Reading Italy

From the romantic to the everyday, from travel literature to genre books set there, these are my favorite books with Italy as a centerpiece in some way.
1

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4.14 avg rating — 389,661 ratings
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2

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3.90 avg rating — 5,465 ratings
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3

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3.81 avg rating — 99,645 ratings
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4

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3.89 avg rating — 198,804 ratings
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5

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4.08 avg rating — 168,568 ratings
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6

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3.77 avg rating — 329,514 ratings
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7

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4.10 avg rating — 94,609 ratings
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8

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3.74 avg rating — 2,781,880 ratings
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9

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3.92 avg rating — 4,186 ratings
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10

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3.89 avg rating — 39,541 ratings
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11

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3.88 avg rating — 42,942 ratings
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12

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4.01 avg rating — 45,289 ratings
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13

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4.32 avg rating — 1,000,199 ratings
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14

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3.86 avg rating — 137,944 ratings
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15

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4.09 avg rating — 94,465 ratings
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16

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3.79 avg rating — 13,388 ratings
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17

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3.78 avg rating — 200,110 ratings
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18

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4.02 avg rating — 109,155 ratings
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19

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4.06 avg rating — 255,768 ratings
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20

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3.65 avg rating — 591 ratings
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21

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3.55 avg rating — 17,199 ratings
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22

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3.84 avg rating — 374,580 ratings
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23

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4.24 avg rating — 72,098 ratings
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24

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3.93 avg rating — 2,487,547 ratings
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25

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3.89 avg rating — 41,699 ratings
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26

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3.86 avg rating — 1,627 ratings
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27

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3.64 avg rating — 1,826,126 ratings
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28

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3.69 avg rating — 66,046 ratings
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29

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3.89 avg rating — 430,169 ratings
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30

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3.75 avg rating — 30,179 ratings
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31

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3.91 avg rating — 102 ratings
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32

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3.59 avg rating — 17,518 ratings
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33

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3.50 avg rating — 7,074 ratings
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34

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4.03 avg rating — 1,858 ratings
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34

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3.95 avg rating — 3,356,640 ratings
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36

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4.45 avg rating — 2,879 ratings
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37

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3.91 avg rating — 27,953 ratings
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38

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4.25 avg rating — 36 ratings
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39

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4.18 avg rating — 4,678 ratings
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40

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3.90 avg rating — 583,845 ratings
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41

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3.70 avg rating — 11,565 ratings
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42

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3.80 avg rating — 25,852 ratings
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43

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3.72 avg rating — 296 ratings
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44

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4.03 avg rating — 37,460 ratings
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45

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4.01 avg rating — 41,317 ratings
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46

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4.06 avg rating — 10,335 ratings
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47

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3.88 avg rating — 52,179 ratings
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48

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3.61 avg rating — 13,455 ratings
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49

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3.81 avg rating — 3,250 ratings
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50

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3.78 avg rating — 17,430 ratings
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51

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3.80 avg rating — 274,309 ratings
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52

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3.61 avg rating — 19,344 ratings
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53

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3.68 avg rating — 29,988 ratings
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54

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3.91 avg rating — 19,846 ratings
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55

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3.87 avg rating — 8,454 ratings
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56

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3.78 avg rating — 1,066 ratings
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57

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4.22 avg rating — 34,761 ratings
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58

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3.83 avg rating — 1,713 ratings
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59

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3.92 avg rating — 28,314 ratings
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60

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3.97 avg rating — 2,086 ratings
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61

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3.71 avg rating — 3,133 ratings
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62

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4.18 avg rating — 2,250 ratings
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63

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3.82 avg rating — 1,567 ratings
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64

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3.72 avg rating — 9,094 ratings
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65

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3.82 avg rating — 9,468 ratings
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66

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3.85 avg rating — 78,360 ratings
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67

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3.68 avg rating — 520 ratings
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68

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3.80 avg rating — 25,031 ratings
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69

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3.37 avg rating — 37,257 ratings
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70

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3.70 avg rating — 6,698 ratings
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71

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3.39 avg rating — 4,629 ratings
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72

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3.61 avg rating — 1,385 ratings
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73

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3.84 avg rating — 38,616 ratings
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74

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4.33 avg rating — 346 ratings
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75

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3.92 avg rating — 132 ratings
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76

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4.21 avg rating — 61 ratings
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76

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4.47 avg rating — 390 ratings
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78

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4.43 avg rating — 377,663 ratings
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79

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3.95 avg rating — 17,222 ratings
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79

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3.78 avg rating — 14,601 ratings
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81

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4.10 avg rating — 5,196 ratings
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82

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3.94 avg rating — 8,359 ratings
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83

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4.05 avg rating — 446,269 ratings
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84

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4.19 avg rating — 402 ratings
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85

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3.74 avg rating — 5,127 ratings
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86

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3.96 avg rating — 5,691 ratings
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87

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4.02 avg rating — 189 ratings
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88

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4.25 avg rating — 12 ratings
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89

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4.12 avg rating — 10,001 ratings
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90

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3.88 avg rating — 8,476 ratings
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90

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4.05 avg rating — 446,269 ratings
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92

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3.85 avg rating — 7,273 ratings
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93

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3.64 avg rating — 6,091 ratings
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94

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3.63 avg rating — 1,488 ratings
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95

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3.95 avg rating — 9,304 ratings
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96

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3.84 avg rating — 8,382 ratings
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97

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4.17 avg rating — 3,420 ratings
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98

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4.03 avg rating — 6,536 ratings
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99

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3.80 avg rating — 3,107 ratings
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100

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3.79 avg rating — 19,648 ratings
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443 books · 234 voters · list created January 11th, 2011 by Genevieve (votes) .
95 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Genevieve 2751 books
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Michele 976 books
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Linda 1419 books
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Tessa 2512 books
8 friends
Laura 692 books
351 friends
Jack 3913 books
2469 friends
JanBreesmom 2425 books
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Asails 4613 books
1642 friends

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Comments Showing 1-4 of 4 (4 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Marco (new)

Marco Fiemozzi In the first 50 titles there are not even 10 books by Italian authors.


message 2: by Genevieve (new)

Genevieve Marco wrote: "In the first 50 titles there are not even 10 books by Italian authors."

When I started the list, it was simply books that I was reading with Italy as the primary location...but I didn't realize I had made it a public list, and it's grown tentacles in all directions as other people have added things. I'm not even sure what order the titles appear in now, because when I look at it the first title is a book I've never read! Anyway, the list reflects an American origin, by a person who didn't read Italian well enough to get through novels, so that's why it looks like it does.


message 3: by Marco (new)

Marco Fiemozzi Genevieve wrote: "Marco wrote: "In the first 50 titles there are not even 10 books by Italian authors."

When I started the list, it was simply books that I was reading with Italy as the primary location...but I did..."


Thanks for your explanation. I actually thought this list had been created by someone at GoodReads and not by users.
These days I'm preparing a list of Italian books for a friend from Australia, who doesn't speak Italian. I discovered that it is quite hard to do it because incredibly few books get translated. I only know Europe, where basically everything gets translated into Italian, French, German etc. and I was quite surprised - especially because the English-speaking market is huge, so there would probably be a place for more translated books.
Anyway, the jist of what I wanted to say is that in the end you (or the other people who contributed) cannot be blamed for not putting many Italian books in the list, simply because there are very few available to an English-speaking person!


message 4: by Genevieve (new)

Genevieve Yes, unfortunately there's very little translated - a handful of classics, of course - but then only the Elena Ferrante books, and the Inspector Montalbano books. Sadly, that's all I can think of at the moment. I'd be interested in seeing the list you make, if you would care to share it. I know there must be more out there, even if it's sadly not a lot more.


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