Review: L'assassino è all'ultima pagina

L'assassino è all'ultima pagina by Elena Molini
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A murder mystery for book lovers. If I had the time I'd love to read through it again in detail knowing what the goal of the "Frankenbook" was. I'm also amazed at how much time must have gone into creating this.

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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: 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: 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: Dissipatio H.G.

Dissipatio H.G. by Guido Morselli
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I admit I wasn't in the right state of mind for this. I found myself wondering where people were, wanting the protagonist to explore more (such as when he went to the airport) and learn how he survived on his own (how does electricity hold up? etc.).

While it did have some of these aspects, most of the book concentrated on the philosophical aspect of being alone, whether that constitutes the end of the world, and other aspects of the protagonist's past (I won't write any spoilers here).

It's probably an excellent book for questioning your mortality, etc. But otherwise you may feel like a teenager watching an intellectual artsy movie, and just wishing for some action.


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Review: Il re dei giochi

Il re dei giochi by Marco Malvaldi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another fun book filled with Tuscan dialog and a mystery that kept me engaged until the end. Definitely better than "il gioco delle tre carte", possibly better than "La briscola in cinque". Regardless, I'll be looking for more of his books.

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Review: Trust

Trust by Domenico Starnone
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had initially wanted to read this in Italian, and then follow it up with the English version, but since I already had the English version I figured I may as well read it. I'm a fan of both the author and the translator, so I was curious to see how the story turned out. 

All in all I really enjoyed the first part (probably a bit over 60% of the book), but the second and third parts didn't attract me as much. Especially Emma's section. Was she supposed to come across like that? And Teresa, far from being what the narrator described her as initially, came across as more simple and childish. 

Regardless, I still enjoyed it. I will probably wait a while and then read the Italian version, to see if it feels different or not. 

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Review: Colpo grosso ai Frigoriferi Milanesi

Colpo grosso ai Frigoriferi Milanesi by Francesco Recami
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a "meta-romanzo", Pirandello-style (and apparently like Camilleri too). However, I can't really say it worked for me. The points where the author started inserting his voice just broke up the tempo of the story, which wasn't the most exhilarating to begin with. Also, it's an interesting (if not original) idea, but after you bring it up several times it just gets old. 

Oddly enough, I thought it worked best in the final chapters, where the characters wonder about the 'Nonmondo', and the author makes you wonder about all the other characters in all other books/stories and their Nonmondo as well. 

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Review: Il gioco delle tre carte

Il gioco delle tre carte by Marco Malvaldi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Once again I enjoyed the gergo toscano most of all, as well as most of the characters. I just wish the story itself were more exciting/eventful. 

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Review: Villa del seminario

Villa del seminario by Sacha Naspini
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very poignant book. A bit slow at first, but it drags you in, especially since it is based on a real concentration camp located in Maremma, in Southern Tuscany. 

In fact, the part that probably struck me the most was the afterword, detailing how true to life the story actually was. And how Grosseto didn't even place any sort of plaque on the building until 2008. He goes on to say how in 2022 the mayor dedicated a new piazza to monsignor Paolo Galeazzi, who allowed the concentration camp to be placed in his seminary, and how the mayor was there for that, but then he skipped the Liberation Day festivities (and yes, he names the mayor, Antonfrancesco Vivarelli Colonna). 

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Review: Ad occhi chiusi

Ad occhi chiusi by Gianrico Carofiglio
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Slowly becoming one of my favorite mystery novel authors. Well, I guess legal thriller authors. And his books always make me want to visit Bari. 

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Review: Quell'estate di sangue e di luna

Quell'estate di sangue e di luna by Eraldo Baldini
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Excellent book. The suspense lasted a while, in a crescendo, and when the action hit, at first I thought it was weird and far-fetched, but in the end it turned out quite good. A juxtaposition of people doing well in a completely unknown location (the moon and space), while others are having disaster occur on land they've known for generations. 

I look forward to reading more by Baldini (and Fabbri).

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Review: Io e te

Io e te by Niccolò Ammaniti
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A nice novella. Coming of age. A tad depressing and dark. 

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Review: Candelora

Candelora by Luigi Pirandello
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My favorite stories:

La Camera in Attesa

La Rosa (sort of)

Da sé

Piuma

Ho Tante Cose da Dirvi

La Carriola

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Review: Agostino

Agostino by Alberto Moravia
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A decent novel, but not much more. I admit I expected more from it. 

It is the coming of age summer for a 13 year old on the beach in Tuscany. But this coming of age involves mainly sexual undertones, and odd ones at that (verging on oedipal and verging on pedophilia).

The backdrop reminded me very much of my summers in Versilia. Local kids hanging around the beach with nothing to do, etc. 

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Review: La briscola in cinque

La briscola in cinque by Marco Malvaldi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Nice, short, fun book, with enough twists and turns to keep it interesting, although the main point was the Tuscan conversation, especially with the old guys in the bar. Recommended for all those who miss Tuscany. I will be checking out the others in this series.

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Review: Uomini e no

Uomini e no by Elio Vittorini
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's almost impossible to review this book. All in all, it is very powerful, written in a straightforward manner without nuances, but still conveying something profound. Whether you like it or not, it will certainly be unique.

This is a review of the Italian version. The style is so unique and instrumental to the book that I'm not sure how this would carry over in a translation (I see it is available in English, however).

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Review: Fantasie per una fuga - Quattro racconti

Fantasie per una fuga - Quattro racconti by Edmund Cantilli
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was a mystery. Usually, even if I can't find a book on Goodreads (I had to add this one myself), I can find it on Amazon, or IBS.it, or the feltrinelli website (these last two for Italian books), or something. But I couldn't find this anywhere. I found other books by this author, but no mention of this one (hence no book cover photo).

Not only that, but all the pages at the beginning and the end of this book were torn out of my copy, leaving only the text of the stories. So I can't see any information about the year it was published, table of contents, and whatnot. For the record, I found the book in a used bookstore in Lucca and bought it on a whim (it was just 2 Euros).

Anyway, it turned out to be excellent. 4 stories. I thought the first was the weakest (I don't know the title, since that page was missing). The second (il sogno) and the fourth (il disertore) were 5 stars, while the third (Fiorenza di Sangolfo) was a solid 4. I look forward to reading more by Cantilli.

4.5 stars

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Review: Trasversali - Racconti di umanità superiori

Trasversali - Racconti di umanità superiori by Maurizio Menconi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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