Wow, "Il Gattopardo"...I am deeply impressed Tim!

I read excerpts here and there in my school years alongside with history lessons, but I never actually got around to reading the whole book. This is a perfect chance, and one I am looking forward to. I will read it in Italian, hope y'all don't mind

See you soon!

This is a fantastic choice, Tim. I had to read it at school but I think we were too young to appreciate it fully. I have always wanted to reread it. Would be perfect before my September trip to Italy.

My mom tells me there is also an excellent movie from the book, directed by Luchino Visconti. I have never seen it, but plan to do so after I read the book. The cast, in addition to the director, looks amazing!

Sagitta, I can't believe you had to read it in school, too!
Tim, like BokerTov I am deeply impressed by your choice and am very curious about how you came upon this book. and yes, the film has made italian cinema history!

I am looking forward to "rediscovering" for pleasure this obligatory school reading. I suppose it's like Dickens for british kids
Anyway, it's real literature!

It was obligatory only for those who did an extended program in humanities.

Well, I'm pleased that people are happy with the choice so far. But I hope that reading it is more fun than when I had to read Dickens at school when I was about 12, which was rather challenging to say the least.

At least it's a little shorter than the typical Dickens!

you know what our italian teachers made us do, with these and other obligatory classics? "analisi logica", "analisi del periodo" and the refinement of mental torture, mostly feared by all pupils: "analisi grammaticale"!

so I'm afraid we considered them as exercise books, rather than examples of fine literature to be enjoyed... poor Tomasi di Lampedusa, he must have been rolling about in his grave at the thought of what they where doing to his masterpiece

BokerTov, remember??

Of course I remember, and it's not a pleasant memory...yuck! I will say, however, that all this "analisi logica" and stuff has helped me immensely when it was time to learn other languages, to understand their structure, and so forth.

I used to loathe Dante's "Divine Comedy" and Manzoni's "The Bethrothed" at school when I was a teenager. Then I read them years later, and, well...they truly are the masterpieces that our old high school professor used to rave about

Absolutely! I agree with you. And another thing that helped me a lot later in life was - believe it or not - to learn poetry by heart...
I actually criticize that kids don't seem to have to do that anymore in school!

So Tim, you might want to reconsider reading Dickens "for pleasure", now?

Fortunately with Dickens we were limited to analisi del periodo. Perhaps british children would benefit from some more analisi grammaticale though.

Thought I'd mention, I actually have a copy of the DVD mentioned above. Anyone is welcome to borrow it if they like. Just let me know.

I left my book on a plane

OH no!!!!! A bit of a long shot, but...do you read Italian? My mom got me a copy at the library of our town, but meanwhile my brother and sister in law packed up their house for their move, and found another copy they had so they gave it to me. So now I have two copies of the book!

If you read Italian, I could lend it to you.

If you don't, if there is someone who needs an extra copy to read before our Book Club meeting and reads Italian, feel free to PM me and I can lend it to you until then

Thanks very much for the offer - I would love to read the original language version but unfortunately I don't think my Italian would be anywhere near good enough. I've ordered a new English version - will be more careful this time!

I found out this morning on the train that, tonight, the mayor will be bringing his daughter Angelica to dinner at Casa Salina...can't wait to find out how it will go!

Hello, I would like to participate in the book club. When is the next meeting?

2nd September - 7pm in Zurich somewhere - exact location will be announced later on. Check the events page.

disregard, I see the time posted at the top

Hi! I just got this book and have been looking for a book club! I would love to participate, though I have never before. Can I join you?