- Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: Penguin (3 April 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0141008903
- ISBN-13: 978-0141008905
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 139,579 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Ripe for the Picking
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Ripe for the Picking shows how much life there is left in that perennial theme, the English Abroad. Travel books are popular, but classics such as My Family and Other Animals and A Year in Provence prove that books about English people actually living abroad are just as entertaining.
Annie Hawes is an Englishwoman who has lived in a tumbledown cottage in the Ligurian hills in Italy for about a decade. In Ripe for the Picking she picks up the story of her book Extra Virgin to recount more of her adventures among the locals.
The problem with this genre is that the authors often find it difficult to resist exaggeration. Their adventures abroad are always a bit unbelievable. Can the locals really be that eccentric? Are the difficulties fitting in always so troublesome? Is rural life in Italy or Greece or Spain really so charming? Happily, Annie Hawes avoids most of these pitfalls. Ripe for the Picking is down to earth, easy going and realistic. Hawes portrays the locals as ordinary, but interesting people instead of curious and amusing foreigners, and she writes about her day-to-day adventures in the Italian hills with zest, fresh humour and genuine appreciation for her hosts. When she gets snagged on a cultural difference she is more likely to examine herself than to blame her new culture. Finally, Hawes' book sheds light on the fast-paced, neurotic Anglo-Saxon existence from which she came. She reminds us that a dose of Italy would do us all good. --Dwight Longenecker
Review
"'Annie Hawes is warm, funny, idiosyncratic and a dedicated people-watcher' - Observer"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
A rickety three-legged stepladder, the home-made kind you use for pruning olive trees, stands in the middle of my kitchen. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
A rickety three-legged stepladder, the home-made kind you use for pruning olive trees, stands in the middle of my kitchen. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Annie's style of writing makes this such an excellent read, she is honest, does not judge but, relates the situations so well that you are drawn in. The way people behave in any situation gives you all you need to know and enables you to decide how you feel about each of them. Annie writes with genuine affection particularly for people, however good or bad they may be, a gentle humour (of which she is often the butt) but above all honesty. Having read Extra Virgin I could not wait to read this one. I was not disappointed. In fact so far from it that I only hope there will be further tales of Annie's life in Italy. I was completely drawn into the world in which she now lives, and can't help feeling I know everyone in it. Finishing this book is like leaving a group of old friends and not knowing when you will see them again. I cannot imagine anyone who has read Extra Virgin not wishing to read this book.
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was a little wary of this book. How could it possibly match it's predecessor, Extra Virgin (a book that started off slow for me but which within just a chapter or two I couldn't put down). As another reviewer said, once I received Ripe for the Picking (from amazon.uk -- as it's not listed on the U.S. amazon site as of this writing) I was not disappointed. This book is like revisiting old friends after an extended absence, and we get right back into the "story" with ease. Oddly, this time around it's even more of a page turner, than the original, and I find myself having to force myself to put it away at night before bed and again the next morning before work. Annie Hawes seems to have blossomed as a writer, and offers us richly drawn details without being flowery and gushing, or, the alternative in this genre it seems, condescending to the locals they at the same time claim to love, as do a few even big names in this genre. Once again I found myself dreading the end as I neared the end of this book -- now what? In every way I felt just like my own great vacation had come to an end and now it was back to the grind, a little poorer for it being over. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do, and I have every faith and belief that you will.
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Annie Hawes has certainly not let us down with this remarkable second book of her life in Liguria. Annie has now got herself a man and as he is a local Ligurian naturally she is now embroiled in the antics of his extended Italian family. Her warm and often hilarious accounts of this family and the familiar characters who featured in "Extra Virgin" will literally take you to Italy. I was particularly impressed with the mouthwatering descriptions of the food in this book, so much so that I am now dreaming of a trip to Italy which involves a very,very slow lunch with a very large Italian family!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Brilliant
Having read the first book by this author (see link) which I found to be most descriptive and entertaining, I was compelled to buy this follow-up book. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Bluejeans
A great insight into life in rural Italy
What a great follow up to Extra Virgen. Annie Hawes has continued the tale of an English person struggling to understand Ligurians!! Read more
Published 15 months ago by Richard Bushnell
Mouthwatering and Yum!
I have read every book Annie Hawes has written and want more. Her unique style of writing is great and easy to read. Her passion for Italy, Italians, food and Ciccio are apparent. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Reader Ruthie
'Pick' yourself up a copy of this fantastic book!
I was so looking forward to reading this book, the sequel to `Extra Virgin.' So much so that I'd ordered this book before I'd even finished its funny, heart-warming predecessor and... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Nicola F (Nic)
Ripe for the picking
A great read that makes you want to uproot, please read the first book before this one to get the full enjoyment.
Published on 4 Jun 2009 by Mrs. T. J. Arkell-howe
Very true-to-life
Read this book whilst on holiday in Liguria - quite appropriate considering this is the subject of this outstanding novel by Annie Hawes. Read more
Published on 6 April 2008 by C. Valentine
Ripe for the Picking
I found this book in the Charity shop where I work so started half way through Annie's adventure (now reading Extra Virgin). Read more
Published on 7 Feb 2008 by Mrs. M. N. Rigby
Italy
I love Italy and this made me want to travel there pronto. A lovely and warm read about Liguria with the mind of a dry English lady
Published on 26 Mar 2006
Another enjoyable read!
Having thoroughly enjoyed Extra Virgin I couldn't wait to read Ripe for the Picking. I was worried that Ripe for the Picking could not possibly be as entertaining. Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2003 by mrs s j auckland
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