Customer Reviews

Italian Lessons

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What an enjoyable read! Joan Arndt takes the reader on an experience of a lifetime, sharing what it was like for her and husband Roger to completely uproot from the U.S. and set up life and business in Italy. The reader experiences every adventure (and misadventure!) along the way, gaining an unbelievable insider's view of life as an Italian vs any images one might have as a tourist visiting Italy. All told through Ms. Arndt's humor-filled style, it's like the reader is sitting having coffee with her at Starbuck's and she's recounting tale after tale. Very approachable, fun read... I highly recommend it.

Joan Arndt's delightful first novel, Italian Lessons, recounts her and Roger's relocation adventure and ensuing life as ex-patriots in Umbria, Italy. Their journey from Atlanta, Georgia to Assisi and points around culminates in finding Le Vigne, their home and rental property near Perugia. Reading Joan's book made me want to experience life at Le Vigne, and after enjoying Roger and Joan's gracious hospitality in their beautiful setting amid their olive groves and gardens, well, that made me want to re-read the book and experience again their Umbrian adventure. I anxiously await further tales from Joan and have already booked my second stay at Le Vigne. (By the way, I have read many other stories of ex-pats in Italy, France, and Spain, and highly recommend Joan's book for any armchair traveler, but beware, you will likely want to jet over and experience Le Vigne yourself.)

For anyone who dreams of living in Italy, I highly recommend Italian Lessons. Having read Michael Tucker's Living in a Foreign Language: A Memoir of Food, Wine, and Love in Italy, I have doubted whether a non-Hollywooder without an entourage of staff could ever dream of such an adventure. I found Joan Arndt's descriptions of the challenges of leaving the US behind, finding and establishing a home in Umbria, and starting a new life as an ex-pat in Italy extremely realistic and achievable. The entertaining read is filled with sage advice for navigating the journey from life in the US to the discovery of an Umbrian home and a new perspective on living. For those who dream of running away from home and making a new life in Italy, "Italian Lessons" is definitely the book for you.