I disliked the voice of the narrator so much that I cannot listen another minute.
It's such a shame as I love the story.

I would as the story itself is lovely.

The narrators voice is like nails down a chalk board. I love this book but I simple cannot listen to her.

A skilled narrator 'living the text'. I read this book years ago and returned from Italy two days ago pining to enjoy it again. I listened for an hour and simply can't take it anymore. The book is so poorly narrated by the author I couldn't recall what i enjoyed about the book the first time around. Her voice is so entitled and uptight that prose I found charming and enticing when I read it now sounds indulgent and off putting. The three star for the story is due to the botched abridged job -- where was the story of the wasp dying in the figs that so charmingly opened the book?

Her voice is beyond irritating and doesn't match the text. Frances puts no life at all into her narration. It is read far too quickly and monotone. Awful. And she reads, not narrates, make no mistake about it and badly too; missing grammatical cues and even mispronouncing words.

Frances should have asked Diane Lane to narrate. The movie doesn't resemble the book in any way other than location, but it was a lovely movie with a likable leading lady. Why some authors feel compelled to read their own prose is a sign to me of self absorption.

Worst listen ever. Complete waste of a credit.

Everytime I listen to the story that brings back fond memories of restoring my own homes here in United States. One day I will find myself going to cuddling and findings aHome to restore an encounter the same challenges and rewards.

The narration was horrible. This was the first book I could not finish. I thought it would be a joy to have the author read her own book but not only was she very monotone, at times it felt like she had difficulty reading out her own words. Quite a few times I tuned her out and then decided that continuing on with be pointless.

Dif person reading for one was not interesting at all and could not follow. Very boring

Somewhat

Narrator should be different

No

no

Unfortunately, I would not. I was disappointed to find that the book was quite different than the movie. More than likely, I would have enjoyed it more if I had read it first, then watched the movie. I had expected to hear a "Diane Lane" type of voice...again, so different from the movie...I was very surprise when I heard the author narrate her book with her southern, twangy voice.

The story itself was an enjoyable look into Tuscany and into the authors life there even though I had an extremely difficult time getting past her accent.

Possibly, as long as she is not the narrator.

no

food descriptions were romantic and full of life

Mayes voice was not "listen"friendly...I had listened to an audio recording of this book years ago and fully enjoyed the performance. I purchased this version without listening to a clip of the audio. Surprised when I listened to find another person narrating.

It is not the story it is the voice of the narrator. Very droll and very hard to listen to.

I was looking forward to this book as I had heard so much about it.

Her mono tone southern accent put me off. I tried a couple of time to listen again, but terribly sorry I couldn't cope with her voice.

could listen to much so missed out on the book

No thanks for your time

I loved reading this book , I loved watching this book as a movie , I however dislike the voice of Frances Mayes. The content is wonderful, the story is inspiring , the VOICE IS grating. A more vocal lyrical reader would have transported me to Italy and sent me into raptures. Some writers are not meant to be readers. Keep to what you know best and that is writing and get someone with a voice to read your words. This was a terrible attempt, hence the other Frances Mayes books will be left un-listened, as I could not put my ears through another onslaught of Frances reading