tours might occur, etc.). Also, the restaurant and hotel sections (grouped together at the back rather than with the destinations) are primarily geared toward upper end travellers. 4* & 5* suggestions dominate. No hotels meet their lowest price category (no local hostel addresses, convent hotels, or bargain B&Bs). Restaurant reviews are at best a sentence.



4. The DK Eyewitness guides adhere to the motto, "A picture is worth a thousand words." In a way they're right: there's something about a dramatic picture that can lure you to a place like no number of words can. Yet while pictures and attractive diagrams are important, there's a lot of other critical travel information you just won't find here.

   The city maps in this guide are anything but detailed. I challenge you to find your way around Agrigento in the dark, like I had to, with the map in this guide. You need a detailed street map.

   This book is also seriously lacking in information about how to get around by bus and train. By contrast, Lonely Planet's guide to Sicily lists, under a special heading ("Getting There & Away"), the number of trains and buses that leave or arrive in a given city daily, how often, where to catch them, and what they cost. There's also another section in the Lonely Planet guide, "Getting Around", which tells you which buses to take inside the cities, where to rent a car or a bike, and so forth. DK's guide leaves you stranded.

   The last major defect of this guide is its hotel and hostel recommendations: if you're a budget traveler or a student, this is definitely not the guide for you. Its "Places to Stay" section is almost entirely limited to pricey 3-, 4-, and 5-star hotels: it needs to list less expensive alternatives. Excellent hostels like the Agora Youth Hostel in Catania aren't listed at all. Furthermore, the authors could have put their hotels on the city maps, like Lonely Planet and Rough Guides.

   DK's other regional guides are a little more functional than this one, but if you're headed to Sicily, take Lonely Planet, Rough Guide, or Let's Go along with you instead. 3 stars.

No comments about Tuscany Flying High.

3 comments about Enchanted Liguria: A Celebration of the Culture, Lifestyle and Food of the Italian Riviera.

1. It's the next best thing to being in Italy. William Murray, long-time New Yorker contributor and author of Italy, the Fatal Gift

   For good reason, the region has been called "Enchanted Liguria" by authors David Downie and Alison Harris. In their lavishly illustrated book (Rizzoli, 1997), this husband-and-wife team have vividly captured the culture, history, and daily life of this delightful place in pictures and words. Lorna Sass, Los Angeles Times syndicate

   David Downie investigates the unique and often misunderstood character of Liguria and how that is reflected in its architecture, lifestyle and cuisine. It's a fascinating but unromanticized view of an insular people... Daniel Young, New York Daily News

   Beautifully presented... this book closes the way all fine things Italian must -- with a good meal, and Downie's flourish of fine wine and recipes leaves readers with a sense of Liguria that is as satisfyingly complete as it is mouthwateringl! y inviting. San Francisco Sunday Examiner

   Complete with authentic recipes, stunning photography by Alison Harris, and a detailed guide to cultural and epicurean hot spots, the 208-page book captures the spirit and customs of the hidden hilltop villages and enticing Riviera beaches of northwest Italy's Liguria region. Appellation Magazine

   Splendid illustrations and equally well written... This book is an act of love, but first and foremost a work of meticulous, heartfelt research... a tale of traditions, landscapes and beauties that, often, even Ligurians themselves do not know... Many will be surprised to discover a fantastic reality that they see every day and, precisely because of that, fail to capture. Il Secolo XIX, major Italian daily

   The fruit of their labor is a very interesting book, destined to arouse the curiosity even of those who know -- or pretend to know -- Liguria inside and out. Il Giornale, major Italian daily




2. If you are just looking for a bunch of regional recipes this book is not for you. If you want to make a vicarious journey to Liguria through the eyes of this book, then it is for you. Thankfully the authors do not overly romanticize Liguria. They take you into the backwoods, hills, and farms, not just the charming ocean villages. Only about 1/4 of this book is recipes. But when you come away with a "feel" for a region and not just a laundry list of recipes, you have a larger experience than just food. I wish more regional cookbooks gave you this kind of glimpse into the region. Despite all of this, I think there could have been more recipes. I learned so much about Liguria from this book. I just wanted more ways of bringing Ligurian food "home" to my kitchen. Whenever I can afford a trip to Italy, it will contain a stop in Liguria all because of this book.



3. Genoa�too bad this fascinating city has been in the news because of the shocking police brutality against protestors at the Group of 8 summit meeting held there in July.

   Fortunately, there�s more to Genoa than those unfortunate events and if you read David Downie�s well-written and informative celebration of the culture, lifestyle and food of the Italian Riviera, you�ll see why. Downie writes authoritatively and graciously: his sidebars on everything from trompe-l��il (which the Genoans didn�t invent but which they did make full use of) to pesto (which appears in all their dishes) to native son Christopher Columbus (who the author discovered is, for the Genoans, just one explorer among many ) give a real feel for the art and architecture, history and cuisine of this largely unknown area of Italy. Photographer Alison Harrison�s beautiful photos also give us a feel for the place, from the interiors of magnificent palaces and humble kitchens to the colorful details of a greengrocer�s shop in the carrugi, Genoa�s medieval city. The traditional Ligurian recipes presented are not only mouthwatering, but doable. In fact, rather than write this review, I think I�ll go cook up a dish of Coniggio a�a carlonn-a (rabbit fricasseed with herbs, pine nuts, olives and white wine). I know I can�t mess it up� " a-a carlonn-a ", the author explains, means that even an idiot can make this simple dish successfully.

3 comments about Frommer's Amalfi Coast with Naples, Capri & Pompeii (Frommer's Complete).

1. I prefer more "fun" reading than the lifeless drumming in Frommer Travel books. I would like to see more travel books on the Amalfi area, but as choices are very slim, this may be the best available, at least to date.



2. We have already been to Italy but with this great book we are going to see another aspect of it. Not the kind of trip most tourists do, but the way this great traveler invites us to.



3. The Frommer's Amalfi Coast with Naples, Capri and Pompeii was fun to read and provided us with some useful information prior to our travels. In addition to our time spent in Naples, Capri and Pompeii, we also spent 5 days in Rome which we had purchased a Rick Steven's book on Rome. Rick Steven's is far superior to Frommer's in providing useful and practical information that is the most accurate. In addition, most of the necessary information for our Naples trip was in the Rome book-in the day trip section. I would therefore only recommend buying the Frommer's book as supplementary material to a Rick Steven's travel book if desired.

2 comments about The Food and Wine Lover's Companion to Tuscany.

1. Carla Capaldo has updated her book originally published in 1998, giving readers a "New, Updated Version" with over forty new entries. That's an average of ten a year, which seems a bit light to my mind.
   Her book-- regardless of the edition-- is a mix of restaurant recommendations, leads to wineries and enoteca, cheese shops, and also fattoria (farms) that offer such goods as olive oil, honey, etc. All well and good, but unless you are travelling all around Tuscany, over 95% of this book will be of little use.
   That said, much of its value will be as armchair reading-- and here too, I have some problems, particularly with her organization. As might be expected, the entries are organized geographically-- but by a system that most readers will find baffling. For instance, San Gimignano appears in the section on Siena (it is in Siena Province) while its neighbor fifteen miles away, Volterra, appears in the same section with Pisa, many miles to the north. But many of the villages in the province of Florence, such as Panzano, Radda, and Greve have their own section-- Chianti Classico.
   If it stopped there, one might eventually be able to discern what is where, but alas, the Index also compounds the confusion by listing entries alphabetically and then by offering, so we have Beekeepers, Bakeries, Candymakers, Chocolate Makers, Pastries, Biscuits, and Cakes, and Pastry Makers and Shops. Pity the person who is trying to recall where he/she had a nice pastry and coffee, followed by a gelato and perhaps a candy for the child!
   Another cavil-- in the '98 edition, one entry includes this sentence: "By the time you visit,...may have completed their extension: the 'little shop' will be enlarged to add a tasting room 'for friends." That same sentence, verbatim, is also in the 2002 edition. Granted, renovations can take a little while in Italy, but I strongly suspect that the author simply neglected to revisit the shop in question, and revise her book accordingly!

   If you are ONLY going to Tuscany, then this book may be of some use. If your travel plans include other regions of Italy (and they should), Faith Heller Willinger's "Eating in Italy" is far superior (though older) and there are several superior guides for serious enophiles.




2. I wrote this book, and would like prospective buyers to know that hundreds of people have written to me to say how much they have used and appreciated it when travelling to Tuscany. I'm glad, as it took three full years to write the first edition, and another 8 months to revise it, living on the road all around Tuscany as I did the research. Revising doesn't mean rewriting every entry: it means checking to see how things are after 2 years. If things have remained unchanged, I don't need to rewrite the entry from scratch. I also added 80 new places - my publishers wouldn't allow more - and removed others that had either closed or become less interesting.
   The focus of my work is to write about the artisan food and wine makers that Italy is so rich in -- about their lives and products -- and to help travellers to find them. Necessarily many of these dedicated and hard-working people live in out-of-the-way places. That makes finding them more difficult, but makes the visiting more interesting, as it takes us to all corners of this wonderful region.
   The Food and Wine Lover's Companion to Tuscany was shortlisted for Food Book of the Year in the UK. I have recently also published The Food and Wine Guide to Naples and Campania, fruit of three more years living and working in this fascinating southern region. I hope you will enjoy them!
   Carla Capalbo

5 comments about The Year I Didn't Go to School.

1. The other reviewer is correct in that there are many mistakes in the Italian and a few in the English. But you have to understand what is going on in the story.
   The family in this story is an American family that goes to Italy for a year to perform. I get the feeling from the book that they are NOT Italian and are just trying to fumble their way through the language as best as they can. You have to remember that this is not an Italian language instructional guide. It's an autobiographical telling of a year of Ms. Potter's childhood. With that in mind, the other mistakes make sense too. I read the story again and found that the mistake the former reviewer mentions is contained in a section where young Giselle is writing in her journal. It is the writing of a child, hence the grammatical mistakes.
   And the reviewer is also correct about there not being many captivating images of Italy, but I don't think Italy is supposed to be the star of the book. Ms. Potter wants us to learn from the lessons she learned as she traveled through that beautiful country. The most important lesson, I feel, is being able to support your family and find the joy in life even when things aren't going so well.
   No, this isn't the book you should use if you are trying to teach Italian to your child, but if you just want a cute little book for your child to enjoy, this one will do just fine. My 2 daughters loved it - especially the thought of having a year off of school!



2. My oldest daughter (4) and I LOVED this book! The illustrations are powerful and the story is so fun it makes me want to buy a van and travel around putting on plays with my husband and two daughters!!



3. This is a great book for any child. It has great pictures that are fun to look at and enjoy reading. I bought this for my neice and she loves the pictures.



4. I love this book. I had seen some of the artworks in a gallery last year and am so glad to have found the book they belong to. It's a fun read and a fantastick family adventure. This would make a great introduction to the possibilities of theater and engaging in performance for any child with a yearning to act, sing, paint, or dance.



5. I gave this book as a present to a little friend of mine, after seeing an exhibit of the illustrations and falling in love with them myself.
   
   Her parents have to ration reading the book! She loves it so much that, left to herself, she'd read it over and over in the same sitting.
   
   I'm now going to buy it for another little friend of mine.

No comments about Authentic Trentino-Alto Adige (Authentic Italy).

3 comments about Road to Rome: An Artist's Year in Italy.

1. there is nothing like opening a book that has a way of taking the viewer on a journey of color and visual exploration. the Road to Rome is a beautifully illustrated "story" in which the artist brings the rolling hills and tranquil villages of italy to life. her color palette exudes the warmth and charm of the country, and this book would highlight any watercolor enthusiasts collection. I came across Marlene McLoughlins work by chance, and have been a fan ever since!



2. This book takes me back to Italy every time I open it. Exquisite, thoughtful studies of the intimate details of this breathtaking landscape...vegetable stands, motor-scooters, doorknockers, espresso cups, and poppies! A wonderful gift book. Check out her other titles as well, especially "Across the Agean."



3. The artist is so talented. I love the way this book is illustrated. I have the other book in the series "Across the Aegean" & "The Passionate Observer" All candy for the eye!
   Joan Aikens