I’ve just begun reading a new book “War in Val d’Orcia An Italian War Diary, 1943-1944” by Iris Origo. It’s always a bit nerve-wracking when you start a new book, “Will I like it?” "I’ve spent good money on this what if it’s boring…"anyway, no worries here, I think it’s going to live up to the term 'classic that’s been applied to it. Plus I read Vanilla Beans and Brodo by Isabella Dusi earlier this year, which deals with the same part of italy and it’s interesting to get another point of view, particularly of Mezzadria, the old feudal system, which Dusi describes as virtual enslavement of the peasant farmers and Origo as a rather benign system of co-operation between landowner and peasant, she was a landowner though and was writing several decades earlier.
So what’s everybody else reading at the moment?
I’m working my way through a bunch of Edgar Wallace novels on my Kindle. Not sure what the latest one is called but it’s all about a Duke who moves into a suburban neighbourhood and causes a bit of havoc because dukes are not supposed to live in suburbia.
They are light reading and amusing. No thought processes required.
Thanks for the recommendations Sara and for taking the time to post!
I’m halfway into Pillars of the Earth. I might be the last person on earth whose read it, but I have to say, I’m really enjoying it at the moment. Right before Pillars I read The White Queen by Philippa Gregory and The Bronze Horseman. All great!