Reviews for Napa Valley Wine Country California (Images of America Series)

The average rating for Napa Valley Wine Country California (Images of America Series) based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-05-10 00:00:00 James Burkholder This was the non-fiction selection for my in person book club. It's about the Napa/Sonoma Valleys in N. Calif., our backyard. All of us have spent a lot of time there so we thought it would be interesting. It's not and all because of the conceited, egotistical writer who was way too excited about being around rich people. The Silicon Valley has produced many things including too many rich people with money on their hands and a desire to spend it ridiculously. As they expand into other areas like San Francisco and Napa, there are no places for regular people like teachers, firemen, and nurses to live. They drive the prices up and no one else can afford them. Sigh. These two valleys have handled them differently. Napa has embraced the newly rich and become one big resort for rich people like George Lukas. Sonoma has resisted the influx. This author has really mocked the natives in this book. First of all, he calls them "shit kickers" and bohemians. Who says bohemians? Nobody I know. Shit kickers is very derogatory term and so untrue. He also talks about how uncultured and unsophisticated the people in the Sonoma Valley are. I live in a small town and I am so tired of those myths. In my town of 5,000 we have an Arts Center, a museum, and a live theater. I could go on and on but I won't bore you. This author went around living at his rich friends houses and then trying to be one of the natives. It didn't work. The locals were suspicious. Imagine that. A waste of my time.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-09-15 00:00:00 Vincent Kilgore The flowery "I'm a clever writer guy" language kind of made me crazy. Guy from big city goes to Sonoma and Napa, learns that Sonoma is full of hippies and Napa is full of rich snobs, and glassy-winged sharpshooters will destroy all the wine - like hubris destroys all heroes. There wasn't really any revelation or introspection about how or why Sonoma and Napa are so different, and it was mostly self-indulgent, look how rich my friends are.