Italian Hours

This was hard work. To be fair to James, I don't think it's really intended as a cover-to-cover sort of read, which is how I approached it, but it's been a long time since I've struggled this much with a book. Some of James' descriptive prose is beautiful, and very evocative, but much of the time I was left with the impression that he was trying too hard to impress with his intelligence - studying too hard for words of four syllables perhaps.

If you're a fan of James' prose, you'll probably like this, but I'd recommend reading it in small doses.