Books by Korean-American Authors

 

Thanks to Grace Fell, senior publicist at Spark Point Studio for the ebook on NetGalley and the hard copy of Kinda Korean by Joan Sung (February 25, She Writes Press). Grace recommends the memoir as perfect for Korean American Day (January 13) 

Very personal stories about growing up in America with Korean immigrant parents.

Publisher description of Kinda Korean :

For fans Minor Feelings | Korean diaspora | Coming-of-age angst & pain

Torn between her two identities as a Korean woman and a first-generation American, Sung bares her struggles in an honest and bare confessional. From her experiences with microaggressions to the over-fetishization of Asian women, Sung connects the COVID pandemic with the decades of violence and racism experienced by Asian American communities through her research on race and representation.

 

Joan Sung breaks the generational silence that curses her family in this courageous memoir of parental love, inter- generational trauma, and perseverance. By intentionally overcoming the stereotype that all Asians are quiet, Sung tells her stories of coming-of-age with a Tiger Mom who did not understand American society.

Cathy Park Hong was born to Korean immigrants in 1976 and raised in a bilingual home. She recalls her childhood in Los Angeles as a “profoundly lonely experience,” during which she first began to comprehend the cultural invisibility of Asian Americans in the United States.Jan 14, 2022

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, FINALIST FOR PULITZER PRIZE, WINNER OF NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD, AMERICAN BOOK AWARD, ONE OF BEST TIME’S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE OF 2021

Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • ONE OF TIME’S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE • A ruthlessly honest, emotionally charged, and utterly original exploration of Asian American consciousness

“Brilliant . . . To read this book is to become more human.”—Claudia Rankine, author of Citizen

In development as a television series starring and adapted by Greta Lee • One of Time’s 10 Best Nonfiction Books of the Year • Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, New Statesman, BuzzFeed, Esquire, The New York Public Library, and Book Riot

Poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong fearlessly and provocatively blends memoir, cultural criticism, and history to expose fresh truths about racialized consciousness in America. Part memoir and part cultural criticism, this collection is vulnerable, humorous, and provocative—and its relentless and riveting pursuit of vital questions around family and friendship, art and politics, identity and individuality, will change the way you think about our world.

Binding these essays together is Hong’s theory of “minor feelings.” As the daughter of Korean immigrants, Cathy Park Hong grew up steeped in shame, suspicion, and melancholy. She would later understand that these “minor feelings” occur when American optimism contradicts your own reality—when you believe the lies you’re told about your own racial identity. Minor feelings are not small, they’re dissonant—and in their tension Hong finds the key to the questions that haunt her. 

With sly humor and a poet’s searching mind, Hong uses her own story as a portal into a deeper examination of racial consciousness in America today. This intimate and devastating book traces her relationship to the English language, to shame and depression, to poetry and female friendship. A radically honest work of art, Minor Feelings forms a portrait of one Asian American psyche—and of a writer’s search to both uncover and speak the truth.

Guest Post by poet Fran Abrams: Arranging Words: Dec. 3

 Guest post arranged by Poetic Book Tours

Thanks to Fran Abrams for sharing her background and how and when she began to write poetry. Her poems, Arranging Words, was published by Quillkeepers Press in October 2023. 

Excerpt from a few of Fran Abrams' clever and witty poems with their word play:

 

 from "All Ears"  

 She had a reputation

 for being a good listener. 

 What her friends 

 didn’t know is that she had

ears all over her head.,,,

from "Arranging Words" 

Tell me you find solace

when you slip into a poem, find joy

 as you button a poem around you.

 

Author Post:

I began writing poetry in 2017 at the age of 73. Before that, I earned an undergraduate degree in art and architecture and a master’s degree in urban planning. After graduate school, I worked for ten years for the Montgomery County, Maryland, government in jobs related to my formal education. After rising to the position of department head, subject to appointment and dismissal by the County Executive, I left when a new Executive was elected who wanted to place his own appointee in the position. That experience played into my first book of poetry titled I Rode the Second Wave: A Feminist Memoir, although at the time, it never occurred to me I would be writing poetry later in life. 

I spent the next 31 years working in nonprofit organizations, the last 10 years at the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, Maryland, as Director of Grants responsible for making roughly $4 million in grants each year. Some of those grantees were poets. I still had no thoughts of writing poetry myself. 

Through those 41 years, I wrote reams of legislation, zoning regulations, grant guidelines, memos, and reports. I love writing and enjoy getting words on paper that were valuable to the mission of the organizations for which I worked. If readers understood what I was trying to say or, in some cases, were persuaded by what I was writing, I considered it a success. 

After I retired in 2010, I wanted a change of focus and worked as a visual artist, pursuing an earlier part of my education. I joined a cooperative, nonprofit gallery in Washington, D.C., and, in part because of my more than 30 years’ experience in managing nonprofits, became president of the organization. 

One day, a large chunk of the plaster ceiling in our gallery fell to the floor. We already realized the building was old and we might need to move, but this was a sign we could not ignore. As president, I appointed a committee to search for new space. We found it in a building under construction in a livelier part of town where new apartments were being built all around. The only catch—the landlord issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to find the best creative tenants. I wrote the 25-page response to the RFP on behalf of the gallery. And we “won” the space. 

That was the volta, the change that made me realize I missed writing. But I didn’t want to keep writing in the vein that business demands. No more memos, reports, or responses to RFPs. What form of writing, I wondered, would be different, but still satisfying. I thought it might be poetry. Happily, the gallery rented its space to earn additional income and a poetry reading was scheduled in our new space soon after we moved in. I assigned myself to be the onsite staff member that evening and, when the reading was over, I knew I wanted to try writing poetry. 

Not too far from where I live is a nonprofit, a grantee from my earlier life, called The Writer’s Center, that offered numerous classes on a wide variety of writing forms. I began taking poetry writing classes there and, over time, I took every class they offered about the craft of poetry. My instructors said I had a knack for it. I wrote. I revised. I submitted. And my work began to be published. 

Reflecting on my life growing up in the 1950s, I decided to write a memoir in poems that became the book titled I Rode the Second Wave: A Feminist Memoir. Around the time it was published, Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court and the struggle for the rights of women again came to the forefront. The book is timely as it talks about my life in the context of all that occurred during the second wave of feminism.

Since then, I’ve written two chapbooks that have been published by two different small publishers—The Poet Who Loves Pythagoras from Finishing Line Press, and this book, Arranging Words, from Quillkeepers Press. 

So how did my early interests and college studies influence the direction I took in writing poetry? As the Bard wrote, “What’s past is prologue.” All of my past interests and experiences are brought into play when I write poetry. My poems are in narrative form that tell stories. For example, I have always enjoyed math. It has a sense of certainty that few things in life do. So, when I wrote a few poems on math topics, including one about Pythagoras, an instructor encouraged me to expand the topic into a book. 

Arranging Words grew out of my desire to make letters, words, and idioms relatable and meaningful while recognizing that the English language is a slippery beast, and sometimes it’s hard to say what we mean. From my perspective, one of the ways to reveal the trickiness of words is to use humor. Many of the poems in Arranging Words are intended to be funny. Feel free to laugh. 

And that’s the bottom line. After being on this earth for almost 80 years, having experiences both good and bad, I like to write poetry that I hope makes readers think about life from an uncommon perspective, and, at times, laugh.  

About the Author:

Fran Abrams lives in Rockville, MD. Her poems have been published in literary magazines online and in print and appear in more than a dozen anthologies. In July 2022, the title poem of this book, “Arranging Words,” was a finalist in the 2022 Prime Number Magazine Award for Poetry. Her two previous books are: I Rode the Second Wave: A Feminist Memoir (2022) and The Poet Who Loves Pythagoras (2023). Learn more at www.franabramspoetry.com and Connect on Facebook at Fran Abrams, Poet. 

Available on Amazon, Bookshop, and Barnes & Noble.

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves.

The Heron Catchers, and Yesteryear, a Memoir : Sunday Salon

 Books reviewed

The Heron Catchers by David Joiner

Publication: November 21, 2023; Stone Bridge Press; NetGalley

Genre: literary fiction, Japan travel


I like that this story of love and loss is woven together in the mountain and lake area where herons congregate and live, and where the land still remembers the poet Basho, who visited the area during his wanderings, while composing his now famous haiku. The novel is set in Kanazawa and Yamanaka Onsen near the Sea of Japan

Sedge is an American whose wife ran off with another man. He meets the man's wife Mariko who is also bereft after her husband's disappearance. Sedge and Mariko are left behind, but create a new union and alliance of their own, while dealing with the troubled 16 year old son that Mariko's husband left behind.

The beauty of the surroundings and rescue of an injured heron seemed to bond Sedge and the son, who is both jealous and troubled.

I enjoyed the love story, as I see it, and the setting of the novel, and learned more about herons, their size, their strength, their beauty. And I thought the cover art of the book is exquisite.

Author bio: David Joiner was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. He attended Earlham College and majored in Japanese Studies. He earned his MFA from the University of Arizona. David has also lived in Japan five different times, and has called Sapporo, Akita, Tokyo, Fukui, and Kanazawa home. He currently serves as the head of the Kanazawa chapter of Writers in Kyoto.

You can watch the author discussing his novels, The Heron Catchers, and Kanazawa, and what it's like to be a writer in Japan:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf9U9... New blurbs for the book: here 

Yesteryear by Kathleen A. Burt

Published May 11, 2023; paperback and ebook

My comments:

Kathleen Burt's memoir is a narrative that begins with her childhood growing up in Ottawa, Illinois where she learned from others "how to view the world." She discovered her love of reading during her years in Ottawa, and her love for French literature and classical mythology developed in high school. The myths were an important background for her later interest in astrology.

She grew up Catholic, and later attended Rosary College just outside of Chicago, majoring in European history and French. Her love of French grew with her time studying in Fribourg, Switzerland, a study abroad program offered by the French department at Rosary College.

Kathleen did her M.A. degree in European history at the University of Chicago, and afterwards did post grad work on South Asia and the Tamil language through a government grant, spending a year in India.

India changed her life in many ways. There she was introduced to Hatha Yoga, meditation, and she developed her love for astrology, which was to occupy much of the rest of her life. She later took astrology classes and hatha yoga teacher training, taught Indian history at Roosevelt University in Chicago and astrology at Mira Costa College in California, plus a course in Indian civilization.

Kathleen married her husband Michael in 1977. He was a meditation leader in soul awareness and self realization, apart from his work in computers, and their outside interests coincided neatly. She returned to India with Michael at one point, and both left there feeling "inspired, peaceful and soul-rested."

The memoir also includes the lives of Kathleen's parents and their retirement in Florida, where Kathleen and her husband both moved later on. The memoir also reflects the politics of the time during the 1960s-1980s, and gives us a clear background of the upheavals and the changing times of that period in the U.S.

The book as a narrative of a well-lived and fascinatingly varied life was an enjoyable and eye opening story, full of history, travel, and intriguing information on complex astrology and what it can reveal about each individual. She came to see astrology as important in understanding people in our lives and in understanding ourselves and how we change or have changed over time.

She is described as a spiritual seeker practicing Jungian oriented archetype astrology. 

Living and studying in Fribourg, Switzerland and in India also led Kathleen to what the author sees as a fulfilling life.

I recommend this memoir highly for those interested in how exposure to information, life experiences, and places can truly direct one's life.

More about Kathleen, an early audio interview, and one of her books on astrology, Beyond the Mask

What's on your reading schedule this week and/or the rest of the month?injuly202

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday. 

 

I'll Never Be French by Mark Greenside: Sunday Salon

Currently reading -

a book from my shelves that I rescued from my give away boxes. Why didn't I read this when I first got it? It's funny and informative, and very French!

 

I'll Never Be French (no matter what I do): Living in a Small Village in Brittany by Mark Greenside

Published: November 4, 2008; Atria

Genre: travel, memoir, nonfiction, humor, France

Mark Greenside and his girlfriend decide to live in a small French village in Brittany for about eight weeks. Mark fell in love with the place, the people, the customs, the food, and was encouraged by a neighbor to buy a house there. 

I'm enjoying his humor in telling the story of his growing love for Brittany and all things French, and the pitfalls of a foreigner trying to buy a home, open a bank account, and pay for a mortgage in France. 

I'm reading this in English, the author's language, but the memoir reminded me of the excellent French novels I've read over the years by mystery author, Michel Bussi. 

Here are a few I've read:

 

I finished a mystery set in Claude Monet's Givenchy, Black Water Lilies by Michel Bussi, February 7, 2017, Hachette. Translated from the French. I enjoyed it so much, I went on to read a previous novel of his, After the Crash, a mystery set in the Jura mountains of France.

My comments: After the Crash has an amazing plot. The only survivor in a horrific plane crash in the Jura mountains of France is a three-month-old baby girl. She was one of two baby girls of the same age on the plane, and none of the four parents survived the crash. 

There is no way to identify the baby, in the days before DNA testing was available. Two sets of grandparents claim her, the wealthy de Carvilles, and a working class family, the Vitrals.

The court awards the child to the Vitrals, but Mrs. de Carvilles hires a private detective to prove the baby Lyse-Rose is really hers, and not Emilie, the Vitrals's child. She gives the detective eighteen years to prove the case. The baby grows up to be called Lylie, a combination of both names, Lyse-Rose and Emilie, as neither family is one hundred percent sure who the child really is.

The book follows the two families and Lylie as she grows up, the story given in a detailed notebook written over eighteen years by the detective, Credule Grand-Duc. What he discovers after eighteen years is stunning. There are plot twists that makes riveting reading. I enjoyed it very much.

Black Water Lilies/Les Lympheas Noir by Michel Bussi, February 7, 2017, Hachette. Translated from the French.

Genre; mystery, crime novel

This is an unusual crime novel set in Giverny, France, the town made famous by the artist Claude Monet and his water lilies. The lives of an old woman,  an attractive young teacher, and an 11-year-old girl intertwine in a mystery involving art, artists, talent, Monet's water lilies, and romantic as well as an obsessive love that change their lives. 

I enjoyed the mystery as well as learned a lot about Monet and Giverny, and found interesting the rendition of how he created his famous water lily paintings. 

 

Don't Let Go

translated from the French

Don't Let Go/Ne lâche pas ma main by Michel Bussi

Published March 7, 2013. Pocket 
Genre; mystery, suspense, Reunion

It was challenging reading this in French, before the English edition was printed, but I enjoyed the suspenseful plot, the description of Reunion, a beautiful mountainous island in the Indian Ocean, and the main character, a gutsy young policewoman.

Publisher: On an idyllic resort on the island of Réunion, Parisians Martial and Liane Bellion are enjoying the perfect family moment with their six-year-old daughter....Then Liane Bellion disappears from her hotel room. Her husband Martial becomes a suspect when blood is found in the room. But then Martial also disappears, along with his daughter. An all-out manhunt is declared across the island. 

Just published: 

Trois Vies Par Semaine by Michel Bussi

Publication: March 2, 2023; Presses de la Cite

Language: French

Genre: thriller, mystery, France

About: the body of a man is recovered in the Ardennes,  his car containing three different passports suggesting he had three different aliases. The police must determine if his death was suicide, an accident, or murder and try to discover the truth behind his triple lives.  

What books are you reading? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday

Sunday Salon: Bookish Books Reading Challenge 2023

  

Blogging About Books has started the Bookish Books Reading Challenge 2023. The focus is on reviewing only books whose main themes are related to books! Read host Susan's description here.  

I can think of  Carlos Ruiz Zafon and the four books in his series, the Cemetery of Forgotten Books: The Shadow of the Wind (review), The Angel's Game, The Prisoner of Heaven (review), and The Labyrinth of the Spirits.  

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. And The Book Thief are others.

The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr, published September 2015 by Harper is all about writing books, namely your memories. 

Book's beginning, Ch. 1, The Past's Vigor

At unexpected points in life, everyone gets waylaid by the colossal force of recollection. One minute you're a grown-ass woman, then a whiff of cumin conjures your dad's curry, and a whole door to the past blows open, ushering an uncanny detail. There are traumatic memories that ride u unbidden and dwarf you where you stand. But there are also memories you dig for: you start with a clear fix on a tiny instant, and pick at every knot until a thin thread comes undone that you can follow back through the mind's labyrinth to other places. We''ve all interrogated ourselves -- It couldn't have been Christmas because we had shorts on in the snapshot. Such memories start by being figured out, but the useful ones eventually gain enough traction to haul you through the past. 

In The Art of Memoir, Mary Karr synthesizes her expertise as professor and therapy patient, writer and spiritual seeker, recovered alcoholic and “black belt sinner,” providing a unique window into the mechanics and art of the form that is as irreverent, insightful, and entertaining as her own work in the genre. (publisher)

 

The Cat Who Saved Books (review)

Sōsuke Natsukawa, Louise Heal Kawai (Translator), February 2017

This is a book for bibliophiles, readers, reviewers, and those who collect books. It's also for those who don't read and are sceptical about the value of books.

And contemporary romantic comedy with a book loving heroine: Book Lovers (review) by Emily Henry. The main theme is romance, but books feature prominently.  

Setting for a romance: Nora Stephens’ life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. On vacation, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. (publisher)

What bookish books have you read or are reading? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday

Six Degrees of Separation: Rules of Civility to Saying the Final Goodbye

 Six Degrees of Separation is a monthly link-up hosted by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best.

This month's book begins with Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. Add six more books that are somehow connected, to form a chain of books. 

From civility and polite society, to rules, to memoir, to art, and to saying the final goodbye. These are the books I found in my goodreads list that gave me this month's link! 

Join in!

 February's link-up will start with No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood.

A September to Remember by Carole: Review, Giveaway, and Guest Post:

 

Premier Virtual Author Book Tours presents A September To Remember by Carole Bumpus

 2021

A September to Remember: Searching for Culinary Pleasures at the Italian Table (Book Three) – Lombardy, Tuscany, Campania, Apulia, and Lazio (Roma) (Savoring the Olde Ways Series, 3) by Carole Bumpus

Publisher:  She Writes Press (April 27, 2021)
Category: Culinary/Travel Memoir & Non-Fiction
Tour dates: April 12-May 31, 2021

Description 

This culinary travel memoir is an invitation to join in on a month-long trek through Italy, all in the search of the true Italian experience. Sprinkled with unforgettable characters, you will sup on sumptuous traditional foods, sip regional wines, and enjoy vast panoramas of extraordinary beauty. You may find yourself dancing at harvest festivals, climbing through Etruscan tombs, traipsing among Roman ruins, or bathing in ancient Roman termes (hot springs).

You may also enjoy climbing to the heights of wonder in Capri or to the top of St. Peter’s Basilica. Or delight in soaking up the ancient and cultural history in Milan, Firenze (Florence), Amalfi, Pompeii, Lecce and Rome. You can bask in the sun and rugged beauty of the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Adriatic Sea, or the gorgeous Amalfi Coast. Or you can chat for hours over family meals while collecting a compendium of regional and traditional recipes (cucina povera), while you capture a rare glimpse inside the secrets to the Mediterranean psyche. It is truly a trip of a lifetime.

Comments:

A month-long trip through Italy starts in Milan and then ventures down to Florence, Tuscany, and finally to Rome, with many stops in between. Carole Bumpus and her husband Winston are true adventurers and travelers, savoring the local cuisine, customs, and enjoying the people and places they encounter along the way.

Local history, festivals in many towns, wine tasting, tours, resorts, all these are covered in historic detail by the author, who is not only interested in the cuisine and wines, but in the history of the buildings, cathedrals, palaces, architecture, and also the history of parts of Italy during WWII and the stories of how the local people fared. 

Let's not forget their trip to Pompeii, which in history was buried under ash during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Nor their trip down the scenic Amalfi coast.

Lovers of Italian history, food and wine, and the remarkable geography of the country will delight in this travel and culinary memoir. Mrs. Bumpus includes many recipes in her book, plus maps of the areas they visited during their month-long trip.

This is a comprehensive memoir, in that detailed history of the places are included, in addition to descriptions of the buildings and monuments and of the people themselves.

Lovers of travel, and especially those who love or are curious about Italy, will m ore than enjoy Carole Bumpus's observations and her unique experiences. 

About Carole Bumpus

Multi award winning author, Carole Bumpus is a retired family therapist, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She began writing about food and travel when she stumbled upon the amazing stories of women and war in France. Her historical novel, A Cup of Redemption, was published in October 2014, and her unique companion cookbook, Recipes for Redemption: A Companion Cookbook to A Cup of Redemption, was released in August 2015.

Books One and Two of her Savoring the Olde Ways series, Searching for Family and Traditions at the French Table, were published in August 2019 and 2020; her third book in the series, A September to Remember: Searching for Culinary Pleasures at the Italian Table is due out April 27, 2021. All five books have been published by She Writes Press which is part of SparkPoint Studio, LLC.

Website: https://carolebumpus.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carolejbumpus
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaroleBumpus
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carole.bumpus/

Giveaway: September To Remember by Carole Bumpus

"This giveaway is for 3 copies of 'A September To Remember', one copy per winner. Open to Canada and the U.S. only and ends on June 1, 2021.  Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only. http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/e23ee71d1450/?

 GUEST POST

TWO FAVORITE ITALIAN CITIES AND TWO FAVORITE DISHES

BY CAROLE BUMPUS

Leaving the coastal dunes of the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west and heading east through Tuscany, your eyes widen at the pastoral beauty of the verdant rolling hills. Towering cypress trees march along roadways and over hillsides, as vineyards, sunflowers and olive orchards carpet the plains. Upon entering the Arno River Valley, you are surrounded by mountain ranges to the north, east and south, where you will discover the wonderous Renaissance city of Firenze. Florence, Italy.

Whether arriving by train, plane or car, the excitement for me has always been the same. It’s almost a physical assault of the senses: the wonderous scent of grilled meats like Bistecca alla Fiorentina or spiedini, skewered cuts of meat, sausage, and vegetables, or the savory aromas of rosemary-infused breads like pan di romarino, pizzas-by-the-pound, or herb-enhanced pasta sauces. Beautiful pasticcieria (pastry shop) windows feature pyramids of dolci (sweets) piled high in colorful arrays. Buttery tarts, bursting with custard-cream fillings, such as gianduja (hazelnut) or chocolate with orange zest, call out suggestively. And, then there are the robust wines from the nearby hills of Chianti. What to sample first?

Yes, Florence contains all of my much-loved passions: sumptuous foods, delectable wines, incredible history, art, architecture, and literature. Oh, my! Did I mention that Michelangelo walked these same streets? Or Leonardo da Vinci, Donatello, or Botticelli? Did you realized their exemplary works of art helped to lift the pall of the Dark Ages to create the Age of the Renaissance? You can see many of their sculptures, paintings, and frescoes throughout the City, but especially in churches, cathedrals, and the Uffizi Art Museum. And don’t forget writers such as Dante, Petrarch, and Machiavelli also called this city home. Walking along the same streets as these historical figures makes history come alive. Come for the beauty and the sentient qualities of place. You will love it too. 

* * * * *

My favorite foods from Florence are: Bistecca alla Fiorentina, a succulent two-inch thick cut of beef steak or the delectable tagliarini al limone - pasta with a light yet piquant lemon sauce rises to a place with the gods.

 

* * * * * * *

Another favorite Italian city is Amalfi, which is tucked along the rocky coastline of the Salerno Peninsula facing exquisite azure waters. Although the drive to Amalfi is definitely an exercise in girding one’s loins, it is a drive worth experiencing. Yes, the narrow, circuitous road which climbs up, up and over craggy rocks and cliffs, then catapults you down and around a hundred hairpin turns and can suck the breath from your body as you peer over a sheer precipice to the sea a thousand feet below can give you pause . . . What was the question? Yes, driving is the only way to get there, unless you charter a boat.

Upon arrival, you can see you’ve arrived in Paradise. The entire city of Amalfi begins at the sea but immediately clambers up those same sheer cliffs where the residents live. There are wonderful, historical explanations for why locals enjoy living while clinging to hillsides, but the easiest explanation is to say it’s to avoid pirates! Yes, from the time of the Phoenicians, two thousand years of marauding pirates and traders have tried to force their way into the fortress of Amalfi.  

Lower Amalfi is a gorgeous seaside resort, with clean sandy beaches festooned with colorful beach chairs, umbrellas, and bar service. A smattering of waterfront restaurants caters to the many tourists who pile off buses or boats in order to sip a glass of wine, dine on supremely scrumptious seafood, or relax as they gaze out over the crystalline blue sea. Breathe!

As one heads up the steep streets into the walled city, a confluence of brightly decorated shops catches your attention. Here, the artistic flair can be seen everywhere, painted on walls, plates, dishes, cups, and across individual bottles of—oh, the town’s most famous drink, the glistening golden goodness called sfusato amalfitano or limoncello. You look around yourself, but you are surrounded by walls. “So where do the lemons grow?” you wonder.

You are standing in a tightly compacted city where many of the streets, known as alleys, are no more than one person wide and weave around and about like the inside of a pinecone. (Again, to ward off pirate attacks.) At the center of town is the Piazza Duomo, where one can stop for a bite to eat or drink. You are at the bottom of the stairs of a stunning black and white cathedral, the Duomo of Saint Andrew, which rises sixty-two steps above you. The Duomo appears to be a riot of stripes, arches, and mosaics with architectural touches gifted to Amalfi by conquering influences: The Moors, the Byzantines, and the Normans. Oh, plus a splash of Baroque.

From the Piazza, all hotels, restaurants, homes, and shops wend up the steeply terraced hills and continue along the narrow Mulini Valley where monumental cliffs rise 4,300 feet. Ah, there they are! In addition to homes and hotels perched precariously along terraces, are the lemon trees—a thousand lemon trees with their luminous and brilliantly verdant leaves and sunny yellow fruit catching the light from a scintillating sun.

Making your way past the Piazza, you may discover stalls offering a profusion of ripe purple plums, dark figs, and enormous peaches, plus garlands of garlic, and string upon string of bright firecracker-red dried peppers. You will gasp at the size of the bright yellow lemons—definitely as large as grapefruits. You are offered a slice to taste and cower at the thought of sinking your teeth into an acidic nightmare. But, no, they are sweet! Who knew? And then, of course, you find yourself in a queue at a boutique filled with shelves of this world-famous limoncello.  You’ve waited long enough! It’s time. Buy one, or two! They’re small and oh my goodness, there is nothing better as an after-dinner drink than icy cold limoncello. And your tour in paradise has begun.

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In addition to limoncello, one of my favorite dishes from Amalfi is a marvelous seafood dish called Risotto alla Pescatore -- risotto made with homemade seafood broth then piled high with plenty of cooked shellfish, such as shrimp, clams, mussels, and calamari. Oh, my! So delectable!