Ferenc MátéCritiques

¿Quién no ha imaginado una vida idílica en la Toscana, saboreando un buen vino, disfrutando de la mejor comida y de la amistad vecinal? Ferenc y Candace Máté, escritor y pintora, parecen haberlo logrado. Pero el verdadero sueño de Ferenc es crear su propio vino. Juntos aprenderán que para conseguirlo se requiere perseverancia, buen gusto, y sobre todo, la capacidad de reírse de uno mismo.

I got this book through goodreads and have been saving it until I was at the beach on vacation. I gave it 65 pages or so but I'm sorry to say I just didn't get into it and have passed it on to others who are on vacation with me.

A clear disappointment. It starts in Tuscany, but it’s a mythical Tuscany that may never have actually existed. According to the author it was, but is not quite now, idyllic in every way. He begins with each of those excellent qualities and then takes you along to other parts of the globe that compare poorly with his ideal.

There are one or two nice thoughts at the beginning, but the book is tiresome after just a little bit.½

going to revisit this one. Enjoyed what I got through so far.

Ah, Tuscany! I love you so. I have armchair traveled there many times, and will visit in person someday.

I loved reading about how one couple relocated to a small village in Tuscany and learned to live among the locals. I read with jealousy how they simplified their lives and settled into the slower routine. I would love to be able to do something similar someday. Whenever I read about Tuscany, something pulls at my soul. Having no Italian blood in my heritage, I find it odd, so it must be my soul was there in a previous iteration of life. Hunting truffles, gathering the grape harvest, sharing food and drink with friends. Tending my garden and reading books. This sounds like the perfect life. Obviously the author has a different financial and family situation than I do, so I will patiently save up for a trip while he jet-sets around the globe. Jealous. Good for you, sir, good for you.

Liked it. Enjoyed that it was a different style from Frances Mayes. Humorous.
Great writing-descriptive, feels like you are there.

A more entertaining take than most on what's happening in the world environment. Gives his suggestion for how individuals can do their bit to improve things. I've read a fair number of articles and books on this subject, & if I needed to recommend one to someone not so well versed, this is the one I'd recommend.
The part that felt a bit off was his continual reference to "we", meaning Americans. I don't know how much time he spent in the US, but he was born in Hungary & stayed there until at least 11, has lived in Canada, and currently appears to have abandoned the US in favor of Tuscany.

Although mainly directed towards a US audience, I enjoyed this Ferenc Máté book. Many aspects of a simpler life are very logical, but the question remains if we can really stop the ever faster wheel and escape the rat race. I'm definitely trying.

Sehr kurzweilig und unterhaltsam. Sehr interessante Einblicke in das Land und Leben des Autors.

Author Ferenc Mate and his wife Candace did what many of us would love to do – moved to a country where the food, wine and ambiance leaves you with a permanent vacation state of mind.

OK, maybe that didn’t happen to them (the vacation mind set) but I would wager it could be that way for me and my husband. Tuscany. Just stating Tuscany evokes images of rolling green hills, vineyards, small local cafes serving strong coffee and homemade pastries.

This memoir details their experience with a foreign culture, the procedures of purchasing a place to live, Italian laws as well as new markets, foods and finding a place in their new society. Making friends, enjoying life and living the dream.

The industrious folks who have faced challenges of remodeling and language barriers (the likes of Frances Mayes, *Carol Drinkwater and Marlena De Blasi) impress me. I am a lazy soul….imagining sitting on a terrace with a local wine, swirling the glass, nibbling on fresh bread and watching wildlife and/ or the local vineyard activities or a view of Mediterranean sea.

All the work that the author and aforementioned writers tackled smacks of being much more diligent than I fear I am capable. Perhaps if we are offered a place in Provence or Tuscany or anywhere olives, garlic and wine are abundant…ok, then I would work hard and make the ruin our own castle.

* I know Carol Drinkwater is in Provence….I am equally jealous and impressed

Of all the dishes I could have made – crostini, crepes with ricotta, pasta, rabbit ragu……….I made a Tuscan Pot Roast. Why? Because it’s hot and I wanted to use a slow cooker and it had the name Tuscan in the recipe. It was overdone, but alas, this is just another learning experience. Should have stuck with crostini
You may find the recipe at Squirrel Head Manor

More about the author:
Ferenc Máté has made a career of out documenting his own quests—whether it’s restoring a Tuscan ruin, building a vineyard from scratch, or sailing the seven seas.
Born in Transylvania, he escaped at age eleven when the Hungarian revolution was crushed by Soviet tanks. He grew up in Vancouver and has lived in California, Paris, Rome, the Bahamas and New York. He has worked on a railroad extra-gang and as a boat-builder, photographer, deckhand and book editor. He is the author of 16 books translated into 12 languages.

En un momento determinado de su vida Ferenc (Francesco en húngaro) Máté observa «de camino a casa, después de comer,» que « sólo podía pensar en tener mis propias viñas» (pág. 11). Esta autobiográfica novelada nos cuenta el paso a paso de cómo se crea una bodega de la nada hasta conseguir la admiración internacional, por ejemplo:
• el «Banditone» (100% Syrah) entra en la lista de los 100 Best Wine of 2007 (Morrell/Nueva York), siendo nombrado el Vino Tinto Italiano del Año 2007; o
• su Cabernet Sauvignon entra en la lista de I Migliori Vini Italiani 1008 (Luca Maroni).

Es un libro escrito con sencillez, que entusiasma y enamora en cada una de sus páginas. Vamos a poder conocer la Toscana y sus habitantes (y algo más de Italia) y el mundo del vino, pero si nada de esto interesa por sí mismo, da igual. Es una novela entrañable que vale por sí misma, entre otras cosas, porque está escrita atinadísimamente, perfectamente sopesada.

Ferenc –¿neoyorkino? nacido en Transilvania (Hungría) y escritor–, con Candace (su mujer, pintora y sumiller por necesidad) y Buster (su hijo), consiguen sus sueños por saber integrarse en un lugar que les es ajeno en un primer momento y por comprender y asimilar el mundo que les rodea y que será el suyo. El vino, las mejores comidas y la amistad, sobre todo, entre vecinos son valores y pautas de comportamiento que les ayudarán a conseguir la armonía vital que desean. La Toscana se ha convertido en sinónimo de la vida ideal. Pero no ha sido por casualidad. Desde los etruscos, los toscanos han perfeccionado una cultura de la simplicidad, la belleza, la amistad, el buen comer y el amor a la vida cotidiana. Ferenc Máté ha vivido en la región durante más de veinte años. A través de su experiencia personal y divertidas anécdotas, explora el origen de esta existencia idílica, que le ha proporcionado estabilidad económica, seguridad física y emocional y un feliz sentimiento de pertenencia.

Con once años huyó de su tierra natal, por la ocupación soviética, a Austria. Posteriormente ha vivido en Vancouver, Nueva York, Bahamas, París y Roma, y ha trabajado en ferrocarriles, construcción naval, fotografía y edición de libros. Ha escrito sobre náutica, fotografía, vinos y desde el año 2006, ha publicado novelas.

«Un viñedo en la Toscana» fue nombrado «Libro destacado del 2007» por The New York Times. En 2011 publicó «La sabiduría de la Toscana» y en 2012 «Las colinas de la Toscana».

Sólo me queda ir a http://www.ferencmate.com/ o a http://www.matewine.com/ y ver qué vinos puedo comprar para acabar de rematar la lectura de este libro que, por cierto, finaliza con una reseña informativa sobre la Bodega Máté y unas recetas tradicionales de la Toscana. En las webs podemos ver fotografías de la bodega en Montalcino y del entorno en que se encuentra.

La serie «Lectura +» («Lectura plus») de la Editorial Planeta, http://goo.gl/ZSDgl, está pensada para facilitar la lectura a quienes tienen dificultades para leer libros con tipografía convencional o para los que prefieren leer con una letra más grande de lo habitual.

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Máté, Ferenc (1945-). Un viñedo en la Toscana / Ferenc Máté ; [traducción Ferran Mendoza Soler]. ― 1ª ed. en Lectura +. ― Barcelona : Planeta, 2011. ― 439 p. ; 23 cm. ― (Lectura +). ― Tít. orig.: A vineyard in Tuscany. ― “Letra grande”. ― ISBN 978-84-322-9846-2

1. Novelas realistas y sociales. 2. Toscana (Italia)-Novelas. 3. Literatura de humor. 4. Máté, Ferenc-Biografías. I. Mendoza Soler, Ferran, trad. II. Título. III. Ser.: Lectura + (Planeta), IV. Ser.: Lectura plus (Planeta).

821.111-94"19"
929Maté, Ferenc

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Sobre la etiqueta «Literatura húngara en inglés» no estoy nada seguro que se pueda aplicar... :-(
Busco a Ferenc Máté en el catálogo de la Biblioteca Nacional de Hungría (Országos Széchényi Könyvtár) y no me devuelve ningún resultado, pero entonces ¿será Literatura inglesa o norteamericana? :-((

Entertaining with great recipes at the end. A good addition to his other books.

Oh Tuscany! You come alive in the words of Mate. I enjoyed this memoir as much as the first and will start the next tomorrow. Not tonight tho. I stayed up too late reading .....

Absolutely wonderful. Enchanting, humorous and inspiring stories of creating a home and living in Tuscany.

I'm such a sucker for photos on this subject. I know it's because I dearly wish I could spend every Autumn in New England, but until that happens I will continue to look at the pretty pictures.

Mate, an Italian, has created a little niche for himself in photographing New England locales and has several books of his seasonal photos available. While the pictures are beautiful, I had to knock off a star because this book has many of the same excerpts and poems included in his previous book of Autumn photos, which I also own.

If you love the sight of maple trees in Autumn, you'll want this large book of photography that covers all the New England states. The pictures are big and gorgeous, displaying rolling Vermont farms, New Hampshire waterfalls and forests of trees so brightly red and orange that they look like they're on fire. Included are poems by Dickenson, cummings and Frost and many excerpts from novels placed in New England, such as Sarah Orne Jewett's The Country of Pointed Firs. And the back of the book has a guide to identifying the trees of the region. Lovely, lovely.

Publireportatge dels vins d'aquest senyor.½

This was a mildly entertaining account of how the Hungarian/Canadian author, who is a writer by profession, found and bought a crumbling ancient friary building in Tuscany, rebuilt it into a family home, and planted a vineyard with four different kinds of wine grapes. Pleasantly descriptive & humorous & evocative of living in Tuscany, yet it kind of lacked a soulful touch.I was conflicted about this book. On the one hand, I was interested in the details, such as the hunt for the perfect property through the hills and dales of rustic Tuscany, the find of the ruins of an Etruscan city in his 70 acre hilly woods, the pros and cons of the various grapes for the various growing conditions of his patchwork quilt of a 15-ish acre vineyard in the property, his whacky misadventures with construction equipment (though he's clearly very handy), the insane bureaucratic process of getting approval to have a vineyard and getting farm tax abatements, etc. Doesn't that sound like good armchair traveling?On the other hand, I was annoyed by some things. His wife, a central character in the book, was depicted oddly shallowly which is too bad because she seemed like an interesting person, an artist and former competitive plane glider. And the author seemed to be conflicted himself about what to reveal with regards to the finances of doing what he did - he says he might not have enough money to buy & totally rebuild the friary, mentions specifics about the price of certain acreage from an unethical businessman neighbor who offers wildly varying prices, but draws a total veil over how he actually manages to afford to spend 18 months with loads of contractors rebuilding the place, then buy thousands of grape vines, vineyard machinery, custom made vats for the wine, spend 2 years in Rome while his wife goes to wine school & kid is in private school, etc etc. The book's a romp through the shallow bits of the house/vineyard purchase & creation process rather than a memoir with the kind of in-depth explorations I'd have preferred.

This book makes friends of the reader and admirers out of them for the author and his skills. Based on the concept of guiding any would-be boat builder through the stages of fitting out a (new) bare hull, the book covers every needed skill in helpful detail. Containing many photographs, particularly of gorgeous French yachts, that excite and encourage attention, Mate insist that readers can achieve perfection in the task.

Cardboard characters in a creaky plot surrounded by wonderful descriptions of the natural world with large doses of anthropological information.