191)? How would you respond to this impulse? What are some of the benefits and drawbacks to the time of life Mayes chose for embarking on a major change? Discuss some of your own turning points and 'forks in the road.' What is Mayes's advice to readers who have 'the desire to surprise your own life' (p.Mayes's loving descriptions of food, her recipes, and her gardening tips add sensuality to the book, but what are some of their other functions in Under the Tuscan Sun?.110)? How does Mayes's response address globalization in general? What is Mayes's philosophy about the friend who speaks disparagingly of contemporary Italy and says it's 'getting to be just like everywhere else-homogenized and Americanized' (p.How does she also convey that the timelessness is in many ways just an illusion? How does the 'sense of endless time' affect her household? Mayes often portrays life in Cortona as timeless.What role does food play, both metaphorically and literally, in the sense of delight that deepens Mayes's relationship to Tuscany and the house itself?.What are some of the other discoveries made throughout Bramasole and its grounds that lend a magical feeling to the house? Mayes's house is called 'Bramasole,' which literally means 'yearning for the sun.' However, soon after she purchases the house, Mayes dreams that its real name is 'Centi Angeli,' or 'one hundred angels.' Discuss the ways in which this proves to be a premonitory dream.How does the author change as the book progresses? How are her changes reflected in her tone and in her writing?.How does the experience of purchasing and renovating Bramasole impact Frances and Ed's relationship, and how does their interaction affect their shared experience of buying, owning, and living in Bramasole?.What are some of the qualities of Italian life that contrast most sharply with American culture? Which aspects of Italian life did Frances and Ed find it important to incorporate into their own lives? Which aspects would you have been drawn to?.What makes Mayes's writing style effective? How does her particular voice make her descriptions come alive? What images did you find to be particularly striking?.

Discuss some examples of this, both in her life and in your own

'The house is a metaphor for the self,' Frances Mayes writes.

Why is the purchase of her house in Italy so qualitatively different from her other experiences with home ownership?

Mayes writes of the traumatic experience of selling one house and purchasing another on various occasions in the United States.

In what ways does that question symbolize how the book came about? What does it say about Frances Mayes's life in Italy, and about her life in general?

'What are you growing here?' is the first line of Under the Tuscan Sun.

Frances mayes house