This was a good cookbook with good stories to go along with the recipes. The author taking a trip to Italy and learning to cook from an Italian family mostly from the grandmother or Nonna. The area in which he was learning was a little different from where my family was from, so some of the recipes were different. Yet some of the ingredients were the same. I found that to be interesting. This book also took me back to my father teaching me to cook from his grandmother’s recipes. He was the eldest son in our family it didn’t matter boy or girl the eldest was expected to help in the kitchen and he did. His love of stories and food was passed down to me and that was what this book brought back to me. The smells of the kitchen when cooking certain Italian foods is like no other, with a glass of wine while cooking and then sharing with family or friends or both is what cooking is all about. I got that from this book. The recipes were all easy to follow and overall this was a very good book.

What a great memoir! Complete with travel observations and recipes from an Italian Nonna. I also learned a little Italian along the way. Mark Donovan Leslie has a wonderful way with words, describing everything from daily tasks to historical sites to family gatherings to personal emotional moments. He has a wonderful sense of humor and easily laughs at himself. I will use this book in reference to future travels and cooking!

My thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a digital copy of this informative and highly entertaining book!

Another great food memoir story. I enjoy these, as it showcases the culture of a place as well as how someone reacted in daily life. While it is not a must read, it is a nice read, especially if on the way to Italy for a getaway.

It's a shame that it took me so long to read this, and in the course of full disclosure I should say that I know Mark through our work together. So what took me so long to read it? A backlog of books to read, for one, and the fact that I have no history with Italian culture and so I was not sure that I would be able to really immerse myself in this. But this book isn't so much about a love of Italian culture or food as it is a memoir of one man's journey to his Italian heritage, learning the language and the food (which might be considered a language to the Italians) during his month-long visit, which opens him up to a number of revelations. The book is lovingly sprinkled with recipes because ... well ... Italian.

Author Mark Leslie is very open through the course of the book about a number of things - from his being a gay man, to his visitation by the spirit of an old friend while staying in Italy - and it is this openness that is most appealing and charming and what pulls the reader in. It is interesting to note, however, that in all the private matters that Mark shares with his Italian family, being gay is the one thing that he keeps to himself. He comments on this more than once through the course of the narrative and it is strange that as close as he is to his Italian family, he doesn't feel like he can share the true nature of his self with them.

But I should acknowledge that I can empathize without fully understanding. I am not in his position but I suspect I would find it difficult as well.

Leslie's opening up to the reader about a nighttime spiritual 'visitation' is one of the things that I will think about for a long time after reading this book. It is extremely personal and revealing and it is honest in a way that you won't typically find in a memoir of this sort. It is a very powerful few moments.

I haven't made any of the recipes myself (I've book-marked a few for later) but I've been fortunate enough to try a few items that Mark has made himself. Supremely satisfying!

The book really is a journey of discovery and growth and it happens in the course of a month. Mark is changed by the experience and reader will be too.

Looking for a good book? <em>Beyond the Pasta</em> by Mark Leslie is an extraordinary memoir of one man's journey immersing himself in a culture and language very foreign to himself and the perspective he takes away from it.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.