Check it out

For those curious about lands beyond their armchairs yet reluctant to

leave the comforts of home, accounts of others’ adventures in foreign

parts can be as satisfying as actual travel.

If vicarious passage to Italy appeals, check out “A House in Sicily,” a

new memoir by Englishwoman Daphne Phelps, who spent 50 years hosting such

notables as Henry Faulkner, Tennessee Williams and Roald Dahl in the

inherited villa she turned into an inn. The village of Taormina and its

townspeople come alive in this engaging tale of a woman who started life

anew in the “most beautiful house in Sicily.”

Frances Mayes introduced readers to the delights of Italy in “Under the

Tuscan Sun,” her rhapsodic account about restoring a Tuscan farmhouse.

Her love affair with the Italian countryside resumes in “Bella Tuscany:

The Sweet Life in Italy,” in which the San Francisco professor on

sabbatical continues refurbishment of the old villa, explores Sicily and

Venice and muses about the mystery of learning Italian.

Tuscany so enchanted Ferenc and Candace Mate that they left New York,

rented a home in Italy and searched for a permanent abode amid Tuscan

olive groves. Read about the duo’s idyllic life of picking grapes,

hunting for mushrooms and making wine in “The Hills of Tuscany,” a

lighthearted memoir about the joys of pastoral living.

In similar fashion, Richard and Barbara Hewitt abandoned 9-to-5 life in

New England for what they thought would be a more relaxed pace in

Portugal. Although they escaped the rat race, a bucolic lifestyle eluded

them, and they paint a sobering picture of property rehabilitation

stunted by sluggish bureaucracy in “A Cottage in Portugal.”

Things went more smoothly for Peter Mayle and his wife when they returned

to their adopted homeland. Read about their most recent adventures in

Southern France in “Encore Provence,” a collection of witty sketches

about markets, vineyards and bakeries in countryside that seems to lie

beyond contemporary alienation and materialism.

Equally appealing for Francophiles is “At Home in France,” Ann Barry’s

vivid memoir about vacations in southwestern France. Cooking, quirky

neighbors and jaunts to Brittany provide fodder for this richly textured

narrative about a home away from home.

For armchair travelers interested in venturing farther afield, Edward

Dimock describes Indian maharajas, cobras and karma in “Mr. Dimock

Explores the Mysteries of the East.” With humor and affection, his essays

capture the chaos of a destination foreign to most Westerners.

Tony Cohan focuses on a culture closer to home in “On Mexican Time: A New

Life in San Miguel.” In this poetic ode to a colorful town, find virtual

transport to a destination where “history, religion and ceremony soften

the effects of change,” where there is much to nourish an artistic soul.

CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach Public Library.

This week’s column is by Melissa Adams, in collaboration with June

Pilsitz.