Recommended Reads: ‘Living in a Foreign Language’ a delicious love story

Living in a Foreign Language by Michael Tucker

Indulge in the full sensory story of American expats who impulsively buy a rustico, a cottage home in Northern Italy, and literally move into la bella vita.

In this full-bodied memoir, the author vividly shares the warmth, fun, humor, romance and spirited aspects of this joyful life adventure, especially the amazing meals. These meals are daily opportunities to treat the taste buds, as well as appreciate the fine art behind the cooking, and linger over the loving company of friends and family. After years living the fast-paced lifestyles of New York and California, wedded actors Michael Tucker and Jill Eikenberry decided that “spring was about change, and so were we.” And so they began Living in a Foreign Language.

It’s true that they could not speak Italian when they decided to move there, but as they began to learn the language, they also learned that people communicate in many ways. It’s refreshing to read how their forays into daily, Italian life show the bright and positive parts of human nature.

And the cooking — have I mentioned the cooking! This author is an epic epicure. His tenderly detailed descriptions of collaborative meal preparations, along with the lingering scenes savoring the results of their labors, matched with the chosen wines virtually delight all the senses.

The heartfelt picture the author paints of this beautiful country and people creates an insatiable longing for all they discovered, and an aspiration to take time to sculpt aspects of this bravissimo life into wherever you call home. This memoir is above all a love story. A love for the vitality of life, for bold changes that bring exciting results, and a love between two people that overflows to everyone around them.

“To have the partner of a lifetime – for a lifetime – is rare stuff. We’d be fools not to indulge it to the limit. What extraordinary freedom it is not to care about up or down, rich or poor, East Coast, West Coast, as long as we’re in the taxi together.”

Michael Tucker’s writing is delightful, conversational, beautifully descriptive, and almost lyrical as it wanders through Italian countryside and cities with great humor and affection. He makes the effort to really bring to life the people, situations and scenes for his readers’ enjoyment. A veteran stage, film and television actor, perhaps best known for his role on the long-running television series L.A. Law, this is his second book. As you read, you’ll wish it never ends. He’s found another calling as an author.

Bravo!

— By Wendy Kendall

Wendy Kendall is a writer, project manager and volunteer at the Edmonds Library. Follow her via her blog here or on Twitter @wendywrites1.

 

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