Italian Literature Book Group & Italian Cookie Exchange 🇮🇹🍪

The focus of the book group is fiction and non-fiction; books written by Italian authors (in translation); books written by any author, set in Italy, and books about Italy. It’s a large set, but one book generally leads in the direction of the next, so we won’t feel discombobulated. The moderator of the book club is Connie Bertuca, former high school English teacher, lover of books and Italian travel, and perpetual Italian 2 student.

 📚 The December 2022 Book Selection  — La Bella Lingua by Dianne Hales

A celebration of the language and culture of Italy, La Bella Linguais the story of how a language shaped a nation, told against the backdrop of one woman’s personal quest to speak fluent Italian.  For anyone who has been to Italy, the fantasy of living the Italian life is powerfully seductive. But to truly become Italian, one must learn the language. This is how Dianne Hales began her journey. In La Bella Lingua, she brings the story of her decades-long experience with the “the world’s most loved and lovable language” together with explorations of Italy’s history, literature, art, music, movies, lifestyle and food in a true opera amorosa — a labor of her love of Italy.

~ Goodreads

In this short video, author Dianne Hales tells an audience how she came to write "La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language" at the Cultural Center of Sacramento.

🇮🇹🍪  The Great Italian Cookie Exchange 🇮🇹🍪 Please bring to eat, and then to share - at least a dozen and a half cookies. They can be home-baked or store-bought. If the Italian designation throws you, just bring cookies and call them Italian Cookies and we’ll all be happy. If they’re home-made, please include the recipe! We’ll talk about the book, eat cookies, and bring some home to the "kids!"

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*the size of the group is limited to 10 members.  If you are not yet a paid member of Dante, sign-up here.  Now that we are beginning to meet in-person at someone's home (outside), everyone participating must be fully-vaccinated.