Surprise Books & More: Italy Edition

Italian themed recent books read and reviews via audio & DNF's 🇮🇹📚🎧

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Hello! Welcome to my first Surprise Books & More newsletter. I had so much fun researching Italian themed books and authors, sampling various stories, and then getting immersed in several fantastic stories that I ended up loving. I also loved looking through images of Italy and browsing the book lists from the links I shared in the first post below….. in case you missed the introduction post with some of my previous Italian reads, fun facts, and book lists I’ve linked it below.

I hope you enjoy listening to my detailed thoughts, reviews, and book recs in the 35 min audio below - yes I love to literally talk about books! I’ve missed being on the mic and love having the flexibility to incorporate audio with my writing. Plus, I challenged myself to figure out how to add some fun Italian music to the beginning and end….I did it! I say this because until recently I didn’t know how to edit audio let alone add music, so these different types of newsletters I’m doing are expanding my creativity which I really love. I also added written notes on the books I didn’t finish and included titles of the ones I considered, but didn’t end up choosing.

Introducing.... "Reading Simplified"

Now onto the audio & books…..

FYI, to be able to speed up the audio, access the post using your web browser versus the app - just go to itsbooktalk.substack.com for easy access

If you want to be surprised, listen to the audio before looking at the book lists

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Books Mentioned

• Teddy  by Emily Dunlay Bookshop.org

• The Lost Girls of Rome by Donato Carrisi  🎧 Bookshop.org

• The Hunter of the Dark by Donato Carrisi

• Diavola by Jennifer Thorne 🎧 Bookshop.org

  - Currently Reading Podcast

• This is Where I Leave You by Jonathon Tropper

• The Storygraph

• Kill the Father by Sandrone Dazieri Bookshop.org

• Kill the Angel by Sandrone Dazieri

• Kill the King by Sandrone Dazieri

DNF’s

*The books I tried but didn’t finish

The Invitation by Lucy Foley 🎧 - An evocative love story set in 1953 Rome along the Italian Riviera about a group of charismatic stars who all have secrets and pasts they try desperately -- and dangerously -- to hide. 
I made it to about 45% despite feeling that it was too slow for my mood. Basically I lost attention and interest. There were so many extraneous details that over time I felt them bog the story down to the point I didn’t care about the characters or the setting anymore. I kept thinking that sometimes a little goes a long way as far as words,  descriptions , and details go. What also became very apparent to me- I need more plot in my stories. Especially in the summer when I’m busy. I just wanted to vicariously travel to Italy, and while I did get some that, I do need more things to happen.  If there had been more plot to move this story along, I may have stuck with it .

Lizzie and Dante by Mary Bly 🎧

On the heels of a difficult break-up and a devastating diagnosis, Shakespearian scholar Lizzie Delford decides to take one last lavish vacation on Elba, the sun-kissed island off the Italian coast, with her best friend and his movie-star boyfriend. Once settled into a luxurious seaside resort, Lizzie has to make big decisions about her future, and she needs the one thing she may be running out of: time. 
Dnf about 55%- full dislosure- I did skip to the last chapter and the epilogue – I found the story to be quite manipulative, the author gave Lizzie stage 3 cancer which in and of itself is an emotional, hard storyline and one that would’ve been sufficient to build Lizzie’s character and allow readers into her heart and mind. But then we find out she was also in foster care and there’s a whole tragic backstory with that. Then, there’s the old dog to pull at heartstrings and the very precocious 12 year old girl who talked like she was 21 and was desperate with a capital d for a mother – all this together was too much- it felt overdone, like the author was trying too hard. I did like many of the characters, especially chef Dante. In a storyline like this I need to care and I reached a point where I felt more frustrated with the characters than anything else and I didn’t care about continuing. I was listening to this and the narrator was horrible with one of the guy’s southern accent, it was like nails on the chalkboard every time he spoke.

Other Titles I Considered

• Our Italian Summer by Jennifer Probst

• The House at the Edge of Night by Catherine Banner

• Playing For Pizza by John Grisham

• My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

• The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani

Have you read any of these? Did you read any Italian themed books/authors this month? If so, let us know all the details in the comments!