Read a book from each country discussion

If on a winter's night a traveler... | Italo Calvino

I've loved everything I've read by him so far, but this was especially remarkable.

I agree that so far this is my favorite book of Calvino's.

Another for Italy:

La Bella Figura by Beppe Severgnini

The Name of the Rose; Six walks in the fictional woods | Umberto Eco

A very classical piece "The Divine Comedy" by Dante... or "The Betrothed" by Alessandro Manzoni...

I've read a bunch of Eco's stuff...won't be reading any more. Great ideas, rubbish prose. Maybe it's the translations though. I'm monolingual.
Italo Calvino did a great collection of faerie tales...must try and remember the title...just checked: "Italian Folktales".
Does Casanova's autobiography count as Italian? Technicaly he was Venetian.

The Agony and the Ecstasy A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo | Irving Stone

Amazing depictions of Florence during Michelangelo's time.

Edmondo De Amicis Heart

Barbarossa wrote: "I've read a bunch of Eco's stuff...won't be reading any more. Great ideas, rubbish prose. Maybe it's the translations though. I'm monolingual.

I very much doubt that the translations would be responsible for Eco's fiction being 'rubbish prose' as most of them are done by William Weaver, arguably the greatest Italian-to-English translator around. Incidentally, Weaver also translated most of Italo Calvino.

Stewart, obviously it's just my own opinion about the prose...found him somewhat rambling at times. Liked NOTR though. Even read some of his more serious technical stuff but eventually just gave up on him. I tried.
Raises the issue of translation though. Is it best to translate word for word? Or to translate the general meaning rather than specifics? This is ironically a topic that seems to resurface a lot in Eco's own stuff.
On that note anyone know the best translation into English of Dante?

The Moro Affair (New York Review Books Classics)
by Leonardo Sciascia

A better treatment of the Aldo Moro murder and trial is The Aldo Moro Murder Case by Richard Drake. Drake is preeminent English language historian writing on the subject.

The Ragazzi by Pier Paolo Pasolini
The Godfather by Mario Puzo

The Nonexistent Knight and The Cloven Viscount is a good suggestion.

Most of you probably know the movie but the book is worth reading: Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

Stef, I agree, Pinocchio is worth reading! I read it to my kids a few years ago and we all loved it.

Barbarossa wrote: "On that note anyone know the best translation into English of Dante?"

I am especially partial to the Hollanders's translation of Dante - they are a couple, I believe, and they seem to balance each other in terms of the poetry and the meaning of his work. the husband is an ivy league Dante scholar and the wife is a poet. I think they do quite well, having read several other translators's works - I do also like John Ciardi.

Excellent Italian author - Cesare Pavese. I liked his novella Among Women Only

Primo Levi | The Drowned and the Saved

I love Umberto Eco:

The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum are excellent

I've been afraid to try Umberto Eco for some reason. I would love to read one.

Leola, you won´t regret to read The name of the Rose and Foucault´s Pendulum, believe me!!!

Silver wrote: "I love Umberto Eco:

The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum are excellent"

I go with you on these - cractastic reads

Anyone tried The City Of Light The Hidden Journal of the Man Who Entered China Four Years Before Marco Polo?

Not yet, sounds to be interesting, specially recommendend by you and Lee.

Hi Laura,

I will definitely give it a try. Thanks for the encouragement.

I have bought two of Eco's books and I'm looking forward to reading them. My advise here are Silk by Alessandro Baricco and Follow your Heart by Susanna Tamaro. Beautiful and easy readings.

I have "Follow Your Heart" by Sussana Tamaro. I have wanted to read "Blindness" by Saragamo. I have another by him called "The Cave."

I recently finished "A Thirst for Rain" by Roslyn Carrington. It takes place in the foothills of Trinidad. It's a very good book.

"The Garden of the Fitzi-Continis" by Giorgio Bassani. It's been a long time, but I remember it being very evocative.

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Oooh - there are some lovely reads accruing here

:O)

Some nice evocations of what Rome of 100 BC might have been like in Colleen McCullough's The First Man in Rome.

Jessica wrote: "If on a winter's night a traveler... | Italo Calvino

I've loved everything I've read by him so far, but this was especially remarkable."

I can't wait to read this novel, I got both an English and an Italian copy of it xD

The Complete Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino