NonFiction Book Club
An Embarrassment of Mangoes
by Ann Vanderhoof
Buy book: $15.72

Under the Tuscan sun on a sailboat in the Caribbean, Vanderhoff and her husband abandon their esteemed careers in mid-life to navigate the Caribbean on a sailboat, discovering local culture in each tiny port, and collecting original sumptuous recipes along the way.

 

How can she be sailing "under a Tuscan sun" if she's in the Caribbean?

This is a great book so far! I wish I was there with her. The descriptions of the island, the people, and THE FOOD sound wonderful!

What a great life....

I had the SAME question(!!) ????????

Love the way this book has (so far)alternated between tropical sailing and the hectic metropolitan life in wintry Toronto!
I can almost taste that tuna, and I sure would like to taste Che... Bene (?), it sounds delicious!

Yet another book about a boat! Yet another book about getting away to something simpler.

Almost didn't start it, but glad I did.

Often this type book where folks are getting away to a simpler life is filled with clever but, in actuality, rather condescending descriptions of the authors' encounters with the "wily" natives or the "colorful characters" they come across. (After all, isn't that why they purportedly wanted to get away?) That type disrespectful writing is apparently supposed to impress readers with the clever humor of such writers and show them to be the only "normal" folks in the adventure.

Ms. Vanderhoof, on the other hand, describes with respect the people and their ways of life and proves that one can write a charming memoir not at anyone's expense.

So thanks to her. I will buy this book.

I'd love to read the whole book to get more info on how they really decided to go forward with their plan, something we all dream about but never act on to that extent!

Regarding "Under the Tuscan Sun": It could have been worded better for clarity -- it's a reference to another nonfiction book titled "Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy" by Frances Mayes (later made into a movie), in which the author (an American) recounts restoring a villa in Italy.

I just finished this book and I absolutely loved it. My husband and I have a 41 foot Egg Harbor motor yacht that we live on and crruise Lake Michigan in in the summers. What I just loved, and had to read out loud to my husband, was the genisis of the five year plan. We also have a five year plan that consumes our imagination. Not to mention that, now that we have The Plan, reading books like this can be legitimately considered research

I read the newspaper, everyday. I'll read a magazine from time to time. Never a book. Until now.

I was drawn to this book while reading a two page teaser on an airline magazine.

I just finished it and loved it. As a Caribbean traveler, it seemed as if I made the entire journey with Ann...and loved it!

Great reading.