Buondì.
Most of the trees Roomie and I passed on our weekend walks still looked like skeletons. The grass in the park was a patchwork of faded green and winter-seared brown. With cigarette butts.
But the cherry trees outside my house are now a riot of light pink. Spring has finally sprung! Italian seems to have no word for ‘blossom’, by the way. Check out the various options here.
Anyway, this is totally my favorite time of year, despite months of allergy being just around the corner. A decade or so ago I was locked up in a hospital ward for eleven or twelve days mid-March, so missed the sheer joy of it, which was a shame.
Not literally ‘locked up’, no. Though if felt like it, as I was wheeled about in my pyjamas from one pointless test to another, while life was going crazy outside the hospital windows.
Così.
Apart from that, I don’t have much to report this morning. There’s the usual ebook promotion (scroll down), and in the P.S. that you probably never look at, something about ‘cancel culture’.
If anyone is riled up about the topic mentioned, comments are welcome. But let’s keep it civil…
A mercoledì!
3 Half-Price eBook Easy Readers from 2021
This week we’re doing the half-price ebook offer on three titles we published in 2021. Any of them will cost you just £3.99 until Sunday 19th March 2023.
These three are all on the easier side, though I’m putting them in level order in any case, from easiest to hardest.
The first one is an actual story, in the usual format, while the second and third are both collections of texts – different characters writing about their typical days (the second one), so using the present tense, and a memorable day in their lives (the third one), so the past tense.
Despite the obvious grammatical focus of those two, they’re fun. I enjoyed them, at least. Check out the free sample chapters to see if you might, too.
Il ciclista (A2) 
A big-city journalist takes a much-needed break in a picturesque Umbrian village. On her first morning there she heads to the only bar for breakfast, and is suprised to find an older man asleep in his wheelchair…
- .pdf e-book (+ audio available free online)
- .mobi (Kindle-compatible) and .epub (other ebook readers) available on request at no extra charge – just add a note to the order form or email us
- 8 chapters to read and listen to
- Comprehension questions to check your understanding
- Italian/English glossary of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
- Suitable for students at any level
- Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)
Buy Il ciclista just £3.99 | FREE sample chapter (.pdf) | Read reviews! | Catalog
Ti racconto la mia giornata (A2) 
‘Tell us about your typical day’ is a classic classroom activity for practising the present, describing routines, likes and dislikes, and so on. So here, nine people do!
Read/listen to a nurse, a DJ, a tour guide, a carer, and five more, relating a day from their lives, from the vital issue of what they have for breakfast, to their jobs, their families and friends, and how they relax.
Once you’ve done all nine, test how much you’ve understood (and hopefully learnt!) using the exercises in the final section.
- .pdf e-book (+ audio available free online)
- .mobi (Kindle-compatible) and .epub (other ebook readers) available on request at no extra charge – just add a note to the order form or email us
- 9 chapters to read and listen to
- 9 exercises at the end of the ebook, to check your understanding
- Italian/English glossaries of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
- Suitable for students at elementary level and above
- Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)
Buy Ti racconto la mia giornata just £3.99 | FREE sample chapter (.pdf) | Read reviews! | Catalog
Un giorno da ricordare (B2) 
Learn Italian by reading and listening to easy readers (simplified stories).
This ebook contains nine tales of unforgettable days, recounted by memorable characters, with the aim of stimulating you to listen to and read Italian, while offering plenty of exposure to the main Italian past tense!
Topics include a new grandson, getting laid off, a shipwreck, a child’s first ski race, a dream home, a surprise party, a pet dog, graduation day, and losing a cellphone!
- .pdf e-book (+ audio available free online)
- .mobi (Kindle-compatible) and .epub (other ebook readers) available on request at no extra charge – just add a note to the order form or email us
- 9 chapters to read and listen to
- Comprehension questions to check your understanding
- Italian/English glossary of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
- Suitable for students at intermediate level and above
- Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)
Buy Un giorno da ricordare just £3.99 | FREE sample chapter (.pdf) | Read reviews! | Catalog
How do I access my ebooks?
When your order is ‘completed’ (normally immediately after your payment), a download link will be automatically emailed to you. It’s valid for 7 days and 3 download attempts so please save a copy of the .pdf ebook in a safe place. Other versions of the ebook, where available, cannot be downloaded but will be emailed to people who request them. There’s a space to do that on the order form – where it says Additional information, Order notes (optional). If you forget, or if you have problems downloading the .pdf, don’t worry! Email us at the address on the website and we’ll help. Also, why not check out our FAQ?
P.S. 
Saturday’s bulletin of ‘easy’ Italian news had a story about ‘cancel culture’ which caused some debate at EIN HQ.
I have fond memories of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ et al. but writer Roald Dahl could be cruel, including about child characters, whose flaws were clearly not of their own making.
These days we try to be kinder to kids with, for instance, eating disorders. So it doesn’t seem unreasonable to me that an author’s heirs and publishers might want to adapt a long-dead writer’s work so that a modern audience can continue to enjoy them. And so that royalties continue to flow…
I checked the source articles for our piece, both of which come from serious Italian newspapers, thinking that perhaps our writer hadn’t fully understood the issue. But she had summarised them fairly well.
Which suggests that the Italian press is either aligned in the struggle against ‘woke’, or more likely, that they’re scratching their heads and wondering what the hell’s going on in the Anglosphere.
Anyway, the bulletin, and the source articles are free to access, so check for yourself.
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OnlineItalianClub.com | EasyItalianNews.com | Shop (ebooks) | Shop (online lessons)
Mary Spence says
I am finally finishing the rinascimento history series which I have really enjoyed. I notice that the series is written in the present tense even though it’s historical. Is this pandering to us students or an example of the Italian aversion to tenses? Thanks.
Daniel says
Maybe a bit of both, Mary? I have to say, having proofed the whole series, the previous two, I barely noticed.
The appropriate Italian tense would be the ‘passato remoto’, probably. But it feels very ‘literary’, and is also quite hard. So maybe going with the present is a compromise.
Sheila says
In fact, due to the general outrage expressed at the announcement that the Roald Dahl’s books would be altered (even the Prime Minister and the Queen joined in), the publisher agreed to continue printing the original version!
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/24/roald-dahl-publisher-announces-unaltered-16-book-classics-collection
Daniel says
Wonderful publicity, then…
Lynne F says
Hi Daniel, You say “Spring has sprung ” well nobody has told the British weather that! Over the last few days, we have had snow and sub-zero temperatures. Today it has been replaced by rain and winds up to 45mph. Being from the northwest of England I am a hardy type I still venture out whatever the weather. The poor daffodils are trying their best to brighten up the garden.
I too have discovered the lack of an Italian word for Blossom. I often chat with my Italian friends via skype about my garden “Gemoglio, gemma, bocciolo, fiore or what other word they try to substitiurte ,just doesn’t do it justice, I use the word blossom and I think they know what I mean. Now I await the weather to get the message that spring has sprung and look forward to the blossom appearing.
Daniel says
Saturday we were sitting in Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore and the sun was so hot we were down to one layer. It won’t last, though, don’t worry. Also, we’ll be back in the UK in a week or two, so have your weather to look forward to!