Why did I love this book?
A must for all of you, lovers (hopefully) of intelligence and humor. Avidly read and re-written by the superstars of English literature (Chaucer, Shakespeare), Boccaccio’s celebrated cycle of short stories, told by seven ladies and three gentlemen sheltered in the countryside near Florence during the Black Plague, is a timeless summa of wit, narrative pleasure, and literary sophistication. Even historians recycled Boccaccio’s juicy, gossipy accounts to feature (or slander) their characters.
7 authors picked The Decameron as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
In the summer of 1348, as the Black Death ravages their city, ten young Florentines take refuge in the countryside...
Taken from the Greek, meaning 'ten-day event', Boccaccio's Decameron sees his characters amuse themselves by each telling a story a day, for the ten days of their confinement - a hundred stories of love and adventure, life and death, and surprising twists of fate. Less preoccupied with abstract concepts of morality or religion than earthly values, the tales range from the bawdy Peronella, hiding her lover in a tub, to Ser Cepperallo, who, despite his unholy effrontery, becomes a Saint.…