Paolo Gioradano's debut novel has sold over a million copies around the world and earned him Italy's premier literary prize, the Premio Strega. Now, finally, we've earned our taste of his celebrated book here in the states. The Solitude of Prime Numbers is a book of striking beauty and disturbing content, including anorexia, cutting, loneliness and guilt. It's a coming-of-age story in the most awkward and lovely tradition, and its two protagonists are destined to win hearts here just as easily as they have abroad.
Giordano is a young author - only 27 - and his acclaim is all the more impressive given that he's a physicist by trade. He'll be here in conversation with his editor and now head of her own eponymous imprint, Pamela Dorman.
News of Note
Staff Picks
Heirloom: Note of an American Tomato Farmer
Written by Sohaila
by Tim Stark (Random House, $24.00)
Tim Stark's journey from a struggling writer in Brooklyn growing contraband tomatos on his rooftop to a supplier to the city's top chefs is a most entertaining read. Now all I want to do is go to the Greenmarket and eat and eat, with a new appreciation of what the people there go through to get the goods to us.
Gus Is a Fish
Written by Katie
by Claire Babin (Enchanted Lion Books, $14.95)
Let Gus inspire you as he lets his imagination take him on this exciting water adventure.
Gods of Manhattan
Written by Katie
by Scott Mebus (Dutton, $17.99)
A fantasy adventure that brings together people from New York's past and some contemporary kids with some hidden talents of their own, as they try to save Manhattan from destroying itself!