Under the Tuscan Sun - Frances Mayes

A latest trend observed in travel writing is the genre of "villa renovation and restoration" tales. The premise is simple - the author decides to purchase a large and rambling villa (preferably in an exotic location) and then proceeds to renovate and restore it to its original glory together with a commentary on the local populace and the culture. One of the earliest books to explore this idea, "Under the Tuscan Sun" is the story of the struggle of an American family who buy a villa in the picturesque Tuscan countryside and proceed to renovate it to make it a permanent home. The prose is delightfully cheery and upbeat and to the credit of the author, she succeeds in making the dreary job of renovating a house sound like a cheerful year long party. Also, the added descriptions of the Tuscan countryside, the descriptions of Italian customs and traditions and the endless number of excursions, picnics and parties makes for good escapist reading.

However, the very same reasons make this book worthwhile only for a one-time read and prevents it from acquiring the status of a classic. The author fails to inject any humanity into the myriad characters present in this book and none of them stay with you once you've put down the book. This book had the potential to become a classic like 'My Family and other Animals' as the theme of renovating a villa has been explored in the latter as well, but sadly the book fails to reach perfection in terms of character exploration. Still, this is still worth a one-time read especially if you are tired of the drudgeries of city life and want a momentary escape to a quaint and idyllic place.

Perfume : the story of a murderer - Patrick Süskind

Based on an extremely unusual and haunting premise, Perfume narrates the story of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille - an man born in one of the smelliest markets in 18th century Paris. However, there is a rather macabre twist to this seemingly ordinary phenomenon. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille does not possess any sort of personal odor whatsoever but has an almost superhuman sense of smell enabling him to explore the world of scents like an open book. The author skillfully guides us through his life, his introduction to the world of scents and his obsession to create the ultimate perfect scent that can manipulate the very fabric of human emotion and which will set him apart from all the perfumers in the world. However, as is soon observed, the perfect scent is not to be achieved via the conventional sources of perfume and requires going that extra length ( I guess you can justify the full title of the book now).The obsession and struggle of a man to achieve his life's desire and the complex relationship between scents and human emotions forms the basis of this book.

I do not wish to divulge any further details lest it spoil the reading experience but I would like to complement the author as of the five senses, the sense of smell is most difficult to translate onto prose but to a large extent, you can almost feel the different scents described in the book. Although a tad repetitive and abstract at times, the book is an enjoyable read and it will change the way you perceive scents forever.

Lust for Life - Irving Stone

Vincent Van Gogh is one of the most well known artists today in the Post-Impressionistic field of painting. However, he was not given his due recognition during his lifetime and had an extremely disturbing and sometimes violent life. Irving Stone attempts to reconstruct the life and times of this talented artist and uncover the man behind the artistic masterpieces like 'Starry Nights' and 'The Potato Eaters'. Written on similar lines as Stone's other works, this fictionalized biography is based on Van Gogh's letters written to his brother Theo (who was one of his major support systems) and chronicles his life - from his beginnings as an assistant to an art dealer, his subsequent transition towards religion and becoming a missionary in a mining town, his inspirations that propelled him towards a new form of expression through a radical new form of painting, the interactions with equally famous contemporaries like Cezzane and Monet, his attempts to create a place for himself in the then rigidly conservative art world and his final self destructive years when he veered towards insanity. Also, similar to the 'The Agony and the Ecstasy', the most engrossing parts of the book are the ones describing the creation of his most famous works and we get a clear picture of the process of the transference of the inherent emotions and feelings of an artist from his mind to his canvas.

It must be clear at this point that this book is definitely not a fun read. Given the bleak and dark nature of Van Goghs life, this reconstruction of his life is also an extremely dark and sometimes severely depressing read. However, I would still encourage people interested in European art to give this one a shot for it paints a rather engrossing picture of Van Gogh's life and is a tribute to one of the most influential persons in the art world who sadly never lived to see the fame he enjoys now.