Will I love Roman Stories?

Jhumpa Lahiri is among my favorites authors and I have read much of what she's written. Her writing is elegant and masterful and her fiction is always engaging, thought provoking, and perceptive. This collection of nine short stories is especially impressive as she originally wrote in Italian, a language she adopted as an adult, and then translated them into English with Todd Portnowitz.

I had just gone back to Rome last summer and so when I stumbled across Jhumpa Lahiri’s latest short story collection centered around my newly favorite ancient city, I couldn’t resist.

I feel the same way about this book as I do about the city of Rome: not exactly easy or breezy, but deeply moving in a way that is hard to explain or verbalize. The stories, like the Italian town, drew me in slowly and surely, and I never knew quite what to expect next—my favorite feeling when it comes to both travel and books.