Buondì. Hope you had a pleasant weekend. We were at the coast, in Rimini, which was nice. Though on Saturday there was way too much wind to get out on the boat, and on Sunday the conditions were rather too sedate for sailing. We ate well, at least. And didn’t get stuck in traffic on […]
Bluetooth headphones on, it’s back to normal life!
Buondì. From March 10th until June 8th I, like many people around the world, worked at home. Some aspects of that were nice – spending more time wearing shorts and sandals, reading classics of Italian literature for our Book Clubs while sitting in the spring sunshine, and not having to crowd onto an urban bus, […]
Autobiographies again, and a deserted book club…
Buondì. Two things today (it’ll be another short one, as I’m back to teaching in the evenings, so more pressed for time.) On Friday last week I wrote an article entitled ‘Ever thought of writing your autobiography?‘, the idea being to promote this week’s new ebook easy reader, La coscienza di Zeno, which is number […]
New Easy Reader / Mini-Book Club: La coscienza di Zeno
Buondì. As advertised on Friday, today we have another new, B1 (intermediate) -level ‘easy Italian reader’ ebook. La coscienza di Zeno is the fourth in our series of simplified versions of classic Italian literature. Italo Svevo’s self-published 1923 novel takes the form of memoirs written by his protagonist, Zeno, a sick young man who is […]
Ever thought of writing your autobiography?
Buondì. Every thought of writing your autobiography? The reason I ask is that on Monday we’ll be publishing the fourth in our series of ‘easy reader ebook’ versions of classics from the canon of Italian literature. We did the mad puppet, Pinocchio, the even madder spoilt rich kid, Moscarda (Uno, nessuno e cento mila) and […]
“Join the conversation!”
Buondì. Today will be my third day back at ‘work’, in the sense of actually having to go to a place, stay there for a while, and interact with flesh and blood people in a physical space (while wearing a mask, of course!) And it makes a nice change, to be honest. On the flip […]
I expect you knew that. It seems everyone did except me
Buondì. My neighbour – I’ve probably mentioned him before, the bodybuilder, married to a lady fitness instructor, they live opposite and are always ready for a chat, especially during the lockdown – yep, that’s the one, you remember! Anyway, over the weekend his elderly father came to visit, as you do on a Sunday: show […]
I dreamt of students ‘learning’ new words
Buondì. I don’t normally dream about teaching. Perhaps it’s knowing that I’ll have some courses starting soon and so will be back in the saddle. Or maybe it’s witnessing my daughter’s misery as she spends the entire week waiting for an oral exam at university (online, of course.) The poor girl is number fifty-seven on […]
Back to work after a public holiday (and a 3 month lockdown)
Buondì. Gotta be quick today (no, really!) as it’s back to work for the first time since March ninth! Which means the familiar, but actually now quite unfamiliar, routine of packing my office bag with laptop, cable and lunch, doing the dishes from the evening before, leaving lunch instructions for the kids, choosing something to […]
New Easy Reader / Mini-Book Club: I Malavoglia
Buondì. As mentioned on Friday, today we have a new, B1 (intermediate) -level ‘easy Italian reader’ ebook, the third in our series of simplified versions of classic Italian literature. Once more we find ourselves back in the nineteenth-century, this time in a Sicilian fishing village… ‘I Malavoglia’, literally ‘the Unwillings’ (an ironic nickname coined, in […]