I include some amazon reviews of Extra Virgin by Annie Hawes -guranteed to take you out of yourself into a really different lifestyle - someone else and somewhere else - great sense of humour and lots of fascinating information - a really cheerful read

"What a surprise! When my flat mates started raving on about this book I was terribly sceptical expecting a rather trashy " A Year in a Lemon Tree" or some such nonsense. I couldn't have been more wrong and within pages was so hooked that I did not want the book to ever end. In fact I enjoyed it so much that I could go straight back to the beginnig and read it all over again! Annie Hawes has a wonderful style of prose which is most endearing. You are left feeling as if you know all the inhabitants of the village and that Hawes is a friend of a friend who you feel you have always known. Her capitalisation of words like Dirt, and talk of draughts causing life threatening illnesses were especially amusing being a foreigner in a german speaking country obsessed with such matters. Hawes' faux pas were also very close to home Warning if you are hungry or on a diet do not read this book as the descriptions of Ligurian cuisine will break any will. Do however throw caution to the wind and give this book a try and anyway you can always start dieting again afterwards!......

Annie Hawes tells the story of how she and her sister came to live in Italy and how they learned to live with and understand the olive growing locals, their families and their traditions. They soon find out the these somewhat cynical people, who are baffled and amazed by how two females will cope on their own, will become very special to them and change their lives forever. This book is heart warming, emotional and best of all hilariously funny. The stories of how the locals take to their new neighbours and their strange ways had me in fits of laughter. If you like a book that makes you laugh,lets you see a very different side to life and gets you thinking then this is the one for you. Wonderful.....

I read this book while in Greece ,where I walked on donkey tracks amidst olive trees. This really brought an added pleasure to my reading. My partner could not understand my sudden interest in plates of succulent tomatoes, drizzled with olive oil! Annie Hawes' descriptions of her early days in Liguria are extremely funny and I frequently laughed out loud . I also learnt a lot about peasant life which i think would also apply to other communities (the use of Apes for example, a mode of transport which has always intrigued me in Greece!).Needless to say, my partner is now devouring the book. Read it now !"

Thoroughly enjoyable
Get better soon
Jan

Thank you, Jan, for the suggestion. I will look it up.

In my original message, I have two "haves" -- obviously an error on my part. I meant "I am having"....

Sorry! Sometimes my fingers type faster than I can think.

Liz, I also read and enjoyed Extra Virgin. I doubt that the two sisters could find such a cheap house in Italy these days.

Are you familiar with the Irish writer Marian Keyes? I wasn't until I picked up a book made up of articles she had written in many English/Irish mags, Under the Duvet; in small doses quite funny.
How about some Alan Bennett? He will remind you of home and his latest book The Uncommon Reader (about the Queen discovering the joy of books) is wonderful.
Hope the op goes OK . . . all that pounding of the gym equipment/torture implements . . .is it worth it? :-)

Vee - it's the years of housecleaning that did it in ... I knew there was something wrong with doing that!!

Nah, I used to run marathons and I think that is what ruined my feet. They just weren't made for running those long distances!!

Thanks for the suggestions. I will look into them.