Italy - BOOKS by Italian Authors (or set in Italy)

[Valerie]

I like Niccolo Ammaniti as an author. He has a literary talent, builds tension but still manages to keep the dialogue real in a way that draws the reader into the scene. Non Ho Paura (I'm Not Scared) was the first book I read completely in Italian and it was fairly easy since the protaganist is a child, the level was pretty much my language level, too! Compelling. Then I watched the movie too, which it turns out, was filmed at the Basilicata/Puglia border.

 

[Anne]

I recently bought "Seasons in Basilicata: A Year in a Southern Italian Hill Village" by David Yeadon. Haven't read it yet, and have no idea if the author's any good, but after falling in love with Basilicata last year, the title cried "BUY ME"! I won't likely have a chance before summer vacation, but I'm really looking forward to reading it.

 

[ellen]

It's not a novel but I'm about halfway through "In Other Words" by Jhumpa Lahiri. It's about her love of the Italian language and her journey to learn it. She wrote it in Italian and it's presented with the original Italian text on the left page and the English translation on the right. I so identify with her desire to learn the language and the frustration of trying to do it from the States.

New York Times review here: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/10/b...ers-headlong-immersion-into-italian.html?_r=0

 

[Roz]

I haven't read any of the Elena Ferrante books, but there was just an interesting article in the NY Times speculating on the identity of the author. "Who Is Elena Ferrante?" Here's also an earlier interview with the mysterious author via e-mail.

 

[Karen Frerichs]

The Ann Reavis list hits the high spots, and I've just remembered a writer of historical fiction... Steven Saylor.

He's a Berkeley (CA) historian, with a mystery series set in Rome, during the height of the empire. I've read the "Gordianus the Finder" series, and just stumbled across another book, not in the series, called simply "Rome"... an epic account of the city from it's very beginning. I think I like the Gordianus mysteries better, but tend to trust most of the historical info, since that is Saylor's field.

 

[Pauline]

Ann Reavis' mystery set in Florence is out for Kindle and in paperback - Death at the Duomo. I read a version of this a few years ago and liked it a lot. I am downloading it now to read.

 

[Roz]

Donna Leon's 22md Brunetti book, The Golden Egg, is on sale for Kindle, today only I think, for $1.99.

 

[Karen Frerichs]

Thanks for the note about the Ann Reavis Kindle edition, Pauline... I've put it on my wish list, so I don't forget it. Now I've started to remember other mystery series set in Florence:

an older series by Magdalen Nabb, with Marschall Guarnacci as the detective "Death of an Englishman" is the first, I think...
and a more recent series by Christobel Kent, with an older detective named Sandro Cellini.

Liked both series, and Magdalen Nabb's first book is old enough to have gotten a positive blurb from Georges Simenon!
Now some being reissued, just saw a few on Amazon for Kindle.

And now that I think of it, there was a series I liked, set in Rome, by Iain Pears about an art theft police squad....

yep, I read a lot of mysteries (and think of them as travel guides sometimes).

 

[Steve martin]

The book written by Umberto Eco - The name of the Rose is a must read book by an Italian author.
You guys should read it.

 

[Pauline]

Donna Leon's 22md Brunetti book, The Golden Egg, is on sale for Kindle, today only I think, for $1.99.

Have you read it? I gave up on her books a few books ago. The last one I read had a big chase scene and seemed not as good as the earlier ones. Perhaps it was just this one?

And now that I think of it, there was a series I liked, set in Rome, by Iain Pears about an art theft police squad....

That sounds familiar. I think I read some of his Art History mysteries (Jonathan Argyll series). They were written in the 1990s and are not available for the Kindle.

From Wikipedia: This series presents detective art historian Jonathan Argyll who works with two members of the (fictitious) Italian Art Squad: Flavia di Stefano (deputy) and General Bottando (head of the squad). Pears published seven books in the series:

• The Raphael Affair (1991)
• The Titian Committee (1992)
• The Bernini Bust (1993)
• The Last Judgement (1994)
• Giotto's Hand (1995)
• Death and Restoration (1996)
• The Immaculate Deception (2000)

 

[DDTraveler]

I can offer a few suggestions, most of which I've read in Italian class, so I'm not sure how well they translate to English.

Gianrico Carofiglio -- most of his novels feature a young attorney in Bari. Carofiglio is an ex-anti-mafia prosecutor and (IIRC), a former senator in the Italian government. His books are the closest I've found to American police procedurals. He has a new book just out and I can't wait to read it!

Maurizio de Giovanni -- again, I've only read his novels in Italian. His Commissario Ricciardi, who has a special gift, lives and works in Naples during the fascist era.

David P. Wagner -- just last week I picked up one of his books in the library, Return to Umbria. This is an American writer in Rome who has written a few pleasant mysteries. Rick Montoya is his protagonist.

Amara Lakhous -- an Algerian who emigrated to Italy and has written a couple of very amusing novels about the lives of immigrants in Italy. His best known book is probably The Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio. Smart, funny and insightful.

Jhumpa Lahiri -- In Other Words. Ms. Lahiri, a very well celebrated author for her novels in English, moved to Italy with her family and has written this book entirely in Italian (although there is an English version). This is a book about her struggles with learning a third language and the strangeness of not having a true mother tongue.

Carlo Lucarelli -- I've read one of his books in Italian (a mystery) which took place during the fascist era. I would definitely read more.

Melissa Muldoon - Dreaming Sophia. Melissa is a the inspiration behind the Studentessa Matta blog and this is her first novel. The story is about a young woman who goes to Italy after a personal tragedy and "encounters" famous Italians who give her advice on how to put her life back together.

For those of you who want to read about contemporary Italian life, culture and politics, I would highly recommend John Hooper's The Italians. Even my Italian teacher said it was spot on.

DD

 

[Roz]

I just finished an enjoyable book set in Montalcino: My Italian Bulldozer, by Alexander McCall Smith. He wrote the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series (set in Botswana) among many others. It's a very light, quick read, but I think anyone who loves Italy, especially Tuscany, would enjoy it.

 

[Lisa in Ottawa]

Have you read it? I gave up on her books a few books ago. The last one I read had a big chase scene and seemed not as good as the earlier ones. Perhaps it was just this one?



That sounds familiar. I think I read some of his Art History mysteries (Jonathan Argyll series). They were written in the 1990s and are not available for the Kindle.

From Wikipedia: This series presents detective art historian Jonathan Argyll who works with two members of the (fictitious) Italian Art Squad: Flavia di Stefano (deputy) and General Bottando (head of the squad). Pears published seven books in the series:

• The Raphael Affair (1991)
• The Titian Committee (1992)
• The Bernini Bust (1993)
• The Last Judgement (1994)
• Giotto's Hand (1995)
• Death and Restoration (1996)
• The Immaculate Deception (2000)

I loved the Iain Pears mysteries. He has written other books that are more literate but do not take place in Italy.

 

[DDTraveler]

I'm just finishing the second book by this author, Lucretia Grindle -- The Lost Daughter. Her first book was Villa Triste. Both books involve the senior policeman Alessandro Pallioti and his Ispettore, Enzo Saenz. When I first picked up Villa Triste, I thought it was a sort of romance -- the cover made it look like that. Not my cup of tea. Instead Villa Triste is set in Florence in both modern time and during WW II, and The Lost Daughter involves the kidnapping of Aldo Moro in 1978 by the Brigate Rosse. Both weave solid, well drawn characters with an interesting story line.

 

[Roz]

The first book in the Inspector Bordelli series by Marco Vichi is on sale today on Amazon for $2.99: Death in August. The series is set in Florence. I've read all 4 published so far in English and enjoyed them.

 

[misstravelbug]

I love any of Marlena de Blasi's books. Also Ferenc Mate and Carla Coulson. Very different in style, but engaging and a little fix when I am desiring to be in Italy.