I loved reading this book -- such beautiful images that you can almost see in your mind's eye. But I loved hearing Mayes read the book to me even more. There is just something special about hearing a book read by the author. You get an insight into how the author intended the words be read -- what to emphasize, what to stress. People who think this is a book about fixing up a house have missed the point. It's a book about how different the cultures are -- U.S. and Itlay. We can take note of those differences by a comparing something many of know -- hiring contractors, doing renovations -- to the same experience in Italy. The renovations are really just a medium through which to describe the differences.