Sunday 12 April 2009

It's amore

Listening to: Josh Martinez - Time alone (Tranzar remix)

Unfortunately, i am not very cultured. I only speak English, and most of the time it is pretty bad anyway! It's always punctuated with 'like' and 'd'you know what i mean?'. I'm so articulate it hurts! but if i could speak any other language, it would definitely have to be french...or Italian?

French just sounds so sexy, but the book I'm currently reading (well slogging through since i literally don't have time to read for pleasure at the moment) is called 'eat pray love' by Elizabeth Gilbert... I'm only about a third of the way through it, but the first chunk is about her time in Italy and her obsession with the Italian language.... and dear god, i didn't realise how poetic and stunning the language is!
i usually dog-ear the pages of good quotes, so this book is practically destroyed now, but i thought I'd share a few of my favourites....literal literacy beauty.


l'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle - "the love that moves the sun and the other stars"
(from Dante's Divine Comedy. Dante was responsible for the birth of Italy's official language and is a language of artistic pedigree- hence the poetic beauty of these quotes!)


Bel far niente - "the beauty of doing nothing"
(this is a cherished Italian ideal, everyone in today's society is so busy all the time that time spent not being productive is looked at with guilt, thus finding the beauty in it for your own well-being..)


L'ho provato sulla mia pelle - "i have experienced that on my own skin"

(meaning, i have been burned or scarred in this way and i know exactly what you're going through)


This book is so good, I'm not going to launch into a book review or anything boring like that, but in a nutshell it is a true story of a woman's journey from heartbreak to peace through Italy, India and Thailand... i just hit the India section and if it's anything like the Italy adventure then I'll be a happy reader... pick up the book and read it...



"In a world of disorder and disaster and fraud, sometimes only beauty can be trusted. Only artistic excellence is incorruptible. Pleasure cannot be bargained down...
You were given life; it is your duty (and your entitlement as a human being) to find something beautiful within life, no matter how slight." - Elizabeth Gilbert




Take me to Italy

5 comments:

  1. The book sounds interesting. I really like the Japanese language--I swear after studying it I think it sounds as pretty as one of the "romantic" languages.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I looove that book!! It made me want to learn Italian. And am I? Well, no. But like you, I barely have free time as well. Sigh.
    Cute blog. I'm glad I came across it. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ah I wish I can do my hair like that girl.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I only speak English too, despite the fact that I took two years of French lol That last picture is great!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am crazy obsessed with that book. Attraversiamo is my favorite!

    ReplyDelete