From Francine Schwarz
author: Mayes, Frances
Bella Tuscany
After reading Under the Tuscan Sky I wanted to read another book by Mayes about Italy. However, Bella Tuscany although written in Mayes’ illustrative style reads more like a travel-log. I woudl recommend it for reading by some one who will be visiting the region as it contains information on sites to see.
Tag Archives: Italy
What Italy Has Given to the World
From Elaine Pasquali
author: Cipolla, Gaetano
What Italy Has Given to the World
This pamphlet is all of 32 pages, but is chock full of Italy’s less
widely known contributions to art, music, science, food and popular culture. Basically a lecture that Mr. Cipolla presented to students at St. John’s University’s Italian Club, it substantiates the information presented with explanatory footnotes. This pamphlet was an interesting and informative summary of Italians’ achievements over the centuries.
Under the Tuscan Sun
From Francine Schwarz
author: Mayes, Frances
Under the Tuscan Sun
Although the plot of the book was different from the movie’s, her descriptions of Cortona made me feel as if I was in Tuscany. So real is her writing that I found myself craving espresso during the day and cappuccino in the evening. I have renewed interests in my vegetable garden and in Italian wines. It you want a trip to Italy without leaving the States read this book!
Fontamara
From Elaine Pasquali
author: Silone, Ignazio
Fontamara
This novel, set in a poverty-stricken village in southern Italy under Mussolini’s regime, is a classic study of the human condition. The village is being legally robbed of a vital resource, water, that puts their already marginal exhistance at further jeapody. This novel is both heart wrenching and earthly humorous. It’s meaning can be applied to any people, at any period of history, who are rendered powerless by their socio-economic-political environment. Fontamara is truly a novel that transcends time.
The Good Wife
From Elaine Pasquali
author: Buchan, Elizabeth
The Good Wife
The title of this book caught my eye because of its similarity to the title of the popular TV program, The Good Wife. The similarities continues with the main characters: a career politician and straying husband (Will) and a wife (Fanny) who sacrifices her own passions and career to the demands of being a “good” wife and mother. Further complicating Fanny’s life are her ambivalent feelings about her live-in alcoholic sister-in-law. When Fanny’s father dies and her daughter leaves the nest, Fanny sets off on a journey of self-exploration and personal fulfillment. Set in England and Italy, this book flows easily and seamlessly as it navigates themes of imperfect marriage, family dynamics, and midlife crisis.
COOKING WITH ITALIAN GRANDMOTHERS
From Charlene Muhr
author: Theroux, Jessica
COOKING WITH ITALIAN GRANDMOTHERS
American chef, Jessica Theroux, takes readers on a journey through Italy, from Tuscany to Sicily. Theroux’s journey was inspired by Slow Food, an organization founded in Italy, in 1989. Slow Food’s mission is “to promote values in traditional food and preparation and to counteract the trend toward fast food and a faster life.” On her journey, Theroux visits Irene, a grandmother in the Piedmontese town of Bra, the international headquarters of the Slow Food Movement. COOKING WITH ITALIAN GRANDMOTHERS is not only a wonderful collection of recipes but each grandmother shares her history, her stories, and her secrets as she cooks alongside Theroux. The recipes are clear and simple and each recipe is indexed. Theroux presents an interesting selection of recipes from walnut black pepper cookies, calabrian bread salad, and lasagne with a béchamel sauce, homemade ricotta, and blood orange gelato. There was an interesting quote in the beginning of the book from the writer, Laurie Colwin. “No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers.”
It Happened in Italy
From Charlene Muhr
author: Bettina, Elizabeth
It Happened in Italy
Elizabeth Bettina’s “It Happened in Italy” is an interesting narrative that emphasizes the acts of kindness and humanity amidst a time of great
sadness .Bettina discovers that Campagna, her grandparents small village in southern Italy, had an internment camp for Jews during the Holocaust. These camps did not resemble the camps in Nazi Europe during World War II. The book revealed how Italian camps kept families together, healthy, and allowed Jews to practice Judaism. Follow the author?s journey as she collects the stories of these survivors and their return to Italy.
Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci
From Erik Schmid
author: D’Agnese, Joseph
Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci
The life of the mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci is simplified with fictionalized narrative in this picture biography for the young reader. From his childhood in 1178 Pisa, where he solved the math problems his teachers gave him in seconds, to introducing Hindu-Arabic Numerals to Europe, to discovering the Fibonacci sequence, the book expands upon what is factually known about the life of this great scholar.
Taking what could be perceived as a dry topic and making it very interesting is the true triumph of this children’s biography.
