This book traces Italian culture through its study of the language, so that readers are treated to mini-lessons about Dante, the Renaissance, opera, and food, to name just a few. I read the book through, but like the idea that I can open it to a random page and be reminded again of some stunning fact about a country I love.

I am a writer, mainly in Dutch. And so I am a bit biased being a lover of languages and writing. This book is rich in the history of Italian and Italians in that sense. Read it if you want to know more about the language, the people and how not to come across as a complete idiot starting out in this language (which Dianne obviously didn’t).

This was an interesting and enjoyable listen, filling in lots of small gaps in my understanding of Italy’s history and culture. I’m glad I listened (instead of reading) as hearing the language was more helpful than seeing it on the page.

The author's love for Italian is almost off-putting in its intensity. While she has some interesting stories about Italy and the development of the language, she also retails stories as truth that have been disproved, or at least disputed, without comment. And the detail of the language descends into long pages of trivia at times. It also rankled slightly that her knowledge of Italian is clearly much richer than her understanding of English and of language in general, so that she disparages the latter in favor of the former without much consideration. Italian is certainly a gorgeous language, but the assertion that it is richer in metaphor than English is simply wrong and the idea that Italians craft their speech more thoughtfully than people speaking other languages seems like a silly generalization. I'm delighted for her that she's found something to be so passionate about and her research took her in some interesting directions, but overall this was less of a book than I think it could have been.

i read about 20% of this book, but i didn’t find the writing style entertaining or enchanting and i immediately got bored every time i picked it up. honestly, it even made me like italian less. ok, that’s a bit harsh, but i expected a beautiful story about Italy and the italian language and how a woman spent her life understanding them, but i mostly got history book about Italy. i might try reading it again in the future, but for now i will move on to something else.

I was never great at linguistics, but this book is a fantastic look at the Italian language. Check it out if you've ever been interested in origins or Italian.

I certainly enjoyed reading this book, since I'm as weak in the knees over the Italian language as Hales. However, this is more of a light cultural history of Italy than the "love affair with Italian" of the subtitle. She does attempt to tie the narrative together with little incidents in her quest to speak Italian, but much of it just comes off as bragging about how much time she's spent on her many Italian vacations. Hales' prose is also sometimes a trifle too sexual for good taste (although one could argue the same about the Italian language), and it's all a bit too self-conscious. Still, I learned a lot of new phrases and interesting etymologies, and my Italian "cultural literacy" was certainly enhanced. This book is definitely worth a read if you have anything more than a passing interest in Italy and Italian.

I bought this book while on a trip to Bologna and Florence and I enjoyed it a lot. It definitely enhanced my Italian experience and provided many interesting insights into Italy's history and culture. The author gives a lot of references to other books,movies and music that can be read,seen and listened to so one understands the Italians better. A really entertaining and informative read.