Review: Danubio

Danubio by Claudio Magris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'll admit I didn't read this in one go, but I came back to it from time to time, which I found the most pleasurable way to go about it. It was like stepping back on this meandering journey that follows the Danube but also meanders through history and literature.

Well, ideally I could read this while actually traveling to the places he mentions as well, so I can see and witness them first-hand, but I don't anticipate that happening anytime soon.

Still, the erudition was, at times, a bit much for me, and there seemed to be a huge concentration on World War II (although they were good, and I also enjoyed the parts about Sissi).

All in all it's a great read, but also an endeavor. And maybe that's the point.




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Review: Troppi assassini per una cena

Troppi assassini per una cena by Giulia Gambazzi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ok, I always have the issue, with murder mysteries, of keeping the characters straight. I was proud of myself for keeping them straight in this novel (and the author did a good job of portraying them), but then the murder mystery "personas" started taking over, and criss-crossing back and forth, and it became way too much. I bookmarked the page with each person's character, but it was still a lot. I'm guessing that was part of the point.

Otherwise it was good, with twists and turns I didn't really expect, although some of them seemed a bit stretched (and we still use "cenci" here in Tuscany!)

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Review: Viaggio in Italia

Viaggio in Italia by Gianrico Carofiglio
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a fun, light read. A trip around the main cities of Italy, this reads more like personal observations and thoughts from each city rather than an in-depth study, but it is also an excellent overview of these cities at a glance.

I am a fan of Carofiglio's detective novels, and it turns out I'm a fan of his other work as well.




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Review: Competere o sparire: Per un nuovo paesaggio europeo

Competere o sparire: Per un nuovo paesaggio europeo by Mario Draghi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Whatever you think of him politically, there’s no denying that Mario Draghi is an extremely accomplished economist. This book is a wake-up call to Europe. With the US turning inward, and China continuing to control its companies and output, and Russia posing a threat to the East, the EU has to unite if it wants to grow rather than stagnate. In fact, he basically argues it could become a beacon of stability in the world, but only if it makes changes.

Some interesting points:

Almost 30 percent of “unicorns” in Europe have transferred abroad after getting funding.

Internal market barriers in the EU are equal to a tariff of around 45% in the manufacturing sector and a tariff of 110% in the service sector.
Internal market barriers in the EU are equal to a tariff of around 64% for machinery and 95% for metals.


GDPR regulations have increased the cost of data for European companies by 20 percent.
GDPR has mainly penalized Small technology companies, decreasing profits by around 12%, reducing VC investment by around 1/4.


In 2023 EU countries spent almost 190 million Euros in state aid, which is 5 times more than was geared toward IPCEI (important projects of common european interest).

EU countries spend around the same as the US, in terms of percentage of GDP, on R&D, but only 10 of this is on a European level.



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Review: Praivat investighescion: Quando el gialo sa de spritz

Praivat investighescion: Quando el gialo sa de spritz by Sabrina Gregori


I might revisit this, but for now reading a book entirely in dialetto Triestino is a bit too much effort.

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Review: Aunty Lee's Delights

Aunty Lee's Delights by Ovidia Yu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In many ways this is a cute murder mystery, complete with an Auntie Lee is is very nosy and meddlesome and it also always cooking and talking about food.

But in other ways it was just too simplistic and stereotypical, and the plot seemed like a stretch just slapped together at the end.

I'd give it three stories, since it is fun to read, but I can't really recommend it.




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Review: Infanzia a Castel San Barnaba

Infanzia a Castel San Barnaba by Giuseppe Baroni
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was very interested in this book, because I'm pretty sure the house he discusses in this book is the same one my mother lived in in Scarperia.

But I can't figure out the time frame. The author never mentions the precise years in which he lived there, but they seem to be exactly when my mother lived there, which was the 1950s, only leaving after the earthquake in 1960. He mentions life there prior to the earthquake, but it must have been after the 1940s.

Regardless, this book goes into A LOT of detail, even for someone interested in life in the exact house my mother lived in with her family. As in, there are 10 pages dedicated just to the sparrows (followed by several pages about the mice). So, fair warning. But still a very interesting glimpse into this small Mugello town during (some time) in the 20th century.




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Review: Il Triangolo Estivo

Il Triangolo Estivo by Piero Severi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a fun book. I was in Bologna and wanted a book by a local author, which is always a gamble.

This was interesting, not predictable, and kept me interested throughout.

A couple of things though:
Maybe I watch too many police TV shows or something, and I'm not all that familiar with Italian law, but I was surprised the author would have the police chief interrogate two people in the same room at the same time. We all know they need to be separated!

Plus the journalist tampering with evidence, removing evidence and constantly interfering with the investigation should totally have been arrested for obstruction or something, if not being an accessory after the fact.


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Review: Venice: A New History

Venice: A New History by Thomas F. Madden
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was excellent preparation for our upcoming trip to Venice. I had gone a couple times on school trips and with friends, but never really knew much about Venice per se.

Some takeaways:

Venice was never Roman. Attila sacked Aquilea, and the residents fled to various islands in the marshes, creating Venice. So from its inception is always looked more toward Byzantium than Rome, and rarely had anything to do with the mainland.

The lack of land meant no feudal lords and therefore more meritocratic and more business-like. 

So basically merchants were doing business all over the Byzantine Empire (think Marco Polo, who traveled even farther East). 

This was true until the Renaissance, when it basically embraced art (Titian, Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese, etc)

And then other stuff. The Venetian republic lasted until Napoleon. 

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Review: The Lake

The Lake by Yasunari Kawabata
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow. Is it just my impression or is this very different from every other Kawabata book?

The story is about a stalker, who can't help himself in stalking. His life is pretty much ruined, but it doesn't seem to bother him, seeing as how he is obsessed finding a woman and following her, waiting in ditches and wasting all this time and spending money in order to do so.

I can't tell if the stalking stemmed from an event (no spoilers!) having to do with a prostitute, but regardless, this was different from what I expected.

By all means read this, just know that it is not your typical Yasunari Kawabata novel.




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Review: Axolotl

Axolotl by Julio Cortázar
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was such an interesting example of a story that seemed and felt real and straightforward until, without realizing it, it wasn't anymore. A fun, short story. I look forward to reading more by him.



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Review: Lake Like a Mirror

Lake Like a Mirror by Ho Sok Fong
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I confess many of the stories didn't make sense, or just didn't seem to go anywhere. Having said that, I did enjoy some of them. My favorite was probably the last one (March in a small town). I'm still not sure I understood it, but the repetition, which seemed in one location but ended up being in another (I think) was excellent and thought-provoking. The first story (The Wall) was also good. These were all slightly surrealist and apparently the author (Chinese Malaysian) had a story banned in Malaysian papers, although I'm not sure why based on this collection.


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Review: A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle

A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle by Julian T. Jackson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A complicated man who was the right person at the right time for France. If not for him, there would have been no government in exile during the war, and therefore no continuity, which probably would have meant no permanent seat for France at the UN.

His prescience for certain matters was astounding, as were his misses in certain other ones.

All in all an extremely fascinating read about an extremely fascinating man.


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Review: Why the Germans Do it Better: Notes from a Grown-Up Country

Why the Germans Do it Better: Notes from a Grown-Up Country by John Kampfner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The main thought that kept coming to mind while reading this is that someone really needs to write the equivalent of this book but for Taiwan. A country boasting the best Healthcare system in world, despite not being allowed in the WHO, the highest GDP per capita in East Asia, the first country in Asia to allow gay marriage, and one of the strongest stock markets in the world, not to mention home of the modern computer chip, and all this with China breathing down its neck. That’s a pretty impressive (or grown-up) country.

In fact, it seems to have much in common with Germany. A lack of patriotism, in the classic sense, and a continuous sense of ‘duty’, for lack of a better word, to do better.

Regardless, those are just my two cents.


This book itself is unfortunately outdated at this point, but still very interesting. The progression since the war to the Germany of Merkel certainly is an interesting one. I was always enthralled by how Germany, despite having just had 2 devastating wars, seemed like the stable country in the EU when I was growing up. However, my impression is that, since Merkel, this hasn’t necessarily been true. The trains in Italy are now more reliable than Germany’s, and after Switzerland set up its cross-Gotthard train, it is one of the only countries in western Europe without High-speed rail.


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Review: Musui's Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai

Musui's Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai by Katsu Kokichi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is enlightening and enjoyable. Any idea you had of a typical samurai is both shattered and confirmed in many ways. Kokichi is by no means an admirable person. Even when he states he's been a bad person all his life it sounds like a humble-brag of sorts.

Regardless, the book is extremely interesting and it's a journey into life of a Japanese Samurai during those times.

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Review: Un cielo blu genziana

Un cielo blu genziana by Mattia Cavadini
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very nice short story about rural life on Monte Generoso. All centered around the quote:

"Sotto la nebbia sarà tutto cemento,
sopra vivranno gli animali e coloro che ad essi si adegueranno"
Tita Carloni


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Review: Hunger

Hunger by Choi Jin-young
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Intense and bit depressing, but also just odd and disturbing. For some reason, however, it works, although it leaves you with a bit of a hopeless feeling.




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Review: Villain

Villain by Shūichi Yoshida
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a murder mystery but that wasn't the point of the book at all. However, I'm not really sure what the point was. It wasn't really a psychological thriller, and there were several parallel stories that didn't seem to tie up, although there were some odd coincidences (that seemed a bit of a stretch to me).

Also, it's weird that the cover showed a gun but there are no guns in the book at all.


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Review: Il fondo del sacco

Il fondo del sacco by Plinio Martini
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was looking forward to reading more about life in Valle Maggia, despite being a bit let down by his other book (Requiem per zia Domenica). This surpassed all expectations. Not only did it discuss, and really convey, life in the valley at the beginning of the last century, but it also talked about the Ticinese exodus to the US, which was very interesting, and it was all wrapped together in a nice story (the line "sei tornato lo stesso" was very poignant).


Martini is known as one of the top Ticino authors of all time, and I didn't really see why after his last book, but this one convinced me. I see he has some other books, as well as a diary, that have been published, and I look forward to reading them as well.


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Review: The Final Curtain

The Final Curtain by Keigo Higashino
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was more than a murder mystery, but I'm not sure what it was. It tied in Detective Kaga's past, and in the end was a story of redemption and upbringing. Someone mentioned this is the final book in the Detective Kaga series, so that may be why.

Regardless, it definitely stands on its own as a murder mystery, with some interesting twists and turns, but in the end all of that becomes secondary. Still, a great novel.


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