Yep, still reading books about Italy

Why is it that I mostly write about the books about Italy I've read and not other books? I don't know! But here's a look at some recent finds ...

Head Over Heel: Seduced by Southern Italy, by Chris Harrison, is well-written but kind of cliche-ish in an "Oh, look, I met an Italian and fell in love with her so quickly I just had to move there" sort of way. It's interesting to hear about the family he joins, though, and the cultural differences between the north and south he experiences. I found his thoughts on Milan to be insightful, although I vehemently disagree with some of them. I don't know that I'd buy this, but it's worth a look if you can get it at the library (either bricks-and-mortar or Kindle Lending).

Elizabeth Street, by Laurie Fabiano, is one of my favorites of all of the books I've read about Italy (and let's be honest, there are a lot of those). It's billed as a novel based on real events, and the drama is spread over multiple generations and countries (Italy and the U.S.). I found the main character to be a little too perfect, but her determination and sense of purpose definitely were worthy of praise. Overall I found myself thinking the whole thing really couldn't have happened, but I suppose that's where the "based on" comes from. I think this one is worth buying (and it's only $5.99 on Kindle as I write this).

Somewhere South of Tuscany, by Diana Armstrong, is yet another story styled after Under the Tuscan Sun: Americans buy a house in Italy, restore it and become part of the little universe surrounding said house. I enjoyed it a lot, though, and in fact haven't "returned" my Kindle copy yet because I want to jot down a couple of the included recipes first. Her descriptions of the food are great (she's a cookbook writer after all), but her descriptions of the townspeople and their personalities are almost as good.

Uniform Justice, Doctored Evidence and Blood from a Stone all are by Donna Leon and are installments in the Guido Brunetti series; I've written about others before and haven't read them in any sort of order. While I enjoyed all three of these (and actually bought them all), I found Uniform Justice to be a bit disturbing, probably because of the young ages of the characters involved.

Of the three stories, I thought Doctored Evidence was the most believable. I'm not going to provide more detail because it'd give the story away before you have a chance to read it, but the underlying issue is something that crops up in the news quite often.

I thought Blood from a Stone was the most compelling of the three stories, particularly after living in Italy and watching the way different groups of people interact (or completely avoid each other). I'm not sure how many books in the series I haven't read, but I definitely will be getting around to them.

I'd read A Room with a View, by E.M. Forster, a few times over the years, but I noticed it on the Kindle I "inherited" from Kevin and decided to read it again. It is, of course, not as much about Italy as it is the personalities of British tourists who visit, but I enjoy being able to actually picture the scenes of Florence from having been there.




Will preparing to leave Italy this year mean I'll move on to some other subject matter? We shall see ...