Books keep company, especially in these days when we have to stay home in order to avoid Covid-19 transmission. So let's make room for themed readings, essays, but also escape stories. Let's share the readings chosen on social networks to feel less alone. So let's try to read a nice book by an Italian author.
Takeaway books
Just think that 2020 has started with dozens of Italian bookstores forced to announce their closure. In contrast, in these difficult quarantine days, publishing and the book market also suffer. The booksellers are put to the test. Here, then, is born in Italy a service designed specifically to support independent bookstores: takeaway bookstores. A way to work during this period through a totally free delivery service for the bookshop and for the customer. In fact, it is financially supported by publishers through a fundraiser. It is certainly a guaranteed service until the funds raised run out. The support of publishers currently allows booksellers to maintain relationships with their readers until the emergency ends.
A trip to get to know us
We have to stay home so why not traveling with the mind? Among the most interesting Italian writers of our time there is Claudio Magris, one of the greatest contemporary Italian authors. In our home library, The infinite travel cannot be missing. In this work Magris talks about how there are places that fascinate us because they appear radically different from those familiar to us. Others, on the other hand, enchant us with their familiarity. Knowing is often like recognizing. The known and the familiar, we continually rediscover them in our travel, enriching ourselves. While the most fascinating journey is always the return. As in the Odyssey, Magris reflects on the sense of travel. In fact, it suggests the journey understood as the very existence of the person.
The author's journey is a utopian and existential journey. The author finally establishes an introspective dialogue, reflecting on the experiences of life. According to Magris, experience leads to personal knowledge. In the same way, in his book, places, people, cultures become his inner geography.
Books are a journey also for children
For children I suggest the book Come casa mia. A book suitable for children aged eight and up that talks about how houses have evolved over time and compares them. Children can play with some flaps, so the book shows the exterior and interior of the various buildings. Thanks to this animated text, children can visit a Paleolithic hut or a house on the ground of Çatal Hüyük. In the same way it is possible to cross the threshold of a rich Roman domus of Pompeii. And again, it is possible to get to know some of the most famous architects in history. The little ones can discover the way of conceiving the houses and projects of these great architects and their works.
Children can also play with graph paper and pencil to draw a house. In fact, the book is full of clear and detailed illustrations, boxes with curiosities and simple activities. Everything serves to stimulate young readers to compare the houses they encounter with their own way of living the house.
#Italyintheheart
