Books set in Italy

There is something about books set in Italy that draws me to them. Perhaps it is that romantic villa in Tuscany, the old Roman ruins or the blue waters of the Adriatic that makes my heart shiver. Some of the best books I have read takes place in Italy or have had something to do with the country. EM Forester’s A room with a view, partly takes place in Italy. It is a book I have read more than once. Another that I liked is Galileo’s daughter written by Dava Sobel.
Because of my pleasant experience with earlier books about Italy, I was not disappointed when I read my latest Italian conquest, The birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant. The story takes place in Florence, the great Lorenzo di Medici is dead and his son Piero takes over but is soon expelled from the city and the monk Savonarola takes over set to change the city and its virtues. In the middle of all this is a young woman, Alessandra, a talented artist in search for freedom from her father’s watchful eye. She gets it through marrying a much older man, but realises soon that there are greater things than freedom that rules your life. The intrigues get thicker as they can only get in Italy and Florence at this time.
The end? I won’t tell, you have to read it to find out!
Josefine

My recommendations: The Medici Family, the beautiful people of Florence by Ulla Britta Ramklint

A beginning a middle and an end

Any book will have a beginning, middle and an end, that’s pretty simple right? And there are as many writers as there are versions of how to accomplish this. A winter in China by Douglas Galbraith manages to do this in a very unique way.
The story is set in 1930s China at the outbreak of the invasion of the Japanese. A young English woman gets trapped with other foreigners during the caption of Nanking. If you have knowledge of the atrocities made by the Japanese in the city, the readings of Galbraith makes you shiver.
But it is not only that, which makes the story interesting, it is the way Galbraith tells it that captures you. In one chapter he takes us as far ahead in the story as he takes us back to another event in the story. In between this, he manages to throw in different perspective of what the different characters in the book are doing at the same moment. Does this sound complicated and messy? Maybe a bit, but when you read the book it flows so good that you don’t think about it and you don’t get messed up. My best recommendation is to read the book to get an understanding of the technical part. It is worth every penny you spend on it, or why not see if they have it at your local library.
Josefine

My recommendations: Empress Orchid by Anchee Min

Book addiction?

I found this site online by accident, but it is quite interesting.
Josefine

Places to read

Someone once told me the reason why they didn’t read much was because they could only read, sitting in a special chair in her bedroom, which was also used as a clothes hangar. That meant that every time she wanted to read, she would have to take all the clothes and either put them on her bed, which she didn’t like or put them all away in the closet and that would take too much time and then there would be no time to read.

A bad excuse? I don’t know, but it made me think of the places I like to read, which is almost everywhere, but I do have my favourites. My favourite place to read in the summer is outside, especially in Holland Park in London. There are so many different views of the park that you can find a new place every time. In the winter when I like to stay inside, my bed is my number 1 place other than that I like to go to a café sit down with a cappuccino and drift away in a good book.
Where is you favourite place to read? Outside, inside, anywhere, write and tell me.
Josefine

My Recommendations: Under the Tuscan sun – at home in Italy by Frances Mayes

The remarkable Alexander McCall-Smith

From a detective agency in Africa, to Edinburgh Scotland and some academic Germany in between you can follow Alexander McCall-Smith’s characters. His No. 1 Ladies' detective agency series is a success. I even heard that they are making it into a movie, which I think will please many. But that is not the end, McCall-Smith also ventures in to the philosophy of living in Edinburgh and the life of a German professor who seems to be a bit out of the ordinary and now the latest addition, they story that started as a series in a newspaper about the house on 44 Scotland Street in Edinburgh.

McCall-Smith has a humour and a way of writing that fits the most. I haven’t met anyone yet who has not liked him, if you don’t like one of the series, they are different enough for you to try another. I wasn’t too impressed with the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, but I love the Sunday Philosophy Club and the new series 44 Scotland Street.
What I like the most about McCall-Smith is his style of writing, like he is sitting in a pub telling us a story. It seems like the story poured on to the paper. His characters aren’t described in to their smallest details and there are plenty of room for my own imagination. Take the example of Doktor von Igelfeldt. He is just like you would picture a German professor who has spent way too much time in the academic world. His arrogance makes me sometimes laugh and sometimes shake my head in disbelief. His description of Isabel Dalhousie’s life and the life at 44 Scotland Street makes me want to visit Edinburgh right now.
I can only wish for what comes next from the genius McCall-Smith.
Josefine

My recommendations: Portuguese Irregular Verb by Alexander McCall-Smith