This is an auction for ITALIAN WAYS by Tim Parks.

Subtitled "On and Off the Rails from Milan to Palermo".

"Delightful and hilarious. Combining wonderfully evocative prose with wry analysis, Parks provides local colour while seeking hidden social meaning…. The result is a fascinating portrait of a society that seems rooted in place no matter how fast it goes." - a *** starred *** review in Publishers Weekly (US)

“So inviting you might find yourself tempted to give the experience a whirl and ride the Italian trains yourself, book in hand.” - New York Times Book Review

"This mix of piercing social observation and undying affection for Italy is classic Parks." - The New York Times

"Fascinating and droll." - The New Yorker

"Parks gives us a country that is as frustrating as it is endlessly fascinating." - Christian Science Monitor

"Parks is a perfect guide. He has a charming voice and a novelist’s eye." - The Smithsonian magazine

"Relaxed, humorous, meandering and charming." - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Amazon.com review:

"In his first Italian travelogue in a decade, Parks delivers a charming and funny portrait of Italian ways by riding its trains from Verona to Milan, Rome to Palermo, and down to the heel of Italy. He delivers a uniquely insightful portrait. Through memorable encounters with ordinary Italians?conductors and ticket collectors, priests and prostitutes, scholars and lovers, gypsies and immigrants?he captures what makes Italian life distinctive: an obsession with speed but an acceptance of slower, older ways; a blind eye toward brutal architecture amid grand monuments; and a love of a good argument and the perfect cappuccino."

More very favourable reviews on Amazon.com.

Hardback 2013.

261 pages.

Illustrations throughout.

Very good/near new condition.

The cost of shipping is $8.95.

There is of course no charge for shipping if you collect this book from my shop in Palmerston North following the auction.

Payment within seven days, please.