Spring. Sunshine. Gardening. Picnics, concerts in the park, swimming, and reading. Here at Always Summer Books, every season is summer reading time, and spring is no exception. I’ve got reviews of a few more books to share with you, and also the upcoming schedule for Bianca’s Vineyard book signings (see below). For those of you who own unsigned copies, if you’re able to come to an event I’d love to sign it for you.

My molto cara amica and dear photographer in Italy, Veronica Arrosti, has provided me with a long list of Italian-authored books to read.  I must say, Christ Stopped in Eboli, by Carlo Levi, was one that stayed with me for quite some time.  Spoiler alert: Christ is not a figure in the book, nor is Eboli the main setting. 

Levi, an Italian-Jewish doctor and artist during WWII, wrote this memoir while in exile in the southern region of Lucania.  Today, the region is known as Basililcata. Italian politics can be radically different from American politics, so there were portions of CSIE that I simply had to gloss over.  Though Levi contended he was not a communist (at times it seemed he had to be), apparently it was his socialist leanings in Mussolini’s Fascist Italy that caused his “imprisonment” in the isolated town of Grassano.  Levi’s depictions of the area are revelatory; the grinding poverty, the desolate landscape, rampant superstition, religious hypocrisy, and ancient grudges.  Yet Lucania’s arid wasteland also provided the perfect canvas to highlight the spirit of its citizens; their courage, resilience, kindness and grace.  

After finishing the book, I caught an episode on House Hunters International featuring an American couple buying a vacation home in the exact same village Levi was exiled to.  The difference between WWII Grassano and the modern city is extraordinary.  I can only wonder what Dr. Levi would think if he were alive to see it.

Orianna Fallaci

 Oriana Fallaci was a personal hero of mine.  Being in the news business for the last decade, I admired this journalist and intellectual Italian giant for years.  When she died, I felt the shockwave on this side of the world.  The first book about Fallaci I’m reading is by Riccardo Nencini called Oriana Fallaci; I’ll Die Standing on My Feet.  In it, the indominatable Oriana — who is battling the cancer which eventually took her life — is determined that she will die on “both of my feet, like Emily Bronte.”

It’s Fallaci’s fighting spirit, her reasoning prowress and extraordinary gift of communication that made her the cultural lioness of her time that she was.  In comparison, my story would read something like, Teresa Neumann; I’ll Die Sucking My Thumb, or I’ll Die Flat on My Back, Thank You, With the Strongest Possible Pain Killer Imaginable Flowing Through My Veins.  Hyperbole, granted, but you get the picture 🙂

Now, on to the calendar!

• April 30 — Speaking at a book club in South Salem, Oregon.
• May 4 – Book signing at Today’s in Albany, Oregon, during the Wine Walk.  This is a fabulous event with over 20 Oregon vineyards represented.  Music, food, and all sorts of entertainment and goodies on display in the historic downtown region.
• May 16 – Speaking at a book club in Lebanon, Oregon
• May 21 – Speaking at BARNES & NOBLES in Vancouver, Washington. Click here for details: http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/event/3280813

Hope to see you at one of these, if you’re able.  Until then, ciao and mille baci!