Memphis Reads Archive

Nonfiction/Travel Writing

Jane Carter reviews A YEAR IN THE WORLD: JOURNEYS OF A PASSIONATE TRAVELLER by Frances Mayes (Broadway Books, 2006)

Frances Mayes, the popular author of Under the Tuscan Sun, once again writes with lyrical passion of her travels to twelve new places across Western Europe and Africa.

Actually, this narrative spans a five year period, in which Mayes and her husband sample everyday life through each region’s cuisine, gardens, and culture. Imagine being able to savor Naple’s pizza, Sicily’s seafood, Crete’s lamb, and Scotland’s shortbread, with a few recipes thrown in. You travel with the couple on the Aegean Sea, hike to archaeological sites, scour museums, and live among the inhabitants of every region, soaking up literary, architectural, and social history. This book is definitely for everyone, but particularly for armchair travelers who love to be transported and immersed with beautiful prose to exotic and unknown regions of the world.


Jane Carter, Collection Development


Read Doris Dixon's review of A YEAR IN THE WORLD

Labels: Nonfiction, Reviews by Jane Carter, Travel Writing