Letters to My Son on the Love of Books

Letters to My Son on the Love of Books is a collection of four "letters" from an Italian father to his young son Francesco - an introduction not only to the wonders of literature, but also the moral dimensions it contains.Each "letter" focuses on a particular theme, and on one book or author to illustrate it. In these essays Cotroneo explores how Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island instructs us on anxiety; tenderness is discovered in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye; the notion of passion is articulated in T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" and "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"; and Thomas Bernhard's The Loser illustrates how the pitfalls of unhealthy competition can turn talent into disaster.Cotroneo has chosen books from which he has learned valuable lessons about the world, lessons that as a father he passionately wants to share with his son. For book lovers of all ages, these "letters" of practical criticism offer valuable and practical lessons for life.