SONS OF ITALY RELEASES
BOOK CLUB SELECTIONS

Washington, DC-- August 12, 2008

Check out the latest selections for the Sons of Italy Book Club:

• My Cousin the Saint by Justin Catanosoe. Catanoso writes a memoir of his family history and its famous member, Padre Gaetano Catanoso, whom Pope John Paul approved for sainthood in 2005. The author, a successful journalist, made several trips to his ancestor's town, Chorio di San Lorenzo in Calabria, taking part in family feasts and funerals and listening to stories about Padre Gaetano's holy life and amazing miracles. In his book, Catanoso charts the parallel history of his sainted cousin and his grandfather who immigrated to America. [$25.95; hardcover; 352 pages; William Morrow]
• Italy, the Romagnoli Way: A Culinary Journey by G. Franco & Gwen Romagnoli. Renowned chef and restaurateur G. Franco Romagnoli and his wife, Gwen take a journey through Italy's amazingly varied culinary landscape to explore the specialties of its regions. The record of these travels includes authentic recipes from each region as well as its folklore, history and traditions. The result is a cookbook, travel guide and a delightful bedside read. It is also richly illustrated with stunning color photographs. [$24.95; hardcover; 368 pages; The Lyons Press]
• Rosa's Story by Jim Damiano. Rosa's journey begins in Italy in 1924 with an arranged marriage to an Italian American in Utica, New York. It is the true history of a young girl's experiences fictionalized around key events in her life. Through this moving tale, readers will gain a deeper understanding of the immigrant experience and a young woman's unwillingness to resign herself to her fate in a time when strong women were considered a threat. [$17.99; paperback; 336 pages; Tate Publishing & Enterprises. Can order through author's site at www.jimdamiano. com]

• One Hundred & One Beautiful Towns in Italy: Shops and Crafts
  By Paolo Lazzarin
  Gorgeous photographs accompany informative essays about the cities and towns that produce the handcrafted products for which the country is famous. Organized by region, the book explains the history and traditions behind these regional specialties: Venetian glass; Milanese and Como silks, the ceramics found in Umbria's Deruta as well as in Puglia and Sicily. [$45.00; hardcover; 272 pages; Rizzoli]
• The High Heart
  By Joseph Bathanti
  The short stories in this award-winning collection are all linked by an ensemble of heartbreakingly vivid characters, headed by the young Fritz Sweeny and his volatile and eccentric parents. The setting is the Italian American neighborhood of Pittsburgh in the sixties and seventies, when the city still lay in the trough of industrial collapse. Through the painfully honest perplexity of Fritz, the reader gets a clear view of the family, the neighborhood, the city, and the era. [$14.95; paperback; 192 pages; Eastern Washington University Press]

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 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.