Poetic Tales of Italy, Recipes Included

There is nothing more surreal than sitting on a plane traversing America with thoughts of San Francisco dancing in one’s head and words of Italy flowing in one’s ears.

However, if one must be trapped on a delayed eight-hour flight, there is no better companion than Frances Mayes reading her latest book, “Bella Tuscany: The Sweet Life in Italy” (Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio, abridged nonfiction, four cassettes, six hours, $25, read by the author).

The pertinent question is whether this is as charming as her last audio book, “Under the Tuscan Sun.” The answer is a firm yes. And no. Yes, her delectable descriptions of food and travel and gardening reveal improved writing skills. However, she also comes across as slightly cranky as she whines about house guests she could have refused. Also, certain passages meander down corridors that fail to excite. True, it is sad when her husband’s mother is taken ill and the couple must fly to Minnesota in the chill of winter. It is also rather dull and disappointing to a listener intent on hearing about Italy.

Her writing is more poetic this time around, her descriptions even more flavorful than in her previous memoir. She displays great detail and depth while exploring the emotional undertones of her experiences. When Mayes meets with an elderly woman hoping to sell her childhood home, the discussion is as much about poetry and personal contact as about the rustic building.

The abridgment is somewhat choppy, a problem that might have been alleviated with the use of a few bars of an airy Italian etude to break up the passages. Mayes employs titles and subtitles in her book, but passages lack that clean break on the audio. As with “Under the Tuscan Sun,” a booklet of recipes mentioned in the text is also included.

With her singsong Southern accent, the author may not be a scintillating narrator, but she is decidedly sweet as she speaks of love and death and language. She has an easy, comfortable style that caresses your ears as she invites you to share her stories. However, she is too fast at times, as the occasional sentence slides into the next.

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Travel writer / humorist Bill Bryson, author of “A Walk in theWoods,” has two new audios on the market, the better being “I’m a Stranger Here Myself.” (Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio, abridged nonfiction, four cassettes, six hours, $25, read by the author.)

After nearly two decades in Britain, Bryson, his wife and four children returned to the States, where repatriation became a weekly column for London’s Night & Day magazine of the British Mail. His essays (presented uncut, though not all are included) cover everything from garbage disposals to the war on drugs. They are frank, funny and occasionally quite poignant.

Bryson is also a bit more mellow than in the past. Oh, he is still sarcastic, but as he reflects upon American culture we hear less sting and more emotional resonance. He can also be so wickedly humorous that I actually had to pull over to the side of the road while driving, as I was laughing so intensely I couldn’t see.

Less amusing is his 1992 book, “Neither Here Nor There: Travel in Europe,” which has just been released on audio (Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio, abridged nonfiction, four cassettes, six hours, $25, read by the author).

In the early 1970s, Bryson backpacked across Europe. He repeated his travels 20 years later and dutifully recorded his experiences. Unfortunately, they are less then revealing. Sure, he says what many of us think. He can be humorous and irreverent and decidedly politically incorrect. However, he is also cranky, rather obvious and more than a little sophomoric while pointing out the quirkier aspects of each country’s inhabitants.

With an oddly clipped accent he describes as “Anglo-Iowan,” Bryson sounds like no one else on audio. This is marvelous, really, as his unique cadence quite matches the opinions of a Midwesterner with a decidedly British sense of irony.

Adept at telling a joke, Bryson has a finely tuned sense of timing and a convivial manner that keeps one glued to the headset. A consummate storyteller, he is always worth hearing, even when his material fails to shine.

Rochelle O’Gorman reviews audio books every other week. Next week: Margo Kaufman on mystery books.

For more reviews, read Book Review

* This Sunday: Don Waldie on “Farewell, Promised Land: Waking from the California Dream”; James Longenbach on “The Geography of Home: California’s Poetry of Place”; and Stephen Schwartz on “Pacific Arcadia: Images of California, 1600-1915.”