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G. Franco Romagnoli (right), 7, shares an ice cream in Italy with his brother. (From The Book) |
Shelf Life
Time of love and war
The cuisine of G. Franco Romagnoli’s boyhood in Italy fueled his grandest successes. In the 1970s he and his wife, Margaret, hosted the PBS show “The Romagnolis’ Table,’’ out of which grew a series of cookbooks. For 10 years they owned an Italian restaurant in Faneuil Hall Marketplace.
Just before Romagnoli (childhood photo below) died in December, he had finished a memoir of his youth in Italy during World War II. It was published last month. In “The Bicycle Runner’’ (Thomas Dunne), he describes joining the resistance and racing around Rome on an old bicycle smuggling messages and weapons. Besides writing about treacherous times in Italy’s history, Romagnoli also recounts his search for love when young.
Remembering Tapply
William G. Tapply, who died in July at the age of 69, loved the outdoors as much as he loved writing. This fall he has two books coming out: “Dark Tiger’’ (Minotaur), the third in a mystery series featuring Maine fishing guide Stoney Calhoun, and “Upland Autumn’’ (Skyhorse) about his bird-hunting adventures. Next Sunday, a celebration of his life will be held at the Harris Center for Conservation Education in Hancock, N.H., the town where he and his wife, Vicki Stiefel, also a writer, made their home. Details at www.williamgtapply.com.Reviving union clout
Steve Early, a longtime union activist, looks back on the movement’s successes and shortcomings in his new book “Embedded with Organized Labor’’ (Monthly Review).This collection of essays appears at a low point for labor. Today only about 12 percent of the US workforce is unionized, down from 25 percent in the early 1970s. Drawing on the lessons of American labor history, Early, a resident of Arlington, suggests strategies for restoring union clout.
In the closing essay, Early issues a spirited call to embrace writing and reading about workers’ lives and labor history. He celebrates an earlier era when the United Auto Workers operated book clubs for its members. He calls Barbara Ehrenreich’s 2001 “Nickel and Dimed’’ the “gold standard of commercial publishing success involving a labor-related book’’ - and hopes that there is a book in the works that will top it.
Livesey on Bronte
Margot Livesey kicks off the Next month Tom Perrotta of “Little Children’’ fame will lead a discussion of Richard Price’s “Lush Life.’’
Coming out
■“The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment’’ by A.J. Jacobs (Simon & Schuster)■“The Last Song’’ by Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central)
■“Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story’’ by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor (Viking)
Pick of the week
Sandy Scott of the Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, Vt., recommends “Baking Cakes in Kigali’’ by Gaile Parkin (Delacorte): “Cake maker Angel Tungaraza lives in a multicultural community in Rwanda. After losing her two grown children, she finds healing as she helps others solve their problems with common sense and kindness. Tragedy and humor find a balance in this thoroughly enjoyable novel.’’Jan Gardner can be reached at JanLGardner@yahoo.com. 
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