Was It Something I Said?

The Reluctant Tuscan: This book resembles Under the Tuscan Sun in many ways. Phil Doran and his wife bought a house in Tuscany and began fixing it up, running into almost exactly all the same problems as Frances Mayes and her husband. The tone of the two books, however, couldn’t be more different. Doran is a former sitcom writer, and it shows in the way he tells the story. Doran’s wife wanted to move permanently to Italy (unlike Mayes, for whom life in Italy was part-time ), and Doran didn’t. He stubbornly continued to hope that he could get back into the TV game, despite all indications to the contrary. In fact, it seems that he got at least part of his wish, in the form of this book. It is quite amusing, and another cautionary (albeit lighthearted) tale about culture shock and the pitfalls of life in the Italian countryside.