New Italy Book Recommendations
Tuesday December 2, 2008
Books about Italy make great gifts for anyone planning a trip to Italy, anyone who enjoys Italy, or the Armchair traveler. Here are a few books that I've enjoyed recently:
- Linda Falcone's books take a humorous and educational look at the Italian language and culture. They're collections of vignettes she wrote for Italian Voices on The Florentine, Tuscany's English language newspaper. Italian - It's All Greek to Me (compare prices) is available in the US. In Italy you'll find it called Italians Dance and I'm a Wallflower and Linda's second book If They are Roses: the Italian Way with Words, both published by TF Press.
- Joe Wolff's newest book is Cafe Life Venice (compare prices). Joe's Cafe books are full of interesting tidbits, recommendations, and beautiful photos. Read my reviews of Cafe Life Rome and Cafe Life Florence.
- Vivaldi's Virgins (compare prices) is a fascinating story set in Venice's Pieta orphanage where Vivaldi was a maestro. Even though it's fiction, the book is based on historical fact. Another piece of historical fiction set in Venice that I recommend is the Glassblower of Murano, not yet available in the US.
- A Thousand Days in Tuscany (compare prices) is Marlena di Blasi's second book about her new life in Italy. It's a good look at rural Tuscan life.
- The Phoenix Circle (buy direct) is a good book for history buffs. Although it's fiction, there's a lot of interesting history about the last years of the Roman Empire. Read the review
Comments
Ciao, Marta!
Many thanks for your kind mention of my novel, VIVALDI’S VIRGINS. Your readers might enjoy going to my web site
http://www.BarbaraQuick.com
where they can see and hear a book trailer (in several languages) and download a podcast of music from the novel.
Like you, I’m quite obsessed with Italy. My new novel, A GOLDEN WEB (due out from HarperCollins in fall ‘09), takes place in 14th century Bologna. Do you know the Hotel Porta San Mamolo there? I fell in love with it while I was doing my research in spring 2007. Che bel posto!
Baci,
Barbara
Thanks for your quick response. I really loved your book and look forward to the one set in Bologna. I don’t know that hotel but I do love Bologna.
Martha
I particularly liked this book about northern Italy and the Italian Lakes. It was a good travel book and I used it intensly in my first trip to Italy.
Just finished reading another book on Italy which I really didn’t think I would like, basically because it is largely about football on the face of it – it’s “A Season with Verona”, written by Tim Parks, and follows a season with the northern city team of Hellas Verona. What is brilliant about it is that it doesn’t just focus on football by any stretch and is actually a fascinating study on Italian culture…both good and bad. I would recommend it to you!
I also enjoyed Playing for Pizza by John Grisham, a book centered around football that takes place in the city of Parma. The Italian cultural parts of the book are very good.