Books like The Things We Used to Say

The Things We Used to Say (published in an earlier translation as Family Sayings) asks to be read as fiction, though the author admits that it is highly autobiographical. The book spans the period from the rise of fascism in Italy through World War II and its immediate aftermath. The subject of this book is the inconsequential, revealing remarks that are repeated in a family until they become its affectionate private code, rich in memory and association. Here is one of the rare true evocations of a family in modern literature.