“And if no one tells me a story tonight, I know that one day, when I have all the words I need, I’ll tell them to myself.” Finalist of the XXVI edition of the Edoardo Kihlgren Opera Prima Literary Prize, the title does not lie: in the book there are fables and it talks about communism. We are in Albania, between the 80s and 90s, under the communist regime of Hoxa. Said like that, one...
“Restoring memory to news makes them less orphaned.” A hymn to the common good, to always acting thinking that every single choice in our daily life can have a positive impact on the community. Being honest with ourselves before others, acting based on what was once called common sense. Well, if we had to describe the book in a few words, they could only be these. In a double-track story, Sigfrido Ranucci offers us key...
“I grew up with my mother, not with my father.” Finalist of the XXVI edition of the Edoardo Kihlgren Opera Prima Literary Prize, the text is a family story, in which the author goes fishing in the lake of his dearest memories, what he remembers and what he thought he didn’t remember, to tell the story of his life up to now, and the internal dynamics between his parents and then those with his brothers...
“In Milan everything plays and everyone plays something.” A nice and in its own way captivating idea, that of the author to describe his city, Milan, through the five senses that man has: a clear perception of how the city is felt and envelops each person, even before it can be thought; an observation so true in a city where everyone is passing through life. In fact, as an old adage says, Milan is for...
“I don’t want to love him so as not to lose him.” Viola is a young journalist who, for work reasons, decides to move from Naples to Milan to work in the editorial office of a large newspaper. As often happens, however, dreams clash with harsh reality, and Viola finds herself chasing low-paid and temporary jobs. In parallel with her life, that of Ershela, the other protagonist of the book, runs wild; a young Albanian...
“He looked at his watch, trying to hurry up, to find the strength to get up. It was no use. Useless.” Giorgio Bassani returns to dig into the well of memories, in an ideal continuation of his past works, with the themes and places dearest to him: Ferrara and its surroundings, the racial laws, the character of the Italians, his high social position in a changing world with the potential danger of communists ready to...
“I know well that the weaker we are, the more we do harm ourself.” Open this book with its aggressive cover, with a black and white gaze, that stares at you and you glimpse a little the insolence of an unkind and unsolicited judgment, against you, the reader. Here, then you start reading and you understand that all that can be wrong is perhaps human judgment. Someone would say “and if this means stealing, only...
“He loved his mother deeply, but he was ashamed to show it. That’s why he was rebellious and disobedient.” We took a risk: deciding to read a book based on the cover, of which we had a superficial knowledge of the author. When we then saw that it was a book of short stories, not our favorite genre, we understood that the risk was complete. Yet, as often happens with texts with which we start...
“At some point it is easier to go to war than to return home.” Attention please. We are faced with a true narrative text, as has not happened to us for a long time, in which the story narrated, modern in many of its aspects, is combined with a dusty style (in a positive sense) typical of quality writing after the Second World War. As we like to specify, the text will last for years,...
“Democracy is exercised not only at the time of elections, but also through continuous confrontation between the majority and the opposition.” This is a book with a clear vision, written by one of the most well-known economists on the Italian landscape, and appreciated internationally. The text is divided into two parts, the first one in which Cottarelli describes his eight-month experience as senator of the republic, and the second one in which he tells the...
