World Travel, Esoteric Lands, Archaeology

Beginning of article

Byline: Ann Geracimos, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Wherever Frances Mayes goes, the patter is familiar, the scene intimate. Alas, all too familiar. The author of "Under the Tuscan Sun" and three other books about Tuscany now has expanded her scope to take off for A Year in the World (Broadway Books, $26 , 420 pages). It's an idiosyncratic itinerary, subtitled "Journeys of a Passionate Traveller," the better to keep us guessing her next port of call. Seemingly without a care in the world, and certainly without any money worries, she goes from Italy, to Spain, Portugal, back to Italy again, Morocco, Burgundy, and on and on.

She spares us no details, even tedious ones about her husband's health, so that much of the book seems to have been lifted directly from notes entered into a journal the end of each day. We are given a smorgasbord of information: Colette's early life in Auxerre, the beauties of Wales, walking in Capri, and more than enough about food and drink enjoyed along the way. The bibliography is a welcome addition. …