SONS OF ITALY RELEASES
WINTER 2007 BOOK CLUB SELECTIONS

Washington, DC-- January 24, 2007 Warm up next to the fire this winter with one of the Sons of Italy Winter 2007 Book Club selections. Check out the Sons of Italy Book Club for Winter 2007:

• Home to Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani. Welcome back to the Blue Ridge Mountain town of Big Stone Gap, Virginia and its heroine, Ave Maria MacChesney in Adriana Trigiani's fourth novel in the series. Life is changing for Ave Maria: her daughter has married an Italian and lives in Italy and her husband, Jack is seriously ill. These woes, along with directing the town play and a rift with a close friend, take Ave on an emotional rollercoaster ride. As always Trigiani has populated her novel with the memorable characters and magic of small-town life fans have come to expect of this series, launched over six years ago [$25.95; hardcover; 320 pages; Random House]
• The Humble and the Heroic: Wartime Italian Americans by Salvatore J. LaGumina. Italian Americans have a stellar World War II record: 13 Medal of Honor recipients as well as the heroic Don Gentile, “the highest scoring fighter pilot in American history.” Now historian and author, Salvatore J. LaGumina examines the war’s impact on Italian Americans on the battlefield, at home and especially on those first-generation Americans when the country of their birth declared war on the country of their choice. With this book, we learn how ordinary people did the extraordinary while enduring history’s most devastating war. [$29.95; paperback; 356 pages; Cambria Press]
• Our Roots are Deep with Passion: Essays by Italian American Writers edited by Lee Gutkind & Joanna Clapps Herman.With a foreword by actor Joe Mantegna, this essay collection showcases 21 authors of Italian heritage writing on subjects ranging from food and wine to religion, immigration and language. Louise DeSalvo recalls that her grandfather always drank wine instead of water because in his native Puglia, water was often home to malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Laura Valeri tackles the mystical side of life with an account of a childhood séance in Sardinia that goes eerily awry, and Stephanie Susnjara charts the history of garlic in society and in her own kitchen. [$15.95; paperback; 288 pages; Other Press]

• Blue Guide: Sicily
  By Ellen Grady
  This comprehensive overview of Sicily covers everything from what to see and where to eat to how to appreciate museum artworks. What makes this guide book stand apart from the rest? It includes a short history of each city and town on this island that has been invaded by the Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Normans, who all left their mark on it. Each of Sicily’s nine provinces has a chapter listing where to stay, local transportation and the best restaurants for local cuisine along with color photographs, maps and diagrams [26.95; paperback; 512 pages; W.W. Norton]
• Franca’s Story: Survival in WWII Italy
  By Diane Kinman
  Biographer Diane Kinman tells the true story of her neighbor, Franca Mercati’s experiences as a fourteen year old girl in war-torn northern Italy from 1937 to 1945. Whether she is rescuing a downed British pilot, visiting the Pope's quarters or risking her life to feed her starving family, Franca shows a streak of courage throughout her ordeal. This award-winning book is available at a $4.00 discount and free shipping if ordered through the website: www.wimerp ublishing.com. [$26.95; hardcover; 204 pages; Wimer Publishing Company]

The Sons of Italy National Book Club is dedicated to the works of writers who focus on Italian American issues, themes, experiences and Italian culture. OSIA chooses three to four fiction and non-fiction books each quarter for a total of 12 to 16 titles a year.

OSIA encourages its 700+ lodges as well as other Italian American organizations, clubs and individuals to choose one or more of the books each quarter to read and donate copies to their local schools or public libraries.

Most book club selections can be bought on the OSIA Web site.

Order all your books, magazines, etc. through OSIA and Amazon.com. Most orders are shipped within 24 hours.

As a special bonus, Amazon.com will donate a percentage of all sales ordered on our site to OSIA.

CLICK HERE to Buy OSIA Winter Book Club Selections Online

OSIA has more than 600,000 members and supporters and a network of more than 700 chapters coast to coast. OSIA works at the community, national and international levels to promote the heritage and culture of an estimated 26 million Italian Americans, the nation's fifth largest ethnic group, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. See www.osia.org.