Italian Ways
On and Off the Rails from Milan to Palermo
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Narrated by:
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Ben Bartolone
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By:
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Tim Parks
About this listen
The best-selling author of Italian Neighbors returns with a wry and revealing portrait of Italian life - by riding its trains.
Tim Parks’s books on Italy have been hailed as "so vivid, so packed with delectable details, [they] serve as a more than decent substitute for the real thing" (Los Angeles Times Book Review).
Now, in his first Italian travelogue in a decade, he delivers a charming and funny portrait of Italian ways by riding its trains from Verona to Milan, Rome to Palermo, and right down to the heel of Italy.
Parks begins as any traveler might: "A train is a train is a train, isn’t it?" But soon he turns his novelist’s eye to the details, and as he journeys through majestic Milano Centrale station or on the newest high-speed rail line, he delivers a uniquely insightful portrait of Italy. Through memorable encounters with ordinary Italians - conductors and ticket collectors, priests and prostitutes, scholars and lovers, gypsies and immigrants - Parks captures what makes Italian life distinctive: an obsession with speed but an acceptance of slower, older ways; a blind eye toward brutal architecture amid grand monuments; and an undying love of a good argument and the perfect cappuccino.
Italian Ways also explores how trains helped build Italy and how their development reflects Italians’ sense of themselves from Garibaldi to Mussolini to Berlusconi and beyond. Most of all, Italian Ways is an entertaining attempt to capture the essence of modern Italy. As Parks writes, "To see the country by train is to consider the crux of the essential Italian dilemma: Is Italy part of the modern world, or not?"
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The Ghost Writer
- A Novel
- By: Robert Harris
- Narrated by: Roger Rees
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Adam Lang has been Britain’s longest serving—and most controversial—prime minister of the last half century. As pressure mounts for Lang to complete this memoirs, he hires a professional ghostwriter to finish the book. As he sets to work, the ghostwriter discovers many more secrets than Lang intends to reveal, secrets with the power to alter world politics - secrets with the power to kill.
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Too close to the truth?
- By carl801 on 11-24-07
By: Robert Harris
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A Spy by Nature
- A Novel
- By: Charles Cumming
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Alec Milius is young, smart, and ambitious. He also has a talent for deception. He is working in a dead-end job when a chance encounter leads him to MI6, the elite British Secret Intelligence Service, handing him an opportunity to play center stage in a dangerous game of espionage.
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I highly recommend this little gem
- By Chou Young on 02-14-08
By: Charles Cumming
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The Naked Don't Fear the Water
- An Underground Journey with Afghan Refugees
- By: Matthieu Aikins
- Narrated by: Nick Nikon
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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In this extraordinary book, an acclaimed young war reporter chronicles a dangerous journey on the smuggler’s road to Europe, accompanying his friend, an Afghan refugee, in search of a better future.
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Great story, horrible narration
- By AB on 02-25-22
By: Matthieu Aikins
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Netherland
- By: Joseph O'Neill
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Alone and un-tethered, feeling lost in the country he had come to regard as home, Hans stumbles upon the vibrant New York subculture of cricket, where he revisits his lost childhood and, thanks to a friendship with a charismatic and charming Trinidadian named Chuck Ramkissoon, begins to reconnect with his life and his adopted country. Ramkissoon, a Gatsby-like figure who is part idealist and part operator, introduces Hans to an "other" New York populated by immigrants and strivers of every race and nationality.
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Get Your Post-Colonial Gatsby ON!
- By Darwin8u on 04-13-12
By: Joseph O'Neill
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Travels in Siberia
- By: Ian Frazier
- Narrated by: Ian Frazier
- Length: 20 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Ian Frazier trains his eye for unforgettable detail on Siberia, that vast expanse of Asiatic Russia. He explores many aspects of this storied, often grim region. He writes about the geography, the resources, the native peoples, the history, the 40-below midwinter afternoons, the bugs. The book brims with Mongols, half-crazed Orthodox archpriests, fur seekers, ambassadors of the czar bound for Peking, tea caravans, German scientists, American prospectors, intrepid English nurses, and prisoners and exiles of every kind....
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I Loved This Book
- By Sara on 01-05-14
By: Ian Frazier
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Zoo Station
- John Russell WWII Spy, Book 1
- By: David Downing
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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By 1939, Anglo-American journalist John Russell has spent over a decade in Berlin, where his son lives with his mother. He writes human-interest pieces for British and American papers, avoiding the investigative journalism that could get him deported. But as World War II approaches, he faces having to leave his son as well as his girlfriend of several years, a beautiful German starlet. When an acquaintance from his old communist days approaches him to do some work for the Soviets, Russell is reluctant, but he is unable to resist the offer.
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Overall great listen!
- By Patricia on 02-28-24
By: David Downing
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Stasiland
- Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall
- By: Anna Funder
- Narrated by: Denica Fairman
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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In Stasiland, Anna Funder tells extraordinary stories of ordinary people who heroically resisted the communist dictatorship, and of those who worked for its vicious secret police, the Stasi. She meets Miriam, who as a 16-year-old was accused of trying to start World War III. She visits the regime’s cartographer, a man obsessed to this day with the Berlin Wall, then gets drunk with the legendary “Mik Jegger” of the east, once declared by the authorities “no longer to exist.”
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A Great Achievement
- By Sil A. on 08-11-21
By: Anna Funder
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China Road
- A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power
- By: Rob Gifford
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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National Public Radio's Beijing correspondent Rob Gifford recounts his travels along Route 312, the Chinese Mother Road, the longest route in the world's most populous nation. Based on his successful NPR radio series, China Road draws on Gifford's 20 years of observing first-hand this rapidly transforming country, as he travels east to west, from Shanghai to China's border with Kazakhstan. As he takes listeners on this journey, he also takes them through China's past and present while he tries to make sense of this complex nation's potential future.
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An Outstanding Book on China
- By Sarda on 08-13-07
By: Rob Gifford
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The Masked Rider
- Cycling in West Africa
- By: Neil Peart
- Narrated by: Brian Sutherland
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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The prolific drummer for the rock band Rush travels through African villages, both large and small, and relates his story through journal entries and tales of adventure, while simultaneously addressing issues such as differences in culture, psychology, and labels. Literary and artistic sidekicks such as Aristotle, Dante, and Van Gogh join Peart and his cycling companions, reminding the listener that this is not just another travel book - it is a story of both external and introspective discovery and adventure.
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Fascinating Trip Across Cameroon
- By Diann Sedam on 11-26-19
By: Neil Peart
What listeners say about Italian Ways
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- J. Fong
- 08-24-15
Good insight into Italian culture...
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
Yes, I think this book is worth it to get to know Italian culture from the view of the trains. I listened to this book prior to going to italy and traveling, and it helped navigate the rail system and to understand Italy on a deeper level.
What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?
Tim Parks was openly critical of a country that he clearly loves.
What three words best describe Ben Bartolone’s voice?
Inappropriate, incongruous, and unfitting. Because the voice of the author is that of an old ex-pat carmudgeon from Britain, and the narrator sounded like a young American.
Do you think Italian Ways needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?
I haven't even bothered to finish the book because I got a little bored, saw that there were still 2 hours to go in the narration, and wondered what possibly more the author could discuss about Italian rails. Almost seemed like he was riding around the country just to have more material to talk about.
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1 person found this helpful
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- G. Speck
- 10-21-19
Great Read
I read this while in Italy and taking the trains for a large portion of the trip. Interesting and funny and informative. Good narration. Helpful information and gives a lot of insight into the Italian way of doing things.
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- Anonymous
- 07-06-21
Ad Nauseum
Writer wastes precious moments of our lives drolling on ad nauseum about the most insignificant train details.
Emergency STOP please.
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- Xkoqueen
- 09-20-18
Choo-choo! The Romance of Railway Travel in Italy
“A train is a train is a train, isn’t it?” So starts Tim Parks’ Italian Ways: On and Off the Rails from Milan to Palermo. The charming narrative about life and travel in Italy vacillates between complaints of the inefficiencies and inconveniences of rail travel to extolling its virtues. Sure the bus is faster, but it isn’t nearly as romantic or interesting!
I love to travel, and my very first memory is of a train trip from California to Iowa to visit my grandmother. It seemed like a grand and daring adventure at the age of three. I haven’t used the U.S. train system much, but I have used the train in other countries when traveling in adulthood. I loved every minute of the experiences unique to train travel in each country! So, when I spotted this book in my library’s newsletter, I snatched up an audiobook copy of Italian Ways.
Tim Parks’ book did not disappoint. I loved his use of anecdotes to show Italians’ stalwart devotion to living at home with their family while commuting up to hundreds of miles by train to work. Parks made each vignette come to life with vivid descriptions of the people and places. Whether it was officious train personnel, odiferous commuters or charming, but hapless tourists, each of Parks’ interactions on his railway travels is memorable. He truly gives readers the social, economic, and political vibe of Italy.
Whether the chapter was about regional, interregional or high-speed (i.e., Eurostar) trains, the stories brought back memories of my own travels. The book will resonate with anyone who has traveled by train in Europe—especially Italy, and readers who have not travelled to Europe/Italy, will surely begin planning their own railway adventure to experience not only the romance of rail travel but the highly organic experience of regional trains and the colorful and enriching interaction with the local community.
The audiobook is entertainingly narrated by Ben Bartolone.
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- 4GO
- 01-16-17
At least TRY for proper pronunciation.
As an American who has spent a considerable amount of time in Italy, although I am by no means fluent I nonetheless know what proper Italian sounds like; names of cities etc.
The narrator here isn't capable of saying much beyond "spaghetti and meatballs" properly, which serves to spoil the authors novel but humorous and accurate premise.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Aaron
- 03-25-14
Extremely entertaining
Italian Ways has been one of the most enjoyable audiobooks I've listened to in a long time. It's not just the reading (which was excellent), but the wonderful insight into the Italian way of life.
This book is incredibly hard to describe and that's what makes it such an excellent listen. The author gives you a view of the Italian people through the perspective of a frequent rail-traveler. The book is a well-composed series of stories chronicling humorous, sweet, and frustrating events the author either participated in or witnessed while using the train system.
The stories couldn't be more enjoyable or vivid. Tim Parks ignites your imagination and builds the most incredible scenes of people interacting with one another. And, Ben Bartalone, the narrator, really delivers, as well.
I can't recommend this one highly enough.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Toby
- 11-11-13
A most interesting train ride through Italy
Would you listen to Italian Ways again? Why?
Only if there was a narrator/reader with a British/Italian accent. The reader was so very NOT right for this travel book. It made me want to stop listening at times. He was boring.
What other book might you compare Italian Ways to and why?
Not so sure. He is not as intimate a writer as Frances Mayes, but then that is a different kind of book.
How could the performance have been better?
By hiring a good British reader who speaks Italian. To have to listen to a narrative by a Btit read by am american with a midwest sort of whiny accent was not good.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
It made me long for Italy when I could get over the bad reader.
Any additional comments?
If an author is British, use a British reader.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Sara
- 03-04-16
only for train enthusiast..
What would have made Italian Ways better?
I think I expected more italian life and italian people in the story, but it was pretty much just about him figuring out the trains.....
What does Ben Bartolone bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
He has the voice of the teachers pet. It's annoying. A bit too cheery
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1 person found this helpful
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- Risheliss
- 03-14-17
This book is awful, pronunciation is terrible.
a better reader would have helped. I couldn't stomach it. it was awful and annoying.
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- Susan
- 05-18-20
Get a narrator who can pronounce Italian!!
I love the author Tim Parks. But this narrator ruins his wonderful writing. It’s such a shame. I kept trying to relisten and relisten but it just made me too aggravated to hear this guy butchered the Italian. What’s going on here? You think these things would be more carefully vetted.
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3 people found this helpful