How to Be Italian: Eat, Drink, Dress, Travel and Love La Dolce Vita by Maria Pasquale

 

 

Delve into the art of loving and living in every moment.

'Italian' is as evocative a word as any, but what does it really mean? The answer is a lifestyle that many envy, from one of the world's most beloved countries - aperitifs and the art of drinking coffee. Feast days and a quiet August. Cities steeped in history, where the past is always present and countless style and fashion icons reside. In a country where wine is produced in every region, food is deeply entrenched in tradition, and some of the world's greatest artists, composers, and thinkers have lived, passion is everywhere and la dolce vita thrives.

This book is a celebration of what it means to be from Italy - an education in drinking to savour the moment, travelling indulgently, and dolce far niente - the sweetness of doing nothing. From the innovation of Italian fashion and design, the golden age of its cinema, the Roman Empire's cultural echoes, and some very good espresso, take a dip into the Italian psyche and learn to eat, love, dress, think, and have fun as only Italia can.

Shuggie Bain: A Novel by Douglas Stuart

 

 

WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

Shuggie Bain is the unforgettable story of young Hugh “Shuggie” Bain, a sweet and lonely boy who spends his 1980s childhood in run-down public housing in Glasgow, Scotland. Thatcher’s policies have put husbands and sons out of work, and the city’s notorious drugs epidemic is waiting in the wings.

Shuggie’s mother Agnes walks a wayward path: she is Shuggie’s guiding light but a burden for him and his siblings. She dreams of a house with its own front door while she flicks through the pages of the Freemans catalogue, ordering a little happiness on credit, anything to brighten up her grey life. Married to a philandering taxi-driver husband, Agnes keeps her pride by looking good—her beehive, make-up, and pearly-white false teeth offer a glamorous image of a Glaswegian Elizabeth Taylor. But under the surface, Agnes finds increasing solace in drink, and she drains away the lion’s share of each week’s benefits—all the family has to live on—on cans of extra-strong lager hidden in handbags and poured into tea mugs. Agnes’s older children find their own ways to get a safe distance from their mother, abandoning Shuggie to care for her as she swings between alcoholic binges and sobriety. Shuggie is meanwhile struggling to somehow become the normal boy he desperately longs to be, but everyone has realized that he is “no right,” a boy with a secret that all but him can see. Agnes is supportive of her son, but her addiction has the power to eclipse everyone close to her—even her beloved Shuggie.

A heartbreaking story of addiction, sexuality, and love, Shuggie Bain is an epic portrayal of a working-class family that is rarely seen in fiction. Recalling the work of Édouard Louis, Alan Hollinghurst, Frank McCourt, and Hanya Yanagihara, it is a blistering debut by a brilliant novelist who has a powerful and important story to tell.

 

Factotum by Charles Bukowski

 

 

One of Charles Bukowski's best, this beer-soaked, deliciously degenerate novel follows the wanderings of aspiring writer Henry Chinaski across World War II-era America. Deferred from military service, Chinaski travels from city to city, moving listlessly from one odd job to another, always needing money but never badly enough to keep a job. His day-to-day existence spirals into an endless litany of pathetic whores, sordid rooms, dreary embraces, and drunken brawls, as he makes his bitter, brilliant way from one drink to the next.

Charles Bukowski's posthumous legend continues to grow. Factotum is a masterfully vivid evocation of slow-paced, low-life urbanity and alcoholism, and an excellent introduction to the fictional world of Charles Bukowski.