The Italian Baker by Carol Field

This is a book for Italian bread fanatics or for professional bakers, because it is far beyond what the amateur home baker is probably interested in.  The supplies alone will set someone back quite a bit of money.  But if you are determined to make authentic looking and tasting Italian regional breads in your own home, then this is the book for you.

Just the basic instructions, and an explanation of the equipment and techniques necessary to get the right results, take up one quarter of the book.  There is a full index, too, along with a U.S. website that offers sources for the sometimes difficult to find ingredients, and there are even 800 numbers provided in case you need that ingredient pronto!

There is even a long history of Italian bread making, beginning in pre-history and going along to the present day.  The author states:

Bread gives us real glimpses into the complex and fascinating history of all the regions of the country.

The instructions for most breads are provided for bakers working by hand, by mixer, and by food processor. 

Special kneading techniques for various types of bread are described, as well as the use of the baking stone, and cast iron pans with rice to add moisture to the bread while baking.  I found that not all the instructions were clear, however.  Adding more images would help.

All attempts are made to recreate the chewy-porous breads that come from Italy's high-gluten flour and from cooking break in wood-burning stoves. 

Regional and rustic breads, modern breads, dishes make with bread leftovers, holiday breads, rolls and breadsticks, pizzas and focaccias are all covered in the book.  But while bread is the main focus of the book, it also covers some sweets, such as tarts, cakes, cookies, and sweet breads.

I may try some of the recipes, but the ones that require several days to prepare, and much money to spend on special ingredients and supplies, I'll take a pass on.  As I wrote above, this really is a book for an Italian break fanatic, and I'm not one.

From the book's description:

Who can resist bruschetta rubbed with garlic and drizzled with olive oil, almond-studded biscotti dipped in coffee or wine, and, of course, a thin-crusted pizza with fresh, sweet tomatoes and tangy mozzarella? These Italian classics that Americans know and love are just the beginning; there are a wealth of other equally delicious breads and sweets waiting to be discovered.

In this groundbreaking classic—now thoroughly updated for today’s modern kitchen—Carol Field introduces artisanal doughs and techniques used by generations of Italian bakers. Every city and hill town has its own unique baking traditions, and Field spent more than two years traversing Italy to capture the regional and local specialties, adapting them through rigorous testing in her own kitchen.

Field’s authentic recipes are a revelation for anyone seeking the true Italian experience. Here’s a chance to make golden Altamura bread from Puglia, chewy porous loaves from Como, rosemary bread sprinkled with coarse sea salt, dark ryes from the north, simple breads studded with toasted walnuts, succulent fig bread, and Sicilian loaves topped with sesame seeds.

The Italian Baker is the only comprehensive book, in English or Italian, to cover the entire range of Italian baking, from breadsticks and cornetti to focaccia, tarts, cakes, and pastries. There is even a chapter on using leftover bread—with recipes ranging from hearty Tuscan bread soup to a cinnamon and lemon-scented bread pudding.

Winner of the International Association of Culinary Professionals Award for best baking book, The Italian Baker was also named to the James Beard Baker’s Dozen list of thirteen indispensable baking books of all time. It has inspired countless professionals and home cooks alike. This latest edition, updated for a new generation of home bakers, has added four-color photography throughout, plus new recipes, ingredients and equipment sections, source guides, and weights. One of the most revered baking books of all time, The Italian Baker is a landmark work that continues to be a must for every serious baker.

Here is a direct link to the book at Amazon.com:

This review is by Candida Martinelli, of Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site, the author of the crime-romance novel THE HAGUE, a traditional murder mystery novel AN EXTRA VIRGIN PRESSING MURDER, and the young-adult/adult mystery novel series THE VIOLET STRANGE MYSTERIES the first book of which is VIOLET'S PROBLEM.

The Blood of Caesar (Notebooks of Pliny the Younger Series) by Albert A. Bell, Jr.

The Blood of Caesar is the second case in the Notebooks of Pliny the Younger Series, that features a fictionalized version of the historical first-century Roman aristocrat, investigating murder and other crimes, usually in close proximity to the Roman Emperor.  The series is meant for adults, amateur Roman historians, and people who don't cringe and feel nauseous when reading about Ancient Rome's sadism.

The books in the series so far are (I provide covers and synopses below):

1. All Roads Lead to Murder
2. The Blood of Caesar
3. The Corpus Conundrum
4. Death in the Ashes
5. The Eyes of Aurora

The author provides a glossary of some terms and some historical persons who appear in the story, and a chronology of the time leading up to the story, which begins in the summer of the year 83.  There is a first-person narration by Pliny himself, but it is not clear when the narrator is writing the story:  soon after the events or as the events unfold.  Generally speaking, it reads like a journal description of the events, but with very little hindsight.

Pliny often works his "cases" with his friend Tacitus, a fictionalized version of the historical first-century historian.  Here is how the author has Pliny describe the two young men:

...two obscure young equestrians, recently returned from holding minor provincial posts.

The story of The Blood of Caesar begins in the Forum of the Empire's capital, Rome.  The reader goes with Pliny up the steps to the palace of the Emperor Domitian, on the Palatine Hill, then passes through part of the palace complex, room by room.  Readers of historical fiction set in Ancient Rome should enjoy the rich details in the story:  games, homes, clothes, customs, food, traveling, servants, slaves, clients, sex habits (there is one explicit sex scene), marriage, family, sexism, correspondence, public administration, arts...

The first-century in the Roman empire is an interesting period in the thousand-year empire:  growing Christianity, a continual Jewish problem, a shaky succession of Emperors to follow Augustus's long reign...  But this book (and the series) is not for the Roman history novice.  Without some historical knowledge, many parts of the book would be too confusing.  And a basic knowledge of Greek and Roman mythology would help, too.

Enjoy this wonderful recreation of the Ancient Roman Capital:

There are moments when the narrator seems to be writing not a journal, but a classical textbook, inserting explanations no Roman would ever dream necessary for his reader:

...we settled onto couches in the exhedra, the outdoor eating area at the far end of the garden.

Sadly, the protagonist, Pliny the Younger, is not a man among men, nor a man enlightened for his time.  He is a slave-owner and as paternalistic as any Roman aristocratic head of family.  While he does not approve of raping, whipping or killing his slaves, he does not mind selling them off, or accepting slave-freebies from others.  Slaves were for Pliny and others "like pieces of furniture".

In fact, the strict historical accuracy of the book is my biggest problem with it.  Too often I found the book read like a fly-on-the-wall depiction for sick voyeurs of the horrible Roman society.  The society was one where pedophilia, prostitution, child-brides, child-murder, and all forms of misogyny were accepted, along with many other forms of sadism. 

For me, these things are just bearable if the protagonist condemns them.  So, if you are like me, you might not enjoy this series.  If you are not like me, then you have many books to enjoy, and the promise of more books to come. 

The publishers take pains to make the book's presentation special.  They have incorporated into the text and at the chapter headings the original illustrations from the 1901 edition of Ben Hur.  But I missed the proper form of possessive for names ending in "s" (i.e. Augustus's).

If you are a student of the Latin language, then you will get especial pleasure reading this author's series.  He incorporates into this prose many English words that come from Latin, in a sort of joke for Latinophiles, playing with the fiction that the characters are speaking Latin, and that the narration is in Latin.  For example:

He walked over to the scene with the hippopotami and examined it closely.  "Although your hippopotami aren't right.  They're not really horses, you know."

Hippos=horse

Potamus=river

Here is a lovely computer-generated recreation of an Ancient Roman home:

The plot deals with the bloodline of Julius Caesar.  Augustus, Julius Caesar's great-nephew, brought peace after the civil wars that raged off and on after Caesar's assassination.  But after the death of Nero, the head of the Roman Empire passed around until it was taken up, by force, by Vespasian.  The last in Vespasian's Flavian line, Domitian, is worried his position could be undermined.

...the public's love for Augustus' family had not abated...the appearance of an actual descendant of Caesar...could prove troublesome to a ruler form any other family.

But we are almost a quarter of the way into the book before Pliny actually begins investigating a "case".  The book takes a long time to get moving, taking lots of time to set the scene.  When it does pick up speed, the author seems to really enjoy displaying how Caesar's blood, or genes, might show themselves in a descendent.  I won't say any more, because I don't want to ruin the story for anyone!

The Blood of Caesar is published by the Ingalls PublishingGroup.

Bringing readers great stories by Southern authors of historical fiction, murder mystery, romantic suspense and adventure!

Direct link to the author's page at IPG

 Book 1 in the Series

Pliny the Younger and Tacitus, the future historian, are returning from a posting by caravan and break the journey in Smyrna. In the morning one of their number is discovered with his heart cut out.  The authorities assume his slaves are responsible and prepare to take action: torture and death for all the man’s enslaved household.

Pliny is convinced not all is as it seems: the man did not die from having his heart removed, and the guilty party is not among his slaves.  More than a sense of justice motivates Pliny to work quickly; at risk is a beautiful and innocent young slave girl.

Pliny calls in the help of Tacitus and others in the caravan, Luke the biblical physician and his young companion Timothy.

Book 2 in the Series

Assigned by Emperor Domitian to search for blood heirs to the Emperor Augustus, Pliny and Tacitus seek solutions to layers of mysteries.  Why is a humble workman’s death important to the ruler of Rome, and what connects him to Pliny’s household? 

How do Domitian’s suspicions relate to Pliny’s old friend and mentor?  Is Tacitus’ father-in-law Agricola a villain, victim or savior?  Like a sinister red line slashed through a carefully prepared manuscript, the legacy of Augustus marks the connections. Will the answers save the peace of Rome, or mark its doom?

The Blood of Caesar was named a Best Mystery of 2008 by Library Journal.

 

Book 3 in the Series

While out hunting at his estate in Laurentum, Pliny finds a man’s body.  The man appears lifeless, but Pliny cannot find a cause of death.  He locks the body in a stable, but in the morning the body is gone.  He summons friend Tacitus to help discover how and why and who.  Strangers appear at Pliny’s door, claiming to be the man’s children.  One sings siren songs and claims his “father” is immortal.  Another may be an empusa, a shape-shifting, blood-drinking monster.

Bodies pile up:  a fifteen year old murder, a faceless man floating in the bay, and the “lifeless immortal,” this time with his throat cut.  Was he killed for his blood?  Clues include the parentage of a local whore who claims official friendship with Pliny’s adoptive father and an acrostic in Hebrew.  Pliny and Tacitus must discover how the murders are connected to each other and to Pliny’s nemesis Marcus Aquilius Regulus.

Book 4 in the Series

A few years after the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, where he lost his adoptive father and mentor, Pliny the Younger is asked by his friend Aurelia to help her husband Calpurnius, who has been accused of murder in Naples. Pliny has solved previous crimes, but never before has so much time and distance elapsed before his arrival on the murder scene¦nor has he carried so much emotional baggage.

With the help of his wisecracking sidekick Tacitus, he now must investigate cunning plots by some descendants of Augustus, which include murders and babies switched at birth. One fortunate circumstance in Pliny's detective activities is that the hardened ash crust makes good impressions of hand- and foot-prints. But now, for the first time, Pliny must swallow his phobias and ghastly memories and face a deadly challenge in the ruins of a buried villa.

Book 5 in the Series

Pliny’s servant Aurora, who is also the forbidden love of his life, has played Good Samaritan to a woman who claims to be searching for her missing husband.  Thinking he can help the woman, Pliny steps in, assisted, as usual, by his friend Tacitus. 

But the situation turns into a web of deception and intrigue when they discover evidence of a horrific murder while searching in the countryside for clues to the whereabouts of the missing man.  After Aurora is injured, Pliny’s involvement becomes personal.  He’s even desperate enough to ask Regulus, his longtime sworn enemy, for help when the case brings him to the malevolent attention of the emperor Domitian.

Here are direct links to the books in the series at Amazon.com:

Please visit the author's website where he describes his eclectic books:  mystery novels, historical novels, children's books, history of the New Testament, and baseball.

Here is one more amazing recreation of an Ancient Roman home:

This review is by Candida Martinelli, of Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site, and the author of the cozy-murder-mystery novel AN EXTRA VIRGIN PRESSING MURDER, and the young-adult/adult mystery novel series THE VIOLET STRANGE MYSTERIES the first book of which is VIOLET'S PROBLEM.

Agostino by Alberto Moravia - Translated by Michael F. Moore

This English translation by Michael F. Moore is of the 1945 classic, coming-of-age novella, Agostino, by the late Italian novelist Alberto Moravia, which is why I requested a review-copy of this book.

From the first lines of the book, we know that thirteen-year-old Agostino views his mother more like a girl-friend than a mother.  He loves others to admire her beauty while she is with him, feeling special being her special companion.  He dislikes men sharing their company, since they are possible rivals for his mother's attention.  He loves the intimacy of their relationship when they vacation together by the seaside.

The author calls the son's affection for his mother what it is:  an infatuation.

...the intensity of his filial vanity and the turmoil of his infatuation would linger for many years to come.

Alberto Moravia

Agostino is a highly self-conscious, observant boy, with emotions that tend to possessiveness and humiliation.  He also has masochistic tendencies that he indulges with his mother and some beach boys.  

The novella was adapted to film in 1962, in Italian.  Here is an old trailer for that film:

 

The teenager is coming-of-age, but the man he is to become is not one he necessarily likes.  The story of his coming-of-age is told in clear, strong prose.  The details shared with the reader draw a picture of what is happening on the beach, and what is happening inside Agostino's young mind.

Moravia's writing skill is sure and firm and confident, without being pompous or flowery.  The dialogue of the beach boys and their actions are realistic and reminiscent of the book Lord of the Flies, which depicted the uncivilized, sadist life of children left on their own.

There is always an uncomfortable, underlying, unspoken feeling of threat in the story.  One feels Agostino is just a step away from disaster, either with his mother, or with his new-found "friends".  I recall having the same feeling while reading the classic short-story The Lottery, about a sadistic lottery in a small American town.

Sexuality that was, obliviously, all around him all his thirteen years suddenly becomes clear to Agostino, in uncomfortable and awkward ways.  Puberty strikes!  

The dark realization came to him that a difficult and miserable age had begun for him, and he couldn't imagine when it would end.

The hardest part of all this is Agostino's relationship with his oblivious mother, a widow who is too used to living alone with her son, that she has forgotten about modesty.  Her teenaged Agostino is made increasingly uncomfortable by his mother's immodesty and unrestrained sexuality. 

Sometimes he wondered how older boys, knowing what he knew, could still love their mothers.

The summer and Agostino's association with the rough group of beach boys transforms Agostino into a young man who is uncomfortable in both his high-class world, and in the rough, crude world of the poor.  Agostino is lost somewhere in between the two classes. 

Agostino is also full of self-loathing for his sexual feelings toward his mother, causing him to debase himself and to embrace deceit.  He is left longing to become a man, a euphemism for a sexual man, for sexual relations with women, hoping that will stop him from desiring his mother. 

Yes, Freud had a great influence on Moravia!  As did growing up an Italian male in a society where mothers often turned to their sons for emotional support, rather to their unfaithful, macho husbands.

The translation is wonderful, communicating the force of Moravia's powerful, un-embellished prose.  The biggest compliment one can give a translation is that it doesn't read like a translation, and that is the case with Agostino, translated from the original Italian by Michael F. Moore.

From the book's description, which gives rather too much away:

A thirteen-year-old boy spending the summer at a Tuscan seaside resort feels displaced in his beautiful widowed mother’s affections by her cocksure new companion and strays into the company of some local young toughs and their unsettling leader, a fleshy older boatman with six fingers on each hand. Initially repelled by their squalor and brutality, repeatedly humiliated for his well-bred frailty and above all for his ingenuousness in matters of women and sex, the boy nonetheless finds himself masochistically drawn back to the gang’s rough games. And yet what he has learned is too much for him to assimilate; instead of the manly calm he had hoped for he is beset by guilty curiosity and an urgent desire to sever, at any cost, the thread of troubled sensuality that binds him to his mother still.

Alberto Moravia’s classic and yet still startling portrait of innocence lost was written in 1942 but rejected by Fascist censors and not published until 1944, when it became a best seller and secured the author the first literary prize of his career. Revived here in a sparkling new translation by Michael F. Moore, Agostino is poised to enthrall and astonish a twenty-first-century audience.

This English translation of Agostino is published by the NewYork Review of Books Classics:

An innovative list of fiction and nonfiction for discerning and adventurous readers

Direct link to Agostino at NYRB-C

Here are direct links to Agostino at Amazon.com, to this English translation and to the original Italian edition, and to a collection of Moravia novels which includes Agostino.

Here are more books published by the New York Review of Books Classics that are set in Italy:

This review is by Candida Martinelli, of Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site, and the author of the cozy-murder-mystery novel AN EXTRA VIRGIN PRESSING MURDER, and the young-adult/adult mystery novel series THE VIOLET STRANGE MYSTERIES the first book of which is VIOLET'S PROBLEM.

Murder under the Italian Moon by Maria Grazia Swan

Murder Under the Italian Moon (also published as Gemini Moon) is the first book in the Lella York Mysteries. Lella, short for Donatella, is Italian-born but has lived in The States for twenty-five years with her American husband Nick, until his death four years earlier.  Despite her many years in the U.S., Lella is all Italian-woman-of-a-certain-age, adding a very Italian flavor to this story.

Here is beautiful 30 second book trailer for the Lella York Mysteries series:

At the end of her annual trip to Florence, Lella has an unsettling experience.  From that point onward, the unsettling experiences continue, broken only by the comforting company of a certain, handsome, retired Homicide detective, Larry Devlin.  Here is Lella describing how she feels, halfway through the book:

I felt clueless and nervous--pretty much the same way I'd been feeling ever since I came back from Italy.

The book's new cover reminds me of the classic Italian product posters by artist Marcello Dudovich so I will illustrate this page with them

Larry, a ladies man, is quite taken with Lella, to her bewilderment.  She overhears him speaking with a former colleague from the police force:

I walked away and overheard Larry say, "She's Italian."  He sounded pretty pleased with that statement.  I wasn't sure if it was because he'd never met an Italian woman before of if he liked Italians in general.  Either way, I decided to take it as a compliment.

The beginning of the book, in Florence, Italy, is very evocative, with wonderfully accurate descriptions of Florence around the Ponte Vecchio, the Old Bridge.  The story then moves to Southern California, where the setting is just as convincingly conveyed.  I requested a review-copy of this book because of the initial setting, but mainly because the protagonist is Italian.

Lella, the protagonist, recounts in a first person narrative the story along with flashbacks to her life with and without her husband, Nick.  Lella is a woman who has been a rather passive passenger on life's journey up to this point in her life.

I felt frustration, at times, at Lella's passivity, but then I realized that it is precisely that passivity that is key to the events happening.  It is also what Lella learns about herself, and tries to change.  She laments at one point:

Why can't relationships come with an instruction manual for unsophisticated adults like me?

And at another time:

I couldn't handle emotions, and at the moment emotions ruled every aspect of my life.  Better learn how to deal with it.  In a hurry.

Lella's Italian upbringing is a major force in her dealings with her husband, friends, son, and the police and lawyers.  They find her puzzling, endearing, awkward, emotional, passionate and moody, but they also feel protective of her.  She may have lived in the U.S. for twenty-five years, but she is still a fish-out-of-water in so many ways, even seeming ditzy at times.  You can take the woman out of Italy, but you can't take Italy out of the woman!

The book has received a prestigious HOLT Award of Merit

From the Virginia Romance Writers

  
  Murder Under the Italian Moon (as Gemini Moon) was also a top ten finalist in the reader nominated best Indie Books awards sponsored by IndieReCon.

Murder Under the Italian Moon is suspenseful, well-written, well-edited, and it builds very nicely, and very quickly since the book is about 185 pages long.  I found the book to be a smooth, compulsive, can't-put-it-down kind of read, almost like a dream/nightmare that won't stop.  The writing pulls you forward.  It is easy to imagine the story filmed, with an attractive, mature actress playing Lella, a woman with many life experiences behind her, and many more interesting experiences to come.

From the book's description:

When Lella York went vacationing in Italy, she never imagined the mess she'd come home to. Upon her return her best friend, Ruby, is missing, Ruby's husband is dead, and suddenly the police have more questions for Lella than answers...especially one sexy veteran detective whose attentions have Lella's hormones dancing a tarantella.

But is his interest in Lella genuine, or does he have a more sinister agenda? Lella is determined to find out. But when she takes it upon herself to find the elusive Ruby, Lella's past and present collide, unearthing more secrets than she could have imagined lay buried in her sleepy town.

From Florence, Italy to the sunny coast of California, Lella uncovers a web of lies that will change her life forever...if she can get out of it alive.

Lela York is the protagonist of a proposed series of romantic mysteries:

1. Murder Under the Italian Moon (also published as Gemini Moon)
2. Death Under the Venice Moon (reviewed on this site)
3. Murder Under a Desert Moon

Murder Under the Italian Moon and the Lella York Mysteries are published by Gemma Halliday Publishing, a small publishing house that specializes in romantic mystery series.

We are a boutique publisher of light-hearted mystery, romantic suspense and romantic comedy novels, perfect for popping into your beach bag for a weekend away or cozying up beside a warm fire for a quiet night in.

 Direct link to the Murder Under the Italian Moon author's page

Here is a direct link to Murder Under the Italian Moon at Amazon.com, where it is available as a Kindle e-book and a paperback book:

Visit the author's website and blog, and her Facebook Page.

The book's new title is a bit deceptive.  Only the first scenes take place in Italy.  They are very evocatively described, and most happen on the Old Bridge, the Ponte Vecchio.  Here is two minute video postcard of Florence, Italy.

The author, Maria Grazia Swan, has another series that features an Italian woman who has moved to the U.S., The Mina Calvi Adventures series (reviewed on this site).  There are four books so far, available both as Kindle e-books and as paperbacks.

Here is a beautiful 30 second book trailer for the Mina's Adventures series:

 

Here are direct links to the books at Amazon.com:

This review is by Candida Martinelli, of Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site, and the author of the cozy-murder-mystery novel AN EXTRA VIRGIN PRESSING MURDER, and the young-adult/adult mystery novel series THE VIOLET STRANGE MYSTERIES the first book of which is VIOLET'S PROBLEM.