**Italian Literature is a Treasure Trove**

There's just so much going on in here and I would definitely recommend this book, which is actually perfection to me. It's probably not perfection for everyone, but for me, it's perfection.

Next up is Sara Gerard's Sunshine State, and I wasn't sure about this book. I thought it was gonna be nature writing, and then Doris Overall D books said "no", it's not that kind of book. One of the things that disappointed her was that it wasn't what she expected. So, since I had that warning, I was able to mentally wipe the slate clean of what I expected this book to be.

So, I didn't really expect what I got, and I think that's part of its charm. Sarah loves long-form essays, and most of the essays in here are 50-60 pages long, which is longer than the usual essay format. Normally, essays are anywhere from 10 to 25, 30 pages long, but no, she just takes on this long-form essay style.

She also plays around with the essay a little bit, so she does talk about her personal experiences in this book, but she kind of uses that as a platform to talk about larger issues. One of the essays is about her parents and how they were leaders of a branch of Christian Science church. It's a smaller denomination within Christianity, or rather, it has its own unique beliefs with some Christian influences.

Another essay talks about a pyramid scheme her parents got involved in. Both of these essays have so much research, and I was impressed by the amount of effort she put into each one. One essay is about homelessness and her hometown in Florida. Another one is about a bird-wildlife bird rescue story, with some corruption and drama surrounding it. All of these essays feel like pieces that could be read in National Geographic or the Smithsonian.

I thought they were fantastic, really love them. What she did with the narrative nonfiction form was particularly interesting. There are smaller essays on the side that are more creative nonfiction, where she imagines what she and her husband would do touring affluent areas if they had a lot of money. It's like a fantasy world that blends together in some places, but it's also clear when fiction and nonfiction are being told.

There's one essay about her teenage years, which is part of the personal stories she shares throughout the book. She talks about how spoiled she was as a teenager, making fun of herself for doing silly things. However, she also admits to experiencing some hard things, like feeling nervous about singing in front of her classmates and being sexually assaulted by someone close to her.

Despite sharing these experiences openly, I felt that she sometimes avoided discussing her own privilege, growing up in an affluent neighborhood with a middle-class background. This is something I'm trying to work through as a reader, but it's clear that Gerard didn't want to shy away from exploring the complexities of class and identity.

Throughout the book, Gerard experiments with different forms, often using the present tense style for one essay, which was unusual for me because I usually find it hard to read in this format. However, I enjoyed the way she played around with narrative structures, creating a balance between personal experiences and larger themes.

Overall, I enjoyed the majority of these essays and appreciated her willingness to explore different ideas. Gerard is a masterful essayist who combines anecdotes and research to create engaging stories. Her playing at the forum was refreshing, as it allowed me to enjoy a marathon essayist rather than a sprinter. Sunshine State is around four stars for me, but I'd definitely recommend it to anyone interested in narrative nonfiction.

**A Conversation about Italian Literature**

If you've read either of these books, please let me know what you thought! What did you think of Gerard's essays? Did you find them engaging and well-researched? How did you feel about her playing with different forms and structures?

I'm always interested in hearing from readers who have experienced similar books or authors. Let's discuss the world of Italian literature and the essays that make it so fascinating!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhi I'm Kendra Winchester and welcome back to my channel Dylan welcomes youth by chewing yet on another toy because that is what Dylan does you choose on toys and destroys them it is his nature so today I'm going to be talking about books not necessarily my Corgi though I would happily talk about him for hours I'm gonna be reviewing two books today and that is in other words by Jhumpa Lahiri and sunshine state by Sarah Girard these two books I think kind of go together because there are different types of essay collections they're not really your stereotypical navel-gazing privileged soul essay collection which as you might have guessed I have read a lot of in recent years I enjoyed both of these collections for particular reasons so we're gonna go over those and hopefully then my regular wrap-up video won't be so long because already have reviewed books here hopefully I'll also be able to talk but no guarantees okay the first one is in other words by Jhumpa Lahiri this is translated from the Italian by anne goldstein now if you're wondering saying now Kendra I thought Uncle Harry wrote in English I mean she wrote the namesake Lola and different maladies which won the Pulitzer Prize and you would be correct but right after she finished the little and she just went to writing in Italian and only in Italian all of her colleagues and her publisher thought she was kind of crazy because if you're a master of a language why would you go back to square one and start writing from a different language well she didn't care she loved Italian and she fell in love with Italian so this is actually a collection of essays she wrote for an Italian publication about living in Italy and learning Italian and writing in Italian and starting from square one she really wrote this collection for the love of the Italian language not because she went to stroke her own ego or because you know she want to further her career per se she did this because it was what she wanted to do and she loved it so I really enjoyed hearing about that it's also very interesting to hear about her experience because this is her third language she is an her first languages are Bengali and English because she is an Indian American and I just I just found it incredibly fascinating if you can see the inside the Italians on one side and English is on the other side so it is absolutely just it's a delight to read so it's not really as long as this is actually in English half this long but if you were studying Italian I think it'd be interesting to read this book and study that part she really does a great job of saying you know I didn't translate this book myself because I didn't want to be tempted to edit myself in English and make my Italian seem better than a what so she has a third like an objective party translator for Italian this was a dark horse for me while I love to hear e I thought this was just kind of like a fun exercise that she was doing I'd really didn't expect it to be as profound as it was because she really delves into the types of language and how we perceive people who speak language so for example because she's Indian American when she would speak to people native Italians whatever when she loses Italy to talk to shop clerks and things they would immediately begin speaking to her in English and she start speaking Italian and she noticed that there was some racism there because her husband is not Indian and he didn't get that treatment and they just assumed that he would be able to speak titin and no one ever asked him how did you learn to speak Italian so well which was really fascinating and I just thought that her insights for fantastic these essays are really short the language is a bit like stilted like you can feel all of the imperfections of her language you can feel the different struggles that she has and she discusses having to go back to square one where you can't even conjugate a verb and I just love this book so much it was an unexpected surprise and delight and it was just so different than all of the essays that for whatever reason I have been reading recently and oh my goodness yes so if you haven't read this book you definitely want to pick up this one this one's a short read I read it in one sitting because it's only like 100 pages long I'm angled seeing to the great job translating this book I really appreciated don't bully carries perspective on language and our perceptions around language she also has two short stories written in Italian that are better than most people can write in English there's just so much going on in here and I would definitely recommend this book this was a five-star read for me it is just perfection actually it's probably not but for me for me it is perfection next up is Sara Gerard's Sunshine State and I wasn't sure about this book I thought it was gonna be nature writing and then Doris overall D books was like no it's not and one of them made her major disappointments was it was not what she expected so I was like okay so since I had that warning I was able to like mentally wipe the slate of what I expected this book to be and I didn't really expect what I got so she Sarah loves the long-form essay most of the essays in here are 50 to 60 pages which if you like to read essays you know normally essays are like anywhere from 10 to 25 30 would be along essay but no she just takes on this long-form essay she also plays around with the essay a little bit so she does talk about her personal experiences in this book but she kind of uses that as a platform to talk about larger issues so one of the essays is about her parents and how they were leaders of a branch of Christian Science church like it's a smaller denomination of Christian science I think I wasn't exactly sure but Christian Science from what I'm aware is a separate from Christianity so it's sort of like New Age type beliefs with Christian influences or some things not exactly sure but she talks about her parents relationship with that denomination and what they were trying to do with it another one is about a pyramid scheme her parents get involved with and both of these essays have so much research she officered was one about homelessness and close to her home town in Florida and then another one is about a bird wildlife bird rescue something and about how the corruption that was in there and just a lot of the drama that was around it and it's found her all of those essays have a lot of research to them they feel like pieces you could read in National Geographic or the Smithsonian I thought they were fantastic I really love them and how what she did with the narrative nonfiction form she has other smaller essays that are more creative nonfiction more on the side of being creative with with things they're the one where she talks about the pyramid scheme has actually this creative nonfiction part where she imagines what she and her husband would do touring certain affluent parts like if they went diamond like if they got a lot of money and they were very imaginative and you could tell where her fiction and her nonfiction were blending there and I thought that was very interesting there's one essay about her teenage years now throughout her talking about her parents she says that she's spoiled and she says that as well and her personal-like teenage years experience essay but I'm glad the entire book wasn't like that because I she was really stupid as a teenager she kept doing stupid things she also makes fun of herself and she says you know she points out it's in the areas that she was spoiled or she was stupid or she shouldn't have done things but she did experience some hard things and she's honest about her nervousness about singing in front of like her classmates and this being sexually assaulted by the sky and different things like that so I thought it was very open like that but at the same time I wish a little a little more upfront about mentioning her own privilege I guess is where I'm trying to go because she is from a more affluent neighborhood of middle-class I really enjoyed the present tense style of that essay which is unusual cuz usually you know present tense and I don't always get along but I enjoyed that part there's other essays that are more personal type essays like one of her BFF which opens the collection but there's just so there's a lot going on here and she isn't afraid to play with different forms and she doesn't well I think she's a nice balance of looking at her own experiences versus looking at the experiences of others overall I enjoyed the majority of these essays and I enjoyed her playing at the forum I enjoyed that she was a marathon essayist so to speak rather than a sprinter and that was just different so I enjoyed this one I would say this is around four stars probably for me but yeah it was it was really interesting to read and I didn't know a lot of the stuff that she was saying and she really combines anecdotes in research well so there you have it so that is both in other words and Sunshine State hope if you have read either of these books please let me know if you have any thoughts or opinions about these two different types of essay collections also let me know I guess I will be talking to you guys later and I'll see you the next one bye guyshi I'm Kendra Winchester and welcome back to my channel Dylan welcomes youth by chewing yet on another toy because that is what Dylan does you choose on toys and destroys them it is his nature so today I'm going to be talking about books not necessarily my Corgi though I would happily talk about him for hours I'm gonna be reviewing two books today and that is in other words by Jhumpa Lahiri and sunshine state by Sarah Girard these two books I think kind of go together because there are different types of essay collections they're not really your stereotypical navel-gazing privileged soul essay collection which as you might have guessed I have read a lot of in recent years I enjoyed both of these collections for particular reasons so we're gonna go over those and hopefully then my regular wrap-up video won't be so long because already have reviewed books here hopefully I'll also be able to talk but no guarantees okay the first one is in other words by Jhumpa Lahiri this is translated from the Italian by anne goldstein now if you're wondering saying now Kendra I thought Uncle Harry wrote in English I mean she wrote the namesake Lola and different maladies which won the Pulitzer Prize and you would be correct but right after she finished the little and she just went to writing in Italian and only in Italian all of her colleagues and her publisher thought she was kind of crazy because if you're a master of a language why would you go back to square one and start writing from a different language well she didn't care she loved Italian and she fell in love with Italian so this is actually a collection of essays she wrote for an Italian publication about living in Italy and learning Italian and writing in Italian and starting from square one she really wrote this collection for the love of the Italian language not because she went to stroke her own ego or because you know she want to further her career per se she did this because it was what she wanted to do and she loved it so I really enjoyed hearing about that it's also very interesting to hear about her experience because this is her third language she is an her first languages are Bengali and English because she is an Indian American and I just I just found it incredibly fascinating if you can see the inside the Italians on one side and English is on the other side so it is absolutely just it's a delight to read so it's not really as long as this is actually in English half this long but if you were studying Italian I think it'd be interesting to read this book and study that part she really does a great job of saying you know I didn't translate this book myself because I didn't want to be tempted to edit myself in English and make my Italian seem better than a what so she has a third like an objective party translator for Italian this was a dark horse for me while I love to hear e I thought this was just kind of like a fun exercise that she was doing I'd really didn't expect it to be as profound as it was because she really delves into the types of language and how we perceive people who speak language so for example because she's Indian American when she would speak to people native Italians whatever when she loses Italy to talk to shop clerks and things they would immediately begin speaking to her in English and she start speaking Italian and she noticed that there was some racism there because her husband is not Indian and he didn't get that treatment and they just assumed that he would be able to speak titin and no one ever asked him how did you learn to speak Italian so well which was really fascinating and I just thought that her insights for fantastic these essays are really short the language is a bit like stilted like you can feel all of the imperfections of her language you can feel the different struggles that she has and she discusses having to go back to square one where you can't even conjugate a verb and I just love this book so much it was an unexpected surprise and delight and it was just so different than all of the essays that for whatever reason I have been reading recently and oh my goodness yes so if you haven't read this book you definitely want to pick up this one this one's a short read I read it in one sitting because it's only like 100 pages long I'm angled seeing to the great job translating this book I really appreciated don't bully carries perspective on language and our perceptions around language she also has two short stories written in Italian that are better than most people can write in English there's just so much going on in here and I would definitely recommend this book this was a five-star read for me it is just perfection actually it's probably not but for me for me it is perfection next up is Sara Gerard's Sunshine State and I wasn't sure about this book I thought it was gonna be nature writing and then Doris overall D books was like no it's not and one of them made her major disappointments was it was not what she expected so I was like okay so since I had that warning I was able to like mentally wipe the slate of what I expected this book to be and I didn't really expect what I got so she Sarah loves the long-form essay most of the essays in here are 50 to 60 pages which if you like to read essays you know normally essays are like anywhere from 10 to 25 30 would be along essay but no she just takes on this long-form essay she also plays around with the essay a little bit so she does talk about her personal experiences in this book but she kind of uses that as a platform to talk about larger issues so one of the essays is about her parents and how they were leaders of a branch of Christian Science church like it's a smaller denomination of Christian science I think I wasn't exactly sure but Christian Science from what I'm aware is a separate from Christianity so it's sort of like New Age type beliefs with Christian influences or some things not exactly sure but she talks about her parents relationship with that denomination and what they were trying to do with it another one is about a pyramid scheme her parents get involved with and both of these essays have so much research she officered was one about homelessness and close to her home town in Florida and then another one is about a bird wildlife bird rescue something and about how the corruption that was in there and just a lot of the drama that was around it and it's found her all of those essays have a lot of research to them they feel like pieces you could read in National Geographic or the Smithsonian I thought they were fantastic I really love them and how what she did with the narrative nonfiction form she has other smaller essays that are more creative nonfiction more on the side of being creative with with things they're the one where she talks about the pyramid scheme has actually this creative nonfiction part where she imagines what she and her husband would do touring certain affluent parts like if they went diamond like if they got a lot of money and they were very imaginative and you could tell where her fiction and her nonfiction were blending there and I thought that was very interesting there's one essay about her teenage years now throughout her talking about her parents she says that she's spoiled and she says that as well and her personal-like teenage years experience essay but I'm glad the entire book wasn't like that because I she was really stupid as a teenager she kept doing stupid things she also makes fun of herself and she says you know she points out it's in the areas that she was spoiled or she was stupid or she shouldn't have done things but she did experience some hard things and she's honest about her nervousness about singing in front of like her classmates and this being sexually assaulted by the sky and different things like that so I thought it was very open like that but at the same time I wish a little a little more upfront about mentioning her own privilege I guess is where I'm trying to go because she is from a more affluent neighborhood of middle-class I really enjoyed the present tense style of that essay which is unusual cuz usually you know present tense and I don't always get along but I enjoyed that part there's other essays that are more personal type essays like one of her BFF which opens the collection but there's just so there's a lot going on here and she isn't afraid to play with different forms and she doesn't well I think she's a nice balance of looking at her own experiences versus looking at the experiences of others overall I enjoyed the majority of these essays and I enjoyed her playing at the forum I enjoyed that she was a marathon essayist so to speak rather than a sprinter and that was just different so I enjoyed this one I would say this is around four stars probably for me but yeah it was it was really interesting to read and I didn't know a lot of the stuff that she was saying and she really combines anecdotes in research well so there you have it so that is both in other words and Sunshine State hope if you have read either of these books please let me know if you have any thoughts or opinions about these two different types of essay collections also let me know I guess I will be talking to you guys later and I'll see you the next one bye guys\n"