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Sons of Italy Releases Summer 2006 Book Club Selections
Press
Contact: Kylie Cafiero, (202) 547-2900 kcafiero@osia.org
WASHINGTON,
D.C. - July 17, 2006 -
Relax
in
the
summer
sun
with
one
of
this
season’s
Sons
of
Italy
Book
Club
selections.
The
list
includes
books
for
readers
of
all
ages
with
a
heartwarming
book
for
pre-teens,
Penny
From
Heaven.
Check
out
the
Sons
of
Italy
Book
Club
for
Summer
2006:
• Falling
Palace: A Romance
of Naples by Dan
Hofstadter.
It was founded
2,500 years ago
by the Ancient
Greeks, was once
the culture capital
of Europe and became
a battleground
during World War
II, when its citizens
drove the Nazis
out. Small wonder
that Naples and
its charming, eccentric
people have thoroughly
captivated writer
and New
Yorker contributor Dan
Hofstadter. Through
his stories and
vivid descriptions,
Hofstadter captures
both the allure
and sorrow of Naples
and the Neapolitans. [$24.00; hardcover; 247 pages; Knopf]
• The
Stonecutter’s
Aria by Carol Faenzi.
The true
story
of Aristide
Giovannoni,
a stone
carver
from Carrara
with a
passion
for opera,
is the
basis
for this
novel,
which,
like an
opera,
is divided
into three
acts that
span over
100 years.
It begins
with Aristide’s 30-day crossing to America in the early 1900s on a ship where “disease, exhaustion and fear clung to us like our wrinkled and filthy clothes,” and
ends
in
the
present
with
his
great-granddaughter,
the
author
of
the
novel. [$16.95; paperback; 314 pages; Aperto Books. To order: 800/345-6665]
• Sometimes
I Dream in Italian By
Rita Ciresi. Angelina (“Angel”)
and Lina
Lupo rebel
against the
rigid Old
World values
of their
immigrant
Italian parents
as they seek
their own
road to happiness
and success
in this series
of inter-connected
short stories
about second-generation
immigrant
children
and their
conflicts.In
her honest,
vivid and
often funny
description
of life in
a traditional
working class
Italian family,
Ciresi examines
what it means
to be an
Italian American
woman in
America with
its paralyzing
freedom and
disturbing
lack of moral
guidelines. [$23.95; hardcover; 209 pages; Delacorte Press]
ALSO
WORTH READING…
• The
Innocent
By
Magdalen Nabb
Salvatore
Guarnaccia,
a Sicilian
detective
living
in Florence,
attempts
to solve
the murder
of a Japanese
woman,
mysteriously
found floating
in a fountain
in the
Boboli
Gardens.
After identifying
the victim,
he uncovers
her dramatic
escape
from her
homeland
while suspicion
of guilt
falls on
one of
his colleagues
in this
novel that
is both
a social
commentary
on modern
Italy and
an entertaining
crime story. [$22.00; hardcover; 240 pages; Soho Crime]
• Penny
From Heaven
By Jennifer L. Holm
Inspired
by Newbery
Honor winner
Jennifer Holm’s own Italian American family, Penny
from Heaven is a heartwarming book for pre-teens age 9 – 12 that reveals a lot about what keeps families together or tears them apart. It’s
the summer
of 1953.
Penny Falucci,
11 going
on 12,
lives with
her American
mother and
grandparents,
but she
has an
open invitation
to visit
her father's
Italian family,
who refuse
to talk
about his
death. [$14.00; hardcover; 288 pages; Random House]
• Sebastiano: A Sicilian Legacy
By Connie Mandracchia DeCaro
Both
an historical
novel and a love
story, the saga
of Sebastiano,
an iron worker,
and Costanza,
an aristocrat,
is set against
the background
of the historical
events that led
to Sicily unifying
with Italy in
1860. [$14.95;
paperback; 232
pages; Legas]
The
Sons of Italy
National Book
Club is dedicated
to the works
of writers who
focus on Italian
American issues,
themes, experiences
and Italian
culture.
OSIA chooses
three to four
fiction and
non-fiction
books each quarter
for a total
of 12 to 16 titles
a year.
OSIA
encourages its
700+ lodges as
well as other Italian
American organizations,
clubs and individuals
to choose one or
more of the books
each quarter to
read and donate
copies to their
local schools or
public libraries.
Most
book club selections
can be bought on
the OSIA Web site
(www.osia.org).
Order
all your books,
magazines, etc.
through OSIA and
Amazon.com. Just
go to www.osia.org,
click on "Sons of Italy Book Club" and
choose either
a Book
Club selection
or another
book or
product. Most
orders are
shipped within
24 hours.
As
a special bonus,
Amazon.com will
donate a percentage
of all sales ordered
on our site to
OSIA.
OSIA
is the
largest and
oldest national
organization
in the
U.S. for
men and women
of Italian
heritage
in the United
States.
It has more
than 600,000
members and
supporters
and a network
of more
than 700
chapters
coast to
coast. OSIA
works at
the community,
national
and international
levels
to promote
the heritage
and culture
of an estimated
26 million
Italian
Americans,
the nation’s
fifth largest
ethnic
group,
according
to the
U.S. Census
Bureau.
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