I am one of those middle aged ladies who fell in love with Venice several years ago, manage to spend a month there every year, and read every book about other middle aged ladies in the same position.

Yes, I did have high hopes for this book that were not met, but I don't feel quite as negative about it as most of the other reviewers. But I am very generous about most things Venetian, even this book.

My main complaint is that she clearly planned on writing this book before she went, perhaps to subsidize the trip, so that I felt she was trying to have experiences she could make a book out of- a fatal error, as far as I'm concerned, and why I dislike Theroux so much. This is not experience described, but experience lived in order to be described. In other words, she opened the prosecco before she got there and the effect is flat, flat, flat.

However, I did love the description of the palazzo and all its quirky physical eccentricities. The landlady is a classic in my experience, and I, too, had to find a Venetian solution to mine. I admired the energy and tenacity she put into taking on a new language in middle age, as well as her appetite for seeing and doing. It made me resolve to put more energy into my next trip. The socialites, high society, and endlessly boring cocktail parties we could have certainly done without, but again I felt like she did that to fill up the pages.I suspect she truly loves Venice and would be a delight to actually know. She is not the first woman to prostitute herself in order to just be there.

I wouldn't read it again or recommend it to anyone, but I'm not sorry I bought it.

Sadly, I must concur with most of the other postings here. I bought this book with high hopes of losing myself in a few days' worth of, well, Venetian Dreaming. It just wasn't worth the effort.

Travel memoirs are my favorite genre. Bill Bryson and Peter Mayle make me happy. But this book seemed too often to dwell on the "Important People" Ms. Weideger knew and how she knew them (sort of like Dominick Dunne without the payout at the end). After the few first chapters, I felt like I got it, already:

1. She has a hard time learning languages
2. She's spent 20 years with an Englishman who doesn't want to live in Venice
3. She makes it her goal to know Famous Smart People in order to get invitations to nice social events
4. Her landlady's a bit hard to deal with (although really, Ms. Weideger could have been a little more flexible).

So basically, if you like to read lists of "I got invited here and I met so and so, who introduced me to so and so," this is the book for you. A previous reviewer hit it on the head -- a few basic guidebooks would have provided much of the background on Venice she spent two years uncovering (I mean that whole MOSE thing was a documentary NOVA produced in the late 80s!)

I really enjoyed this book. Having lived in the Veneto Region and visited Venice so many times I'd often wondered what it was like to live inside one of those Venetian palaces. Ms. Weideger with luck managed to land an apartment in a most famous "Casa", and brought me every detail into vivid view.
The charming stories of the people she meets, many of whom become her friends, are scattered throughout and interspersed are interesting stories of Venetian history, and insider views regarding the future of Venice with all its politics. There was much of what I read that filled in the gaps of my personal knowledgebase of the city. I also loved how she included the sometimes unpleasant episodes with her landlords and how she finally resolved them "venetian style".
This was a very balanced book with something for everyone. And I think this is what the author wanted to achieve, or rather share with us, the reader. I had my engineer husband read the chapter of the MOSE so he could read more of what could become the largest engineering project in the world, and why many Italians question its worth. I was drawn to admire the author's tenacity as a student of the language. I myself have several times lived and studied in foreign countries where I did not know the native language and forced myself to become as fluent as possible finally making myself understood in conversations of the most particular. After reading this book you can't help but say bravo! to this lady who embraced a city and who embraced her in return.