Best Italian Literature Books
Here you will get Best Italian Literature Books For you.This is an up-to-date list of recommended books.
1. The Divine Comedy: Inferno; Purgatorio; Paradiso (Everyman's Library)
Author: by Dante Alighieri
Everyman's Library
English
798 pages
This Everyman’s Library editioncontaining in one volume all three cantos, Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradisoincludes an introduction by Nobel Prizewinning poet Eugenio Montale, a chronology, notes, and a bibliography. Also included are forty-two drawings selected from Botticelli’s marvelous late-fifteenth-century series of illustrations.
Translated in this edition by Allen Mandelbaum, The Divine Comedy begins in a shadowed forest on Good Friday in the year 1300. It proceeds on a journey that, in its intense recreation of the depths and the heights of human experience, has become the key with which Western civilization has sought to unlock the mystery of its own identity.
Mandelbaum’s astonishingly Dantean translation, which captures so much of the life of the original, renders whole for us the masterpiece of that genius whom our greatest poets have recognized as a central model for all poets.
2. The Decameron (Penguin Classics)
Author: by Giovanni Boccaccio
Penguin Books
English
1072 pages
The Decameron reads in some ways as a guide to social distancing and self-isolation. The New York TimesThe 14th-century Italian book that shows us how to survive coronavirus. New StatesmanA complete edition of the hilarious, bawdy, irreverent masterpiece of medieval Italyand the inspiration for the film The Little Hoursin an acclaimed translation In the summer of 1348, as the Black Death ravages their city, ten young Florentines take refuge in the countryside.
They amuse themselves by each telling a story a day for the ten days they are destined to remain therea hundred stories of love, adventure and surprising twists of fate. Less preoccupied with abstract concepts of morality or religion than with earthly values, the tales range from the bawdy Peronella hiding her lover in a tub to Ser Cepperello, who, despite his unholy effrontery, becomes a Saint.
The result is a towering monument of European literature and a masterpiece of imaginative narrative. This is the second edition of G.H. McWilliam’s acclaimed translation of The Decameron. His introduction illuminates the worlds of Boccaccio and of his storytellers, showing Boccaccio as a master of vivid and exciting prose fiction.
3. 50 Masterpieces you have to read before you die vol: 2 (Kathartika™ Classics)
Author: by Lewis Carroll
B07QDJRRXF
KTHTK (July 12, 2021)
July 12, 2021
This 2nd volume contains the following 50 works, arranged alphabetically by authors’ last names:Jerome, Jerome K.: Three Men in a BoatJoyce, James: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young ManJoyce, James: UlyssesKingsley, Charles: The Water-BabiesKipling, Rudyard: KimLa Fayette, Madame de: The Princess of ClvesLaclos, Pierre Choderlos de: Dangerous LiaisonsLawrence, D.H.: Sons and LoversLawrence, D.H.: The RainbowLe Fanu, Sheridan: In a Glass DarklyLewis, Matthew Gregory: The MonkLewis, Sinclair: Main StreetLondon, Jack: The Call of the WildLovecraft, H.P.: At the Mountains of MadnessMann, Thomas: Royal HighnessMaugham, William Somerset: Of Human BondageMaupassant, Guy de: Bel-AmiMelville, Herman: Moby-DickPoe, Edgar Allan: The Fall of the House of UsherProust, Marcel: Swann’s WayRadcliffe, Ann: The Mysteries of UdolphoRichardson, Samuel: ClarissaSand, George: The Devil’s PoolScott, Walter: IvanhoeShelley, Mary: FrankensteinSienkiewicz, Henryk: Quo VadisSinclair, May: Life and Death of Harriett FreanSinclair, Upton: The JungleStendhal: The Red and the BlackStendhal: The Chartreuse of ParmaSterne, Laurence: Tristram ShandyStevenson, Robert Louis: Treasure IslandStoker, Bram: DraculaStowe, Harriet Beecher: Uncle Tom’s CabinSwift, Jonathan: Gulliver’s TravelsTagore, Rabindranath: The Home and the WorldThackeray, William Makepeace: Vanity FairTolstoy, Leo: War and PeaceTolstoy, Leo: Anna KareninaTrollope, Anthony: The Way We Live NowTurgenev, Ivan: Fathers and SonsTwain, Mark: The Adventures of Huckleberry FinnVerne, Jules: Journey to the Center of the EarthWallace, Lew: Ben-HurWells, H.G.: The Time MachineWest, Rebecca: The Return of the SoldierWharton, Edith: The Age of InnocenceWilde, Oscar: The Picture of Dorian GrayXueqin, Cao: The Dream of the Red ChamberZola, mile: Germinal
4. The Prince (Dover Thrift Editions)
Author: by Niccolò Machiavelli
English
80 pages
0486272745
As a young Florentine envoy to the courts of France and the Italian principalities, Niccol Machiavelli (14691527) was able to observe firsthand the lives of people strongly united under one powerful ruler. His fascination with that political rarity and his intense desire to see the Medici family assume a similar role in Italy provided the foundation for his “primer for princes.” In this classic guide to acquiring and maintaining political power, Machiavelli used a rational approach to advise prospective rulers, developing logical arguments and alternatives for a number of potential problems, among them governing hereditary monarchies, dealing with colonies and the treatment of conquered peoples.
Refreshing in its directness, yet often disturbing in its cold practicality, The Prince sets down a frighteningly pragmatic formula for political fortune. Starkly relevant to the political upheavals of the 20th century, this calculating prescription for power remains today, nearly 500 years after it was written, a timely and startling lesson in the practice of autocratic rule that continues to be much read and studied by students, scholars and general readers as well.
5. Intermediate Italian Short Stories: 10 Captivating Short Stories to Learn Italian & Grow Your Vocabulary the Fun Way! (Intermediate Italian Stories)
Author: by Lingo Mastery
English
145 pages
107145014X
Improve your Italian skills and grow your vocabulary with these 10 entertaining Italian short stories! The best part of learning a new language is experiencing the culture and diving into activities that will enrich your life and vocabulary. The best way to learn a new language is by reading, and in this Italian book you will find yourself turning page after page to get to the end of each captivating story that will engage your mind and help you improve your Italian.
In this book you will find:10 captivating stories among topics that you will find easy to relate to. The stories are broken down into manageable chapters, so you always make progress with the story. Carefully written stories with you as an intermediate level reader in mind, using straightforward grammar and commonly used words so you can enjoy reading while learning new grammatical structures without being overwhelmed.
Plenty of natural dialogues in each story that you would actually use in an everyday conversation, which will drastically improve your speaking and comprehension ability at the same time! At the end of each chapter there will be a comprehensive guide specially designed for beginner level readers, it will take you through a summary of each story followed by a vocabulary of some of the words from the story to make sure that you understand the story fully.
6. The Painter's Apprentice: A Novel of 16th-Century Venice (Venetian Artisans Book 1)
Author: by Laura Morelli
B075DW98Z7
English
3709 KB
Would you rather sacrifice your livelihood, your lover, or your life? When the Black Death comes knocking on your door, you’d better decide quickly. 2018 WRITER’S DIGEST SELF-PUBLISHED BOOK AWARD, HONORABLE MENTIONERIC HOFFER GRAND PRIZE FINALISTEDITOR’S CHOICE, HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEWVenice, 1510. Maria Bartolini wants nothing more than to carry on her father’s legacy as a master gilder.
Instead, her father has sent her away from the only home she’s ever known to train as an apprentice to Master Trevisan, a renowned painter. Maria arranges to leave the painter’s workshop to return to her family workshop and to a secret lover waiting for her back home.
But the encroaching Black Death foils her plansWhen the painter’s servants uncover the real reason why Maria has been sent away to train with Master Trevisan, they threaten to reveal a secret that could tear down her family and the future of their trade.
She is forced to buy the servants’ silence, but as their greed steadily grows, Maria resorts to more desperate measures. She questions whether her heart’s desire is worth risking her family, her trade, and her future, but Maria’s sacrifices may amount to nothing if the plague arrives on her father’s doorstep and steals away everything she’s ever lovedFrom the author of the award-winning The Gondola Maker comes a rich tale of Renaissance Venice, a heroine with a lust for life, and love against all odds.
7. The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories
Author: by Jhumpa Lahiri
English
528 pages
0241299853
A landmark collection of stories-nearly half appearing in English for the first time-selected and introduced by Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa LahiriA Penguin ClassicWhen Jhumpa Lahiri decided to read exclusively in Italian, a language she had studied for many years, her life as a reader-and writer-took a surprising turn.
Complete immersion in this rich literary heritage brought fresh insight andunexpected freedom. This collection brings together forty writers who have shaped her love of the Italian language and profound appreciation for its literature. More than half of the stories featured in this volume have been translated into English for the first time, and the wide-ranging selection includes well-known authors such as Italo Calvino, Elsa Morante, and Luigi Pirandello alongside many captivating rediscoveries.
Poets, journalists, visual artists, musicians, editors, critics, teachers, scientists, politicians, translators: the writers that inhabit these pages represent a dynamic cross-section of Italian society. Together they reflect more than a hundred years of Italy’s vibrant and diverse short-story tradition, their powerful voices resonating through regional landscapes, private passions, and the dramatic political events of the twentieth century.
8. Conversational Italian Dialogues: Over 100 Italian Conversations and Short Stories (Conversational Italian Dual Language Books)
Author: by Lingo Mastery
English
289 pages
1799136663
Is conversational Italian turning a little too tricky for you? Do you have no idea how to order a meal or book a room at a hotel? If your answer to any of the previous questions was Yes’, then this book is for you!
If there’s even been something tougher than learning the grammar rules of a new language, it’s finding the way to speak with other people in that tongue. Any student knows this we can try our best at practicing, but you always want to avoid making embarrassing mistakes or not getting your message through correctly.
“How do I get out of this situation?” many students ask themselves, to no avail, but no answer is forthcoming.Until now. We have compiled MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED conversational Italian stories for beginners along with their translations, allowing new Italian speakers to have the necessary tools to begin studying how to set a meeting, rent a car or tell a doctor that they don’t feel well.
We’re not wasting time here with conversations that don’t go anywhere: if you want to know how to solve problems (while learning a ton of Italian along the way, obviously), this book is for you! How Conversational Italian Dialogues works:Each new chapter will have a fresh, new story between two people who wish to solve a common, day-to-day issue that you will surely encounter in real life.
9. Italian Short Stories for Beginners Volume 2: 20 Captivating Short Stories to Learn Italian & Grow Your Vocabulary the Fun Way! (Easy Italian Stories)
Author: by Lingo Mastery
English
210 pages
1951949188
Are you trying to learn Italian but can’t find the right reading material? Do you find traditional textbooks boring, and need something new? Italian students regularly have to go through the toughest experiences to find proper reading material that isn’t too tough or too tedious for them as language teachers, we know this.
This is why we’ve created a second Italian Short Stories for Beginners to ensure that young and old students at the entry level of learning can have yet another chance to polish their Italian tongue and survive to tell the tale!
Twenty easy-to-read, entertaining and interesting stories await inside, along with the best tools to help you practice once you’re done reading each tale. Our book will ensure you not only can read something that will expand your knowledge on Italian, but that you will understand and be able to pick it apart piece by piece in your quest for learning.
How Italian Short Stories for Beginners 2 works:Each story will contain an important lesson of the tools in the Italian language (Nouns, Pronouns, Future Tense, traveling terms, and more), involving an interesting and entertaining story with realistic dialogues and day-to-day situations.
10. The Gondola Maker: A Novel of 16th-Century Venice (Venetian Artisans Book 2)
Author: by Laura Morelli
B00IOBQ9VQ
March 3, 2014
English
Award-winning historical fiction set in 16th-century VeniceBenjamin Franklin Digital AwardIPPY Award for Best Adult Fiction E-bookNational Indie Excellence Award FinalistEric Hoffer Award FinalistShortlisted for the da Vinci Eye PrizeFrom the author of Made in Italy comes a tale of artisanal tradition and family bonds set in one of the world’s most magnificent settings: Renaissance Venice.
Venetian gondola-maker Luca Vianello considers his whole life arranged. His father charted a course for his eldest son from the day he was born, and Luca is positioned to inherit one of the city’s most esteemed boatyards. But when Luca experiences an unexpected tragedy in the boatyard, he believes that his destiny lies elsewhere.
Soon he finds himself drawn to restore an antique gondola with the dream of taking a girl for a ride. The Gondola Maker brings the centuries-old art of gondola-making to life in the tale of a young man’s complicated relationship with his master-craftsman father.
11. History of Beauty
Author: by Umberto Eco
Rizzoli
English
438 pages
Now in paperback, Umberto Eco’s groundbreaking and much-acclaimed first illustrated book has been a critical success since its first publication in 2004.What is beauty? Umberto Eco, among Italy’s finest and most important contemporary thinkers, explores the nature, the meaning, and the very history of the idea of beauty in Western culture.
The profound and subtle text is lavishly illustrated with abundant examples of sublime painting and sculpture and lengthy quotations from writers and philosophers. This is the first paperback edition of History of Beauty, making this intellectual and philosophical journey with one of the world’s most acclaimed thinkers available in a more compact and affordable format.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
12
The Poison Keeper: An enthralling historical novel of Renaissance Italy
Author: by Deborah Swift
English
408 pages
0993567797
Naples 1633Aqua Tofana One drop to heal. Three drops to kill. Giulia Tofana longs for more responsibility in her mother’s apothecary business, but Mamma has always been secretive and refuses to tell her the hidden keys to her success. But the day Mamma is arrested for the poisoning of the powerful Duke de Verdi, Giulia is shocked to uncover the darker side of her trade.
Giulia must run for her life, and escapes to Naples, under the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, to the home of her Aunt Isabetta, a famous courtesan. But when Giulia hears that her mother has been executed, and the cruel manner of her death, she swears she will wreak revenge on the Duke de Verdi.
The trouble is, Naples is in the grip of Domenico, the Duke’s brother, who controls the city with the Camorra’, the mafia. Worse, her Aunt Isabetta, under his thrall, insists that she should be consort to him. Based on the legendary life of Giulia Tofana, this is a story of hidden family secrets, and how courage and love can overcome vengeance.’Her characters are so real they linger in the mind long after the book is back on the shelf’ Historical Novel Society
13. Q
Author: by Luther Blissett
Harcourt
English
768 pages
Improve your spoken Italian from home with 101 real-world conversations in simple, everyday Italian. I love Olly’s work – and you will too! Barbara Oakley, PhD, Author of New York Times bestseller A Mind for NumbersReal Italian people don’t speak like your textbook so it’s no wonder you feel unprepared when it’s your turn to speak!
This book fixes that. For the first time, you’ll learn to speak Italian in the REAL world, with 101 authentic conversations in simple, spoken Italian, so you can become confident in the words, phrases and expressions you need to communicate like a local.
You’ll be transported into a real-world story that unfolds between six Italian characters, told by the people themselves in 101 authentic conversations. Over 15,000 words of real Italian, you’ll immerse yourself in a gripping Italian drama and get an education in natural Italian in the process.
In this story, two friends, Alice and Nina, arrive in Rome for what they think will be a relaxing vacation exploring the city. Things, however, take an unexpected turn when they discover some vary valuable paintings in one of Rome’s antique markets …
15. The Binder of Lost Stories: A Novel
Author: by Cristina Caboni
Amazon Crossing
English
269 pages
From international bestselling author Cristina Caboni comes an exquisite and engrossing novel of two women, centuries apart, bound by a love of books and a longing for self-discovery. With her delicate touch, Sofia Bauer restores books to their original splendor.
In this art she finds refuge from her crumbling marriage and the feeling that her once-vibrant life is slipping away. Then an antique German edition takes her breath away. Slipped covertly into the endpapers is an intriguing missive, the first part of a secretfrom one bookbinder to another.
Two hundred years ago, Clarice von Harmel defied the constraints of family and society to engage in a profession forbidden to women. Within three separate volumes, Clarice bound her own hidden story filled with pain, longing, and love beyond all reason.
A confession that now crosses centuries to touch the heart of a stranger. With the help of book collector Tomaso Leoni, Sofia connects the threads of Clarice’s past, page by page, line by line, town by town. She’s determined to make Clarice’s voice heard.
16. Voices in the Evening
Author: by Natalia Ginzburg
B092KR4PCQ
May 4, 2021
English
From one of Italy’s greatest writers, a stunning novel filled with shimmering, risky, darting observation (Colm Tibn)After WWII, a small Italian town struggles to emerge from under the thumb of Fascism. With wit, tenderness, and irony, Elsa, the novel’s narrator, weaves a rich tapestry of provincial Italian life: two generations of neighbors and relatives, their gossip and shattered dreams, their heartbreaks and struggles to find happiness.
Elsa wants to imagine a future for herself, free from the expectations and burdens of her town’s history, but the weight of the past will always prove unbearable, insistently posing the question: Why has everything been ruined?
