Italy at the Bookstore

The Italians
by Luigi Barzini

In this consummate portrait of the Italian people, bestselling author, publisher, journalist, and politician Luigi Barzini delves deeply into the Italian national character, discovering both its great qualities and its imperfections. Barzini is startlingly frank as he examines "the two Italies": the one that created and nurtured such luminaries as Dante Alighieri, St. Thomas of Aquino, and Leonardo da Vinci; the other, feeble and prone to catastrophe, backward in political action if not in thought, "invaded, ravaged, sacked, and humiliated in every century." Deeply ambivalent, Barzini approaches his task with a combination of love, hate, disillusion, and affectionate paternalism, resulting in a completely original, thoughtful, and probing picture of his countrymen.

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A Traveller in Southern Italy
by H.V. Morton

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The Italian Way
by Mario Costantino, Lawrence R. Gambella

Amazon Reader's Review: "This slender volume reads fast. A comprehensive study of Italian culture is beyond the scope of this book. The authors have arranged 74 brief "points" about daily life in Italy, alphabetically by subject, so the reader doesn't know what is coming next. If you look at the sample pages available here, you will get a sense of the leaps: we begin with an explanation of the Italian version of April Fool's Day, followed by four paragraphs on table manners, and then we're on to "attracting attention," and so on. From the very way it's organized, we are clearly in the realm of entertainment, although the information is accurate and certainly useful. There is a dusting of vocabulary, but it's not a course in Italian for travellers. I found it a delightful and fascinating read."

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The Talented Mr. Ripley
by Patricia Highsmith

One of the great crime novels of the 20th century and basis for the extremely successful movie, Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley is a blend of the narrative subtlety of Henry James and the self-reflexive irony of Vladimir Nabokov. Like the best modernist fiction, Ripley works on two levels. First, it is the story of a young man, Tom Ripley, whose nihilistic tendencies lead him on a deadly passage across Europe. On another level, the novel is a commentary on fictionmaking and techniques of narrative persuasion. Like Humbert Humbert, Tom Ripley seduces readers into empathizing with him even as his actions defy all moral standards.

The novel begins with a play on James's The Ambassadors. Tom Ripley is chosen by the wealthy Herbert Greenleaf to retrieve Greenleaf's son, Dickie, from his overlong sojourn in Italy. Dickie, it seems, is held captive both by the Mediterranean climate and the attractions of his female companion, but Mr. Greenleaf needs him back in New York to help with the family business. With an allowance and a new purpose, Tom leaves behind his dismal city apartment to begin his career as a return escort. But Tom, too, is captivated by Italy. He is also taken with the life and looks of Dickie Greenleaf. He insinuates himself into Dickie's world and soon finds that his passion for a lifestyle of wealth and sophistication transcends moral compunction. Tom will become Dickie Greenleaf--at all costs.

Unlike many modernist experiments, The Talented Mr. Ripley is eminently readable and is driven by a gripping chase narrative that chronicles each of Tom's calculated maneuvers of self-preservation. Highsmith was in peak form with this novel, and her ability to enter the mind of a sociopath and view the world through his disturbingly amoral eyes is a model that has spawned such latter-day serial killers as Hannibal Lecter.

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Italian Pleasures
by David Leavitt

An anthology of fifty witty and engaging essays and reminiscences captures the delights of Italy, sharing thoughts on such topics as cappuccino, window shopping, pasta, umbrella pines, and other aspects of the Italian landscape, people, and culture.

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An Italian Affair
by Laura Fraser

When her husband of one year left her for an old girlfriend, Fraser (Losing It: False Hopes and Fat Profits in the Diet Industry), in her mid-30s and suddenly alone, was devastated. In a state of shock, she decided to take a trip to Italy. Finding no solace with friends in Florence, she traveled to the island of Ischia, where she met M., a married university professor from France with whom she began a casual affair that continued on and off for the next two years. In this gentle memoir, she tells of her rendezvous with her lover in Milan, Lago Maggiore, London, the Aeolian Islands, Morocco and her own city, San Francisco all the places where they carried on their fairy-tale romance, enjoying beautiful scenery, languorous days in the sun, fabulous meals and good sex. The professor, a man of the world who took such liaisons casually, had an easy, humorous, slightly mocking manner that was just what she needed to help her recover from her broken heart. There were no expectations beyond having a good time. "It's simple," he told her. "All you need is an older man who can handle you, who will take care of you, who will love to have sex with you." What M. offered Fraser was far more satisfying and restorative than the psychologically complicated relationships she found in the San Francisco singles scene. Eventually, she was able to get her groove back and even forgive her husband. Writing in the second person, Fraser steps back and looks at the experience without sentimentality, recounting a tender story that gives hope to women with broken hearts.

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Desiring Italy
Woman Writers Celebrate the Passions of a Country and Culture
Edited by Susan Cahill

Under the spell of la dolce vita . . .For centuries Italy has been many things to many people. In this brilliant anthology and traveler's companion, twenty-eight first-rate women writers reveal why the land that is the heart and soul of European civilization is so seductive to women.

Kate Simon walks us through a Siena filled with surprises and luminous beauty. Elizabeth Spencer writes of first coming to Italy and finding "home." Shirley Hazzard explores the mysteries of Naples. Muriel Spark writes on Venice, Edith Wharton on Rome, George Eliot on Florence, Barbara Grizzuti Harrison on San Gimignano, Patricia Hampl on Assisi. Other wonderful writers contemplate the idiosyncratic glories of Italy's architecture, cooking, art, and landscape; its culture; its places and people.

As these writers tell their stories-in fiction, memoir, and essay-of coming to understand Italy, they explore the complexity of their passions for it, mingling affection and ecstasy with intellectual curiosity. Organized geographically-from northern Italy to Rome and on to the south, Desiring Italy offers an enchanting journey for readers and travelers.

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Trade Paperback, 364

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The Legend of Old Befana
by Tomie De Paola

This is a delightful reading of the favorite Italian Christmas story about an eccentric old woman and her never-ending search for the Baby King.

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Sole e Ombra - Sun and Shadow
by Dr. Mario DiGirolamo (with text in English and Italian)

Experience Italy as you remember it - the blend of ancient and modern, sacred and profane, contrasts that are unique to Italy and its culture. This beautiful body of work will pull you into another realm, a time of simplicity and beauty. "The images in this book express the feeling of a culture - the social DNA that defines the interaction of people and their environment." Moreover, to DiGirolamo, "They are not only the expression of life in a particular country, at a particular time, but they also narrate simple and powerful stories, expressing the fundamentals of human experience and universal life themes." Dr. Mario DiGirolamo, a native of Rome, has been photographing for over fifty years. His award-winning work has been shown regionally, nationally, and internationally.

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Italy Fever
14 Ways to Satisfy Your Love Affair With Italy
by Darlene Marwitz

Italy Fever, 14 Ways to Satisfy Your Love Affair With Italy, is a humorous personal weaving of travel tales and helpful travel tips. Darlene Marwitz's passion for Italy and everything Italian continuously grows and expands throughout each chapter. Her narrative allows the reader a method of understanding her Italy fever. From movies to maps, north to south, the reader is introduced and guided into multiple routes of exploring Italian culture in Italy and at home. Her guidance is not only created by her personal travel experiences but is also composed of lists of Italian things that she loves: literature, architecture, movies, food and wine. Her maps help her to plan out her next vacation; her movies and books are for while she waits for that vacation. Italy Fever is a wonderful read for those who are preparing to go to Italy tomorrow or in 10 years. The book not only introduces the reader to Italian culture but also helps to prepare for a lifetime adventure.

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In the Shores of the Mediterranean
by Eric Newby

Amazon reader's review: "Eric Newby is a serious travel essayist for serious travelers. A consummate pro. On The Shores Of The Mediterranean, originally published in 1984, is his chronicle of a resolute journey around the circumference of the Mediterranean, an arduous tour of ancient cities, ruins and near ruins that would have surely daunted a lesser man. Beginning at his home in Tuscany, he shepherds the reader along to Naples, Venice, Montenegro, Albania, Mt. Olympus (in Greece), Istanbul, Turkey's Mediterranean shore (the Troad), Jerusalem, the Pyramids, Tobruk (in Libya), Tunisia, Fez (in Morocco), Gibraltar, Seville (in Spain), and Nice (on the Côte d' Azur). After 484 pages (in paperback) of relatively small print, I collapsed exhausted. Newby has an exceptional eye for detail and history, which can provide either joy or torment to the armchair traveler."

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Italy in Mind: An Anthology (Vintage Departures)
by Alice Leccese Powers (Editor)

Italy has long been associated with love, images of Romeo serenading Juliet, and over-sexed locals pinching tourist flesh. But another Italian love affair has been going on for just as long, namely the writers who've been enchanted with the place for centuries. Alice Powers has collected an anthology of 41 authors spanning two centuries and all of Italy. There's Lord Byron on Venice, Herman Melville on Padua, Michael Ondaatje on Tuscany, Charles Dickens on Genoa, Richard Wilbur on Rome, Mark Twain on Naples, and Calvin Trillin on Sicily, for a feast of fine literature set in glorious surroundings.

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Interesting Women: Stories
by Andrea Lee

It would be difficult to overstate the elegance of this story collection from Andrea Lee, who produces fiction and journalism for The New Yorker, among other venues. Lee's interesting women are usually Americans trying their luck in Europe; most of them are African American wives of the Italian elite. Because her subject matter is so rarified (the first story mentions cashmere two times in as many pages) and because her writing is so beautifully transparent, it seems at first that Lee is coasting on the glamour of her subject matter. Not so--these stories are every bit as well put together as the women who inhabit them. "Brothers and Sisters Around the World" is an unforgettable tale of a well-to-do black woman who vacations in Third World countries with her European husband: "on vacation we travel the world to get hotter and wilder." When the narrator impulsively slaps a teenage girl who's been flirting with her husband in a village near Madagascar, the balance of the whole island is upset, with surprising results. Lee limns race, class, and a peculiarly female ambitiousness while always keeping her language as deceptively simple and sharp as an Armani suit.

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Excellent Cadavers: The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic
by Alexander Stille

In Sicily, "excellent cadavers" are Mafia victims who also happen to be government officials. Excellent Cadavers is full of them, notably the courageous and tenacious prosecutors, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. Throughout the 1980s, Falcone and Borsellino brought down more heat on the "men of honor" than anyone since Mussolini's handpicked "Iron Prefect." The two not only sent hundreds of gangsters to jail, they also exposed Mafia corruption of national political leaders that led to the indictments of two of Italy's best-known politicians, Bettino Craxi and Guilio Andreotti. The success of their investigations brought on reprisals by corrupt politicians designed to weaken police and prosecutors alike and ultimately led to their deaths. Falcone and Borsellino were assassinated by bombs in 1992, but their work brought to light revelations that are rattling the current Berlusconi administration. Stille has crafted an excellent book, deftly weaving complex threads of information about Italian, Sicilian, and Mafia history, Italian politics, and Italian jurisprudence into a highly readable narrative. Readers who enjoy books about the American Mafia will enjoy picking out the differences and similarities between the Sicilian original and its American version.

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Playing Away: Roman Holidays and Other Mediterranean Encounters
by Michael Mewshaw

A good modern-day travel writer is far more than someone whose major selling point is telling you which foreign hotels have American-sized ice cubes. To give a true look at a distant land's cultural footprints, the sophisticated travel writer must be something of a scholar, combining the skills of navigator, geologist, botanist, meteorologist, naturalist, mechanic, historian, cartographer, pharmacist, detective, novelist, snob, humorist, mimic, and stamp collector. In short, he needs a passing knowledge of just about everything. Michael Mewshaw, a novelist and prize-winning investigative journalist, competently fills that role. For the past several years, he has written a monthly "Letter from Rome" in European Travel and Life magazine, describing his varied experiences. Now he has published his pieces in this charming collection.

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Italian Days
by Barbara Grizzuti Harrison

In 500 Great Books by Women, Rebecca Sullivan says, "Barbara Grizzuti Harrison's travel journal is one of the most comprehensive, revealing and interpretive books of its genre. And yet Italian Days does not fit neatly into a category; lyrical, philosophical, anecdotal, it never pretends merely to give guidance or instruction to the traveler. The book is divided into eight chapters, each covering a city or specific region from Milan to Sicily. Barbara Harrison meanders through Italy, sharing her ideas about the people she encounters and all the while thinking- about architecture, religion, politics, food, society, nature, family and history. Her prose is joyful and informed, her descriptions of the people and places quite exhilarating: 'The bus went slowly, like a swimmer who loves the water too much to race and challenge it, and the world unfolded like a child's picture book: gardeners turning over the soil with gnarled, patient hands; bronzed youths of Etruscan beauty casually strolling by the roadside as if here were just anywhere and everywhere was beautiful... laughing nuns pushing children on orange swings, their heavy habits floating on magnolia-scented air.' This is a book to be read in small bits, so each detail and sentence might be savored, a book to relish whether or not you ever intend to visit Italy."

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Where Angels Fear to Tread
by John G. Stockmyer

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Opera 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Opera
by Fred Plotkin, Placido Domingo (Introduction)

Newcomers to opera receive a fine guide to learning about opera appreciation, written by a performance manager for the Metropolitan Opera. Eleven famous operas are reviewed in a step-by-step listener's guide which covers the basics of learning about the opera's form, style, and scene challenges.

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The Moral Basis of a Backward Society
by Edward C. Banfield, Laura Fasano Banfield

Amazon Reader's Review: "This book is very relevant to the question of the effect of culture on development. I have lived half my life in an Anglo culture, and the other half in a Latin culture- very similar to that of Southern Italy. I can absolutely assert that the findings in this book are a true description of 'amoral familism' and the effects on a society. As for a previous reviewer, I suggest he actually live in Southern Italy (or a similar culture) before he omits an opinion that is based on a limited, provincial experience of only living in the US (or a anglo culture). Anyone who has experienced -truly experienced- an anglo and a latin culture will agree with the conclusions drawn by the author."

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