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(above, the "lungotevere" - roads that are right next to the river shaded by trees)

I have been enjoying my time reading my two Italian-language books. I am almost finished with Angels and Demons and I am so disappointed. Yes, I read it before, so I was already prepared for the cliched characters, language, and plot. But I was reading it because the book goes into such detail about Rome, and I expected the author to at least have gotten the facts more accurate than he did. He writes that Santa Maria della Vittoria is right on Piazza Barberini. Nope, it's a 10 minute walk away. His description of Castel Sant'Angelo is fanciful when compared to reality. Some of the vistas that he describes simply do not exist. I wonder if he just had a week vacation in Rome, took some photos and then made the rest up. Anyway. I only have about 20 pages or so to go before I finish my first book in Italian. I discovered that my passive vocabulary is great for dialogue, but I have to frequently refer to the dictionary to get through the action sequences.

The other book is "The Minds of the Italians". Based on the content, it is really amusing and interesting to read, but based on the language, I have to concentrate much harder and go to the dictionary more often. Here is one passage, describing books that foreigners write about Italy:

"Modern stories all fall into two categories: love chronicles and diaries of disillusion. The first suffers from an inferiority complex in regards to our private lives (usually with a chapter about the importance of the family and another on the excellence of Italian cooking). The second type shows a superiority complex in regards to our public agendas (there is always a strong condemnation of corruption and a section on the mafia). The love stories are generally written by American women, and show love without interest: they describe a seasonal paradise, where the climate is perfect and the people cordial. The diaries of disillusion are almost always written by British men, and reveal interest without love: they describe a bewildering place populated by elusive people and governed by diabolical mechanisms."

Gulp! Hopefully I'm not falling too much into either category - just trying to provide some memoirs for myself and some entertainment for you (or at least some distraction from your jobs), focusing on the language, history and culture of Rome. I could try to be more pessimistic and write more about the beggars in the street, or the littering, or the graffiti, or the time when I think the old guy at the market ripped me off, but I'd rather write about the good stuff.