If you've managed to click on all my blog Categories, you'll have seen there's a section called Recommended Books and you'll have realized I'm a rather obsessive reader. I've owned a Kobo and two Kindles, and am infamously known for having shipped my entire library overseas from Canada to Italy. There are still stacks and stacks leftover at my parents' home, waiting to make their way back to me, just ask my mother. Lately, I've been "restricting" (that sounds negative and it's not at all a bad thing) my reading to Italian books. This is two-fold: one, it's a way to continue studying Italian and learn new vocabulary. I find that reading helps me remember "how things are said". It's different from writing out grammar sentences because a sentence can be grammatically correct, just like English, but sound completely awful, inorganic, and unnatural. Instead, reading helps me visualize the organic structure of sentences as well as the extent of creative ease and liberty that can go into Italian. The most recent book that I finished is "Meglio soffrire che mettere in un ripostiglio il cuore" written by Susanna Casciani.
This is the first book I've read by this author and I found it particularly poignant. It is essentially a first--person account of the end of a relationship. I know that sounds horribly sad but I promise that it is surprisingly uplifting as well because it's a universal theme that most people can relate to, most of us have had a similar experience at some point in our past and while the memory of loss can be melancholic, the fact that we rise up again is such a contrasting joy. Sometimes, languages lend themselves to certain emotions. Italian is the perfect language to tell this story. I feel like a translated version in English would not be the same just as an Italian is so much more adept at pouring out his heart compared to an Englishman. The culture is to blame for some of this, but the language for the rest. Below is a snapshot of an excerpt from the end of one of the chapters, isn’t it beautiful?
This is the first book I've read by this author and I found it particularly poignant. It is essentially a first--person account of the end of a relationship. I know that sounds horribly sad but I promise that it is surprisingly uplifting as well because it's a universal theme that most people can relate to, most of us have had a similar experience at some point in our past and while the memory of loss can be melancholic, the fact that we rise up again is such a contrasting joy. Sometimes, languages lend themselves to certain emotions. Italian is the perfect language to tell this story. I feel like a translated version in English would not be the same just as an Italian is so much more adept at pouring out his heart compared to an Englishman. The culture is to blame for some of this, but the language for the rest. Below is a snapshot of an excerpt from the end of one of the chapters, isn’t it beautiful?
Has anyone else read this book? Let me know if you have any recommended reads of your own, especially in Italian!
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like to "dare un'occhiata" at these ones:
Book in Progress: Italian Ways by Tim Parks
Book in Progress: Finding Me in France by Bobbi French
Recommended Reads: Come Away With Me by Karma Brown
Recommended #Italy Reads: At Least You're in Tuscany by Jennifer Criswell
Recommended Reads: A Zany Slice of Italy by Ivanka Di Felice
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