Book Rec of the Day 1/24/2007

You know the drill by now: burnt-out American/Brit goes to France/Italy/Spain, buys dilapidated villa/cottage, and discovers paradise. But God is in the details. And the details of Hollywood honcho Doran’s adventures in Tuscany are truly hilarious. Doran’s eye for detail, along with his type A personality, so at odds with the Italian far niente mentality, keep the pages turning briskly toward an inevitable happy ending. If you need a winter’s dose of la dolce vita, you can’t go wrong here.

THE RELUCTANT TUSCAN, by Phil Doran (Gotham, 2006)