Amazon Book Description
Publication Date: June 8, 2010
Tired of laboring in city cubicles, Justine van der Leun sublets her studio apartment, leaves her magazine job, and moves to Collelungo, Italy, population: 200. There, in the ancient city center of a historic Umbrian village, she sets up house with the handsome local gardener she met on vacation only weeks earlier. This impulsive decision launches an eye-opening series of misadventures when village life and romance turn out to be radically different from what she had imagined. Love lost with the gardener is found instead with Marcus, an abandoned English pointer that she rescues. With Marcus by her side, Justine discovers the bliss and hardship of living in the countryside: herding sheep, tending to wild horses, picking olives with her adopted Italian family, and trying her best to learn the regional dialect. Not quite up to wild boar hunting, no good at gathering mushrooms, and no mamma when it comes to making pasta, she never quite fits in with the locals who, despite their differences, take her in as one of their own. The result is a rich, comic, and unconventional portrait about learning to live and love in the most unexpected ways.

On its way to debbie4osu from the wishlist-tag game. Hope you enjoy it!

eponine38 is a very kind and generous bookcrosser, and she tagged me on the US-Can wishlist tag game. I have been looking for this book for a while, and it came to me yesterday, along with some bookmarks of puppies, which are adorable!! Thanks so much for the book and bookmarks :)

This was a very interesting read. It concentrated more on Umbria than the dog-author relationship. That is fine with me, because I haven't been to Umbria, and I thought this was a good description of the Umbrian region and people of the area. My sister now has it, and then it will travel around, somewhere...somehow...

My sister has this one, and I am catching it for JennyC1230 Memoir/Autobio VBB. If you like Italy, dogs, and a good story about both, this is the book for you!!!

Reserved for JennyC1230's Bio/Memoir/Humor VBB

Caught for my: Virtual Biography/Auto-Biography/Humor Bookbox.

This book wasn't chosen in Round #5 of the Virtual Biography/Auto-Biography/Humor Bookbox so it's available.

My Review: This was an interesting book. I liked the parts dealing with the cultural differences between New York City (where the author previously lived) and a rural Italian town called Umbria. The dog wasn't a huge part of the story so if you are looking for that, the dog Marcus was probably 20% of the story.

I decided to read this one before it travels again. Now it's ready for another journey.

If you have found this book, welcome to Bookcrossing and thank you for taking the time to let us know about its journey. Feel free to enjoy the book and pass it along to a friend, neighbor, family member or co-worker, or simply leave it somewhere for another lucky reader to enjoy as you did! This book isn’t your type of read? No problem, don't feel obliged to read it, just be kind enough to help it on its journey.

Giving to Angellc. I think she might like this book.