I have never read any of Ms. Mayes previous books, but I have seen the movie--many, many times when my own wonderust arose. This book was long--too long. Boring and tedious, the author forced me to filter through all her superficial and lackluster descriptions of many of the places I have loved to visit myself. She, herself, a tourist, hated the fact that other people thought as much to visit the same places. There is a lot of foreign words, terms and phrases to get through. She ate so much food and the descriptions of each meal abound, page after heart-stopping, artery-clogging page. I had no idea I picked up a book about food. If I had, I would have spent my money on something else. I also was offended by several of her remarks/reference about the limited number of black people she came in contact with. It was not a total loss, I did flag a few pages, where I will follow up on (museums, artists, historical references, etc). It is the first travel memoir I have read start to finish, it may be a while before I attempt another one.