Italian speaking practice and grammar tutoring
Reading is one of my most favorite things in life, so this question always makes me really happy. I try to write about books as much as I can, here on my blog, and I am always looking for interesting reads to suggest you.
What was stopping me from doing so? well, I was waiting for it to be translated into English and now it’s finally done. So now I can tell you everything about one of the best books I have read lately: The Eight Mountains by Paolo Cognetti.
I started reading this kind of books before Instantly Italy was even a remote idea in my mind and enjoyed them very much. I started with Under The Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes, back in the days, and kept on looking for other accounts of life in Italy as a foreigner ever since.
It is an issue that has to do with Alto Adige, or South Tyrol, as it is known in English, and what is now the autonomous province of Bolzano. Alto Adige is part of Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy’s northernmost region, which is now famous for the amazing mountains, some of the highest in Europe, and the breathtaking views of the Dolomites.
They are by a contemporary Italian writer named Donatella Di Pietrantonio and I am sure that – once you know her – you will love her work as much as I do.
Over the last 30 years or so, Tim Parks has tried to understand Italy in every possible way. As a matter of fact, as Parks says, “Italy is not a country for beginners” and it takes some time to go beyond the surface and dive deeper into Italian culture and lifestyle, in order to understand certain behaviors and attitudes.
Let’s be honest: how many of you have read all the classics that have been assigned to you, when you were a student?
One of the most famous is undoubtedly Under The Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes, but there are many others. I have read quite a few of them and I had to admit they tend to follow the same cliché: moving to Tuscany, buying property there and finding the love of your life – which isn’t a bad scenario at all, to be honest.
You probably are going on holiday for a few days and have more free time than usual. There might be long days at the beach or some time spent in a cabin in the woods. Even if you are staying at home, this summer, I am sure that everything will be a tad more relaxed and you’ll be looking for some good books to read.
The book is In altre parole by the Pulizer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri, basically a declaration of love for the Italian language.
