MN Little Italy 16

[TheMysticMasseuse]

I HAVE STARTED A LITTLE ITALY THREAD!!!!

hooray for me!!!

Oh, I loved Molnar as a child, read it lots and lots. And still have a copy. Bought the English version for ds for when he is older.

Lol at SDB travelling with 2 kids, one of them dd2! I am sure she is up in the sky horrified at the idea. While poor Tolstoy is waiting to see if any sausages are going his way...

You are soooo greedy there in suburbia!!!

so am I. Not that I will read them in the near future, they just will make the pile higher.

100meters from my mum there is this fantastic second hand book shop (quite a rarity normally) which has got loads of things and really cheap, like 2 euro or smthing.

franca re italy being more expensive don;t you think that the price of books is ridiculous? I wanted to get Suite Francoise but was 20 euro . Saviano was 17, not hardback, and the cheapest ones seem to be 8 euros. same with cds and children clothes/shoes.

you can borrow anything anytime. do not wait for me to read them as you'll never get them otherwise.

sagittario not a play.

monlar was an oldtime favpurite and my dad's too. so bought to re read it and for nice memories. remember the movie very very well too.

do you remember a movie called Giochi Proibiti? I must have watched it a million and one time as a child.

But suite francaise is an Adelphi, Adelphi's always been expensive ! Maybe books are more expensive than in the UK, I'm just used to it, I don't mind.
I also have a Feltrinelli card, I get points on it and this summer I had 30 euros di sconto!

La citta' e la casa very good. Sagittatio is a racconto, actually probably my favourite Ginzburg's short story.

oh Giochi proibiti, we played it on the guitar in terza media!

the music

I'm watching old Blur's videos on youtube. They were good. And damon albarn , he was so cute

loved damon albarn.
yes was adelphi and my favourite but che prezzi. I wouldn't mind if I didn't know any better. Just think that it becomes an expensive pleasure especially if one is an avid reader.

Adelphi re publishes its books in the economica after a while, where the prizes are around 10 euros.

Yes, it is expensive. I think it is a circolo vizioso of Italians aren't great readers-books are more expensive -therefore Italians don't read.
But we do have lovely case editrici, you can't not spend money
In my family spending money on books has always been encouraged, so I'm quite careless with books

Thank you for all the replies. it is indeed a Peg Perego/M&P job that we were thinking about, but after all your comments I am off to do more research.

Anna Karenina I read when about 17 and absolutely loved it, so then went on to W&P and found it sufficiently engrossing that the day before the Maths 1 exam at uni I was finishing it rather than revising (bonkers choice- for the Italians it was Analisi 1, the most terrifying exam in our course)- but I did skip some of the battle descriptions.

Suite francaise is brilliant, as is "Le Bal", a novelette by Irene Nemirovski. No idea who published it in Italy but worth tracking down. It will not take more than tw hours to read though!

Not sure whether you have spoken about this already, but does anyone with English in-laws find they are rather underwhelmed about grandchildren? We have just come back from a weekend with mine and they seem utterly uninterested in the baby or the pregnancy (which is high-risk, so we are a bit worried). Contrast this with people in Italy when even my parents' old cleaning lady, who left us five years ago, seemed more excited about the pregnancy, and asked more about it, than my MIL. Is this just another one of those cultural differences?? I am quite baffled and my DH, having witnessed both reactions over the last three weeks, is now worried we have done something to make his parents disengage from the process...

Hi Suigeneris:

I'm not the best person here to advise on prams as I haven't got a clue about "what's new" at the moment. I'd probably go for a second hand carrozzina and then buy one of those foldable buggies that you can use from 3 months + like a Maclaren or a Peg perego pliko. Something that's light but sturdy, easy to fold, that you can take easily on buses/tube etc.

Yes, both Suite francaise and The ball (il ballo) are published by adelphi here. Beautiful books, I totally agree. I think I read more or less everything that's been published by Nemirovsky, I love her prose.

Both me and Dh are Italian, so I have no experience of English pil. There are lots of threads on Mumsnet of people complaining about having really uninterested grandparents, but I'm not sure if you can generalize from that .

You said your pg is high risk, please feel free to come and vent here with us, if you feel like it of course .

SG I did see that Nemirowski is published by Adelphy and is called IL Ballo. Was tempted to to buy it but stopped by both price and amount of books already bought.

I have same attitude with books, I spent 60 euros worth of books without blinking but was about to have a collasso to spend 40 on a face cream (which I did in the end as told myself that the outside as to be taken care as the inside) and would ponder a lot before spending it on clothes. I think a giusto mezzo is the best way, as usual. Having said that I still think that regrdless how much you or me or McC or all the little italy Mnetters are willing to pay it is an extortionate amount. Especially when there's no charity shops or many second hand book shops around.

Re english MIL I think it is more of a 'not show your feeling and not intrude' kind of attitude tbh. I have noticed that with my PIL when I was pg first time and I might have shared your feeling and so did DH. I have a great rel with my MIL (FIL passed away) also for this reasons. She loves the GDS dearly and is always ready to help but she waits to be asked and respects our family unit. Also it is good imo as it could mean that they will give you space and wont criticise you for the 'italian' things you do.

Yes, it is extortionate, I agree. But it is a mirror of the Italian society, people here prefer to spend money on mobile phones. And, many independent bookshops have closed lately, so there is a more or less state of monopoly.
I remember that when I was at university there were lots of second hand books nr the statale (where you could find real gems), but they've all closed now. Perhaps even University students aren't great lettori anymore, and just read dispense

I'm hooked on Lily Allen's Not fair. Should i worry?

What is it about this thread that attracts people who love books!
I might try Anna Karenina first actually, I have a (hopefully unabridged) copy. If I go on Amazon to get W&P I just know I'll spend an extra £100 to justify the postage.

There is definitely a huge cultural difference IMO, Italians love babies, DS in particular was a very gorgeous baby (still is) and used literally to attract crowds in the supermarket. Whenever I took mine to the UK it felt strange that no one was making admiring coments in the street all the time. I think the famous British reserve and reticence aslo has a lot to do with it.

Which reinds me, Pippi you were asking for pics of my DC. I will do it hopefully soon but my desktop isn't working nd I can't access pics or download them.

SG feel free to talk about your pregnancy on here if you'd like. I spent 10 weeks of my last pg on bedrest, I had a terrible time.

There just don't seem to be that many bookshops around at all, do there?

Gosh to catch up ..
Pippi the Bee - I had to take the price vs use into consideration. I use the bee every day usually more than once I neeeded something that would - face me , and the world as the wind whips along my fondamenta at times. Bloody good suspension - you should see some of the shakes kids get down bridges and steps in those ones with no springs etc.I wanted a lie flat option as naps out are regular. Light for all those blessed bridges , compact when folded ( this is ok but a umbrella one is smaller)but not huge and the bee fitted most of those categories. It is getting a good trashing here and it did ok in the Uk as well even at a country show over bumpy fields. I would not have used it with the pram insert though and I used a big traditional peg perego pram which was ingombrante but by far the best thing for my NOvember baby.
I do have an Inglesina umbrella folding one which dd2 will fit into but she is far more comfortable in the Bee so we save that for beaches / short trips / car etc.
DOwnside of teh Bee is that it is expensive and so are the extras. I don't have the bag as you have to wind it round the handles to make it hand on (WTF) so I have another that has 2 straps to hand on. I tend only to use it when going out for longer and need things with pockets as I use a cross body handbag as need 2 hands most of the time - 1 for the buggy and 1 for dd1!
Re foot muff I use a buggy snuggle simply as dd1 was an expert at kicking off blankets and she couldn't kick that off !! MIL gave me one of those puffy Mukki things for minirosa they seem pretty useful just to bung child in and not need snow suit things.
Sui re parents both mine were very happy with everything and enthusiastic with everything dopo bimbi my parents are more hands on even though they are 1000 miles away !
DD1 eating at materna today but they diddn't put a menu up FGS .... How can we be enthusiastic or know what to get for cena ( or a second lunch if we know they won't eat )it ........OR more important if they are allergic to anything so far we have not been asked....

Sput, I didn't know you had to spend 10 weeks on bedrest. Sorry to hear this.

Yes, it's true Sput, we are book lovers! . I'm the same with Amazon, if I start buying I end up sending enormous amount of money.

As for bookshops, I'm not sure about smaller towns, but Milan still has a good number of bookshops. The number has - depressingly - decreased in the last 20 yrs, as I said, many independent shops have closed, especially those that weren't located in the city centre.
There used to be a superb Einaudi bookshop in Galleria Manzoni, the owner was a proper libraio, but he died yrs ago.

Another thing that I hate is that most cinemas in town are closing down. I find multiplex depressing, and I don't want to drive outside milan to go to the movies! Plus multiplex mostly show crap movies from the US.

God, I'm a snob

my g key is coming out with a d .......help

Hello everyone! Long time no moaning from Bucharest!
Back in A$$ End after 10 weeks in the UK working with the French students, and now frantically trying to get head round expectations for elementare which starts on Friday.....unfortunately for my mindset my expectations seem to be very different from all the nursery mummies who think I'm insane to think a priority should be that my daughter might actually enjoy school rather than get good grades and nice handwriting hammered into her......ah well....

Will catch up-ish in due course, hope you are all well....

Did you see Scammy on Miss Italia? (WTF with Miss Italy, but hey, that's another discussion altogether) hasn't he got fat? Dp had him over the other week apparently....(hmm, hope he didn't notice the dust in the corridor which is prevalent when I'm not here.....)

Rosa they never told us at DD's materna what the menu was either. Luckily that was the only info DD was willing to give me about her day there!
New school they sent out a menu for the next month!

Oh hello Bucharest!!! Nice to see you back

Are you telling me that Scamy came to your house??? . Yes, I saw him yesterday, what the hell was he doing at Miss Italia in the first place? Please tell me he is still with the Golino woman and didn't have fling with those smandrappate in salsomaggiore.
Yes, he is a bit ingrassato and shouldn't cut his hair so short. But I still have a thing for him, his voice.... mmmmmmmmm

They usually give out menus at dd's materna and ds' elementare, they cover 3 weeks.

Ah Bucharest, nice to have you back. We need your input on TEFL