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#italianliterature
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Anna40
Il mare non bagna Napoli | Anna Maria Ortese
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Pickpick

Published in English under the title Neapolitan Chronicles&translated by Goldstein&McPhee, Ortese is one of the best post Ww2 Italian&perhaps most overlooked authors.The book consists of 5 chapters (3 fiction,2 journalistic accounts) that present a Naples shattered by war&corruption. Ortese‘s style is a blend of realist narrative&”almost surreal tone”.Ortese talks about her book having the effect of disorientation.

Anna40 Central themes are the inability&the need to ‘see‘. I absolutely loved A pair of eyeglasses & maybe even more so Family Interior. Highly, highly recommend! 3w
23 likes1 comment
blurb
Moss_Croft
All Our Yesterdays | Natalia Ginzburg
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blurb
shawnmooney
Proleterka | Fleur Jaeggy
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review
giulia.mosna
Tasmania | Paolo Giordano
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Panpan

2/5 ⭐
Meh. Più un insieme di ricordi e pensieri messi insieme un po' a caso che altro. L'unico personaggio che mi è stato simpatico è Eugenio, sembra che mi piaccia solo come Giordano scrive gli adolescenti ("La solitudine dei numeri primi" è uno dei miei libri preferiti e "Divorare il cielo" mi è piaciuto molto, mentre gli altri suoi libri mi hanno delusa).

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sue0815
Il fu Mattia Pascal | Luigi Pirandello

“Di quante cose sostanziali, minutissime, inimmaginabili ha bisogno la nostra invenzione per ridiventare quella stessa realtà da cui fu tratta, di quante fila che la riallaccino nel complicatissimo intrico della vita, fila che noi abbiamo recise per farla diventare una cosa a sé”

review
The_Penniless_Author
Butterfly of Dinard | Eugenio Montale
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Pickpick

Soft pick. Montale was a poet who also wrote short prose pieces for various newspapers just before and after WWII, most of them lightly fictionalized anecdotes from his own life. This book is a compendium of those newspaper columns, which collectively form a memoir of sorts. I liked the non-linear, piecemeal structure of this, as it seems to mimic what it's like getting to know another person in real life, a series of tiny glimpses that 👇

The_Penniless_Author ...gradually add up to a coherent picture. 7mo
29 likes1 comment
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Dilara
The Nonexistent Knight | Italo Calvino
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Woke up at 2:30 because of a pesky mosquito. Now consoling myself with pancakes for breakfast and the ever-dependable Italo Calvino. Nore sure how I'm going to get through a whole day's work. I wished I didn't need sleep, just like the Nonexistent, robotic, Knight...

28 likes1 stack add
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The_Penniless_Author
Singularity | Dino Buzzati
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#wondrouswednesday @Eggs

1. I'm a published author who makes no money off his books. ? (Well, technically not "no money". I suppose I should be The Hundredaire Author. ?)

2. I've never listened to an audiobook. I do listen to the podcast Backlisted when I'm on the treadmill, though.

3. The Singularity (tagged)

Tag @RaeLovesToRead @IuliaC @Yuki_Onna @CBee @BarbaraBB @dabbe @Ruthiella @IndoorDame @MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm

Eggs I loved True North 🧭 7mo
The_Penniless_Author @Eggs Thanks! It sold fine for a book put out by a small press with no marketing budget. Since this is a hobby for me rather than a living, I usually sink every penny I make into purchasing ads or review copies. I would much rather sell 500 copies and break even than sell 300 and make money out of it. 🙂 7mo
dabbe @Eggs #metoo! 🤩 7mo
dabbe Will do; thanks for the tag! 🤗 7mo
35 likes4 comments
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The_Penniless_Author
Butterfly of Dinard | Eugenio Montale
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#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

Maybe you'll recall seeing the Amico delle famiglie at my house.

review
The_Penniless_Author
Singularity | Dino Buzzati
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Mehso-so

Between so-so and a soft pick (the cover alone deserves a pick). A short book (only around 120 pages) designed to illustrate an idea, it gets bonus points for exploring the ramifications of AI way back in 1960. (Out of curiosity I checked, and it seems the tech definition of "the singularity" was coined just a couple years earlier.) Unfortunately, the writing was sort of stilted and the characters two-dimensional. Not sure how much was the ?

The_Penniless_Author ...the translation and how much the writing itself, but it is indicative of a certain type of sci-fi. I really did enjoy it, though, and the length plays to the book's strengths and makes it easy to forgive the roteness of some of language. Certainly, a much more interesting vision of AI than the glorified chatbots hallucinating fake court cases and historical events we got in real life! 8mo
37 likes1 comment