I almost hate posting the above photo of the English edition cover of the first volume in the Neapolitan novels trilogy, because it motivated me to start reading e-books on my Kindle. It is a truly hideous book and proof of the adage that you cannot judge a book by the cover (but as an aside -- there is nothing wrong with a beautiful book, and whenever possible, isn't is preferable?).

My Brilliant Friend has the dubious honor of having re-energized my reading and getting me out of a bit of a slump, along with preventing my reading War and Peace very quickly. Elena Ferrante's trilogy about a lifelong friendship between two women has been on my radar for quite some time -- James Wood at The New Yorker is a huge advocate and the author has gotten a lot of buzz lately for being famously reclusive. Her identify is somewhat shrouded, causing the Italian press to speculate that 'Elena Ferrante' is the pen-name of a more established (male) Italian author. This is unfair and seems almost certainly untrue.

I've never read a better characterization of female friendship and more and more I'm realizing how much I enjoy books that explore this relationship. Maybe it's because I've been happily married for five years, but generally books that focus on romantic relationship don't do much for me -- they either focus on passionate and tempestuous relationships that are doomed, or on the numbness of prolonged monogamy, neither of which mean anything to me. But at this point in my life, relationships between women seem like the most dynamic and engaging, and as a reader it's what I'm drawn to.