Even though The Day Before Happiness is not a long book, it is full with details about life in Naples, people behavior and well developed characters

Starting with the early Roman settlers, salt traders, the book introduces readers to fascinus, the winged phallus which becomes a family heirloom & each chapter

The Allies believe that Italy will be a piece of cake and they could move on the Germany. Italy did surrender but the Nazis kept on fighting.

While Lisa Napoli’s take on Bhutan is strictly of an outside observer, I still found the window she opened to the country fascinating

Like many bibliophile I am also somewhat enamored by book covers. I don’t judge a book by its cover, but I certainly pre-judge it as many of us do (but that’s the topic for another post). I am also a comic art collector (well, before kids that is) and have about 10 reviews of graphic novel in my “draft” folder (at the time of this post) – so yes, I like pretty pictures.

I found this book charming, the story flows and the characters are likable. This book is not a deep, serious, preachy, or legal novel, but it is cute

A 2006 memoir of Ms. Gilbert which chronicles her trip around the world after her divorce and takes the reader with on her journey of self discovery.