Geronimo Stilton: The Race Across America

The Race Across America (Geronimo Stilton, No. 37) by Geronimo Stilton, cover by Giuseppe Ferrario, illustrations by Danilo Brazzi, Francesco Castelli and Christian Aliprandi

Geronimo Stilton is a mouse that likes reading. Bike parts showing up in the mail. Then his friend tells him that they will be competing in the race across America. They go through a lot of training and decide that they will use it to support a children's hospital. they have challenges during the race, but enjoy the scenery and manage to barely win. The book is fun stylistically. It is halfway between a book and graphic novel. There is some narrative, but also plenty of small callout pictures and text.

Greta's Story

Greta's Story: The Schoolgirl Who Went on Strike to Save the Planet by Valentina Camerini, translated by Moreno Giovannoni, illustrated by Veronica Carratello

Greta Thunberg was not doing well. She was extremely impacted after learning about climate change in school. She fell into a deep depression after learning that the earth was doomed and we were doing little to stop it. However, she was quiet and her family didn't know what was wrong. Eventually she was diagnosed with Aspergers, which often is associated with people becoming dedicated to single goals. For her, the environment was the goal. She started a school strike at Swedish parliament. Many people later joined her strike. She spoke before many influential people. Her goal was to call attention to the issue, and ask leaders to do what they commited to do to save the environment.

She was in the right place to do what she did. Her parents were actors and musicians. They had some renown and the means and flexibility to support their daughter. She was diagnosed with Aspergers rather than lumped into an "autism" bucket. This contributed to her getting appropriate attention and an understanding of what she was doing. Her personal solutions to climate may be naive. (Driving an electric car may have lower emissions in Sweden, but in Poland where most energy comes from fossil fuels, it is a heavy polluter.) However, her goal is to look at the big picture.

Trust

Trust by Domenico Starnone

A teacher (Pietro) has a relationship with one of his students (Teresa). They agree to share something together they haven't shared with anyone else. Later they break up. The teacher goes on to get married. They student goes on to an esteemed career abroad.

The bulk of the story focuses on the teacher and his life. He has a good relationship with his wife. They are both academics. They have a kid. They have some struggles. Then an essay that he wrote starts to get some acclaim. He is asked to expand it for a book and later goes on speaking and lecture tours. His career is taking off. Meanwhile, his wife is struggling with her career. She is also spending more time with their kids. There is a struggle as neither seem to be adequately supporting each other. They have different needs. They reach some general truce.

The end of the story moves to the point of view of the teacher's daughter. She sees that he is not nominated for a teacher award. She users her connections to work to rectify this. She mentions all he did, and that he taught Teresa. This lat bit helps sway the committee, and they are willing to have him if she can talk. The daughter contacts her and she agrees immediately. The daughter tells this to her father and she is upset. We then learn of the love that Teresa still has for him and the challenges of the relationship.  

The end of the book has a discussion by the translator of how she translated and some of the challenges in translation. Translators play a key role in how we understand other works, and it is great to hear details from their perspective. The book has a nice, light view glimpse of the struggles that people have in balancing all aspects of their lives. The translation did a great job of keeping the story alive and interesting.

The Decameron (abridged)

This audiobook was advertised as "unabridged". While the stories themselves were unabridged, the audiobook only contained about a tenth of the stories from the full Decameron. We miss the frame story and launch right into some the tales. The ones here are heavily on the raunchy side, with most having to do with some sort of sex and romance and the church. Though perhaps at the time of the black death these were the more positive things going on. Is the whole thing similar, or were these ones chosen out?

If On a Winter's Night a Traveler

What is the function of a writer? If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, goes through many loops in turn to go full meta on the art of of writing. The novel is about writing a novel. Or Not. There are various story bits that go off into strange realms. 

A professor hears the neighbor's phone ring. He is troubled that it may be for him. After he can't endure it anymore, he answers. The caller says that his wife is bound in a building that will be destroyed in 30 minutes. Now he is struggling with what to do. He eventually goes there after realizing it is a girl that he knows. He rescues her only to be yelled at.

A novel primarily ruminates on the life of the writer. How does one write? Do they own what they right. What about those that do unauthorized translations or new works in the style of an other? This is almost an essay, but writing as fiction allows for greater exploration.

Trick

An older illustrator is called by his daughter to babysit his grandson while she and her husband are away at an academic conference. He runs into challenges watching this 4 year old boy. The boy demands his attention and makes it difficult for him to work. The difficulty culminates when the boy locks him outside on the balcony in the rain. They struggle to find ways to help the boy to call for assistance before finally getting back inside. Eventually, the boy is able to open the door and they return together in the house. 

In the process of these adventures, the older man learns a lot about himself. He had left Naples to seek seek his career as an illustrator in the big city. He thought he had a special gift. However, he sees similar ability in this young child. The child also questions his art. He doesn't see anything special in drawings he does for books. The man learns that maybe he is not so important after all.

There is also the side story of the boy's parents. They are having their marital struggles. They discover a little more about themselves in the process. The boy has characteristics of both of his parents. He inadvertently helps all the adults around him to learn more about themselves. 

The Lying Life of Adults

The Lying Life of Adults is a very Italian novel. It was originally written in Italian by an Italian author and is set in Naples. It deals with a family that is torn apart due to infidelity in relationships. The central character is the daughter who gradually discovers that the adults are all caught in a variety of "lies". Her father fears that she may turn out like her distant aunt. The daughter then sees the aunt and learns about the affair that this aunt had. She becomes more friendly with the aunt and learns more about her life. At the same time, she gradually comes of age and discovers her sexuality as well and has various types of relationships with boys. Her parents' marriage falls apart as they got caught in "accidental" infidelity with friends. Then the book seems to meander along for a bit before it comes to a conclusion.

Mincemeat: The Education of an Italian Chef

I often think of Chef's as being elite, skilled professionals. They have the talent of picking out the right ingredients, preparing them properly and presenting a beautiful meal. A chef at a small mom and pop diner or an elite restaurant is exercising creative juices in an edible art. I have thought of them as being apart from the other restaurant staff, which is primarily low-wage workers (often including illegal immigrants and short-termers aspiring to do something else.) Mincement, however, portrays a different view. Chef's are the "boss" of the kitchen, but they often integrate themselves with the depravity. It is not unusual for them to be paid under the table. Fake resumes and the like are not unheard of. Experience is valuable, but as long as a chef can feed people, they can have a job. The restaurant business is not a stable one. Most restaurants are run by small scale entrepreneurs. Some know how to run a business. Many do not. The employees are used to turn over. They live a life that is filled with vices. (And these are the people feeding us?) The author lived and worked in Italy, though his experiences sound like they could have taken place anywhere.

Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling

The title accurately describes the centerpiece of this history. It makes diversions into the papal politics of the day and his "rivalry" with Raphael. Michelangelo was originally working on a tomb for the pope. However, the Sistine chapel ended up coming out to take priority. The pope was a strong figure who always seemed to get his way. Michelangelo, however, was portrayed as also being strongly opinionated, and unwilling to compromise.

A little is given on Michelangelo's family and personal life. He was shown to have some trouble at home. However, nothing was extreme. As for personal life, he is seen as being fairly conservative religiously, and somewhat aloof from personal relationships. (This is in contrast to Raphael who is shown as a socialite with many amorous relationships.)

The pope Julius that he worked under was shown as a megalomaniac, who saw biblical prophecies dedicated to him. He felt dedicated to reclaim papal lands. He did not create many friends.

Michelangelo had some artistic friends and trainers. However, he tended to be more of an introvert.

The painting of the chapel was hard work, but done with many assistants. Michelangelo's commission to do it was ironically initially given as an action to make him fail. However, Michelangelo succeeded greatly on the fresco. Other artists (including Raphael) have later adapted many of the styles shown in the Michelangelo's work.

The work is a fairly dispassionate story of Michelangelo's work, bringing out the political and artistic context in which he was working.

Inferno

This Pinsky translation of Inferno attempts to translate the "everyday Itanlian" of Dante to everyday English. At the start, this seems to work. However, Dante fills the book with details of many local Florentines. Alas, these don't translate well to modern days. (Perhaps if we add Bush, Tom Cruise and Obama we'll get a more true translation.) I also began to lose the flow of the narrative as it continued on. At the start, it seemed to go through degrees of "badness". The people were getting progressively worse. Dante was criticizing them for their sins, and comparing the sins of the well known to the sins of the not-so-popular. However, it later seemed to fall into a "tell-all" book where he criticized the local Florentine luminaries.