98 ratings | 6 reviews | avg rating:4.93

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Rita Ciresi

Goodreads author profile

born

New Haven, CT, The United States

gender

female

website

http://www.ritaciresi.com/

genre

Literature & Fiction, Romance, Short Stories

member since

January 2012

About this author

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Rita Ciresi was born in New Haven, Connecticut, a city which serves as the backdrop for most of her fiction. Ciresi is the author of three award-winning novels and two short-story collections that address the Italian-American experience.

Her latest novel, Bring Back My Body to Me, was a semi-finalist for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and a runner-up for the Faulkner/Wisdom Novella Award. Publishers Weekly called it "sensitive, funny, and charming. . . a refreshing entry to the very clogged sub-genre of cancer lit."

Her first collection of short stories, Mother Rocket, won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction and was a finalist for the 1993 Los Angeles Times' Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction.

Her first novel, Blue Italian,...more Rita Ciresi was born in New Haven, Connecticut, a city which serves as the backdrop for most of her fiction. Ciresi is the author of three award-winning novels and two short-story collections that address the Italian-American experience.

Her latest novel, Bring Back My Body to Me, was a semi-finalist for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and a runner-up for the Faulkner/Wisdom Novella Award. Publishers Weekly called it "sensitive, funny, and charming. . . a refreshing entry to the very clogged sub-genre of cancer lit."

Her first collection of short stories, Mother Rocket, won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction and was a finalist for the 1993 Los Angeles Times' Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction.

Her first novel, Blue Italian, was published in hardcover in 1996 by Ecco Press and in paperback by Delacorte Press in 1997. In 1999, it was translated and published as Blau ist die Hoffnung by Goldmann Verlag, Munich. Blue Italian was selected by Barnes and Noble as part of their "Discover New Writers Series." Reviewers have praised the novel as follows: "Rita Ciresi's beautifully written, bittersweet first novel examines love and marriage with unflinching honesty. The ending, with its moving, explicit sense of loss, resonates long after the book is closed." (Elle) "There is a sure hand and a keen eye reporting from the two ethnic camps. . . . Despite their faults and excesses. . . the characters. . . are funny and sympathetic in their misery." (New York Times) "This is honest, earthy, warm, and funny--as well as heartbreaking. Highly recommended." (Library Journal) "There is real substance in this tragicomic story of two people with smart mouths and starved hearts groping their way towards a love they don't get much chance to enjoy." (Publisher's Weekly) "A remarkably accomplished debut." (Booklist)

Ciresi’s second novel, Pink Slip was published by Delacorte in 1999, and by Delta Trade paperbacks in 2000. It was translated into German as Ein Mann fur Lisa (Goldmann Verlag, Munich) and into Dutch as Vlinders (Arena Publishers, Amsterdam). Pink Slip was the winner of the 1997 Pirate's Alley Faulkner Prize for the Novel and an alternate selection of the Literary Guild and the Doubleday Book Club. Critical response to Pink Slip was as follows: “Wit and humor are the keys to this lively novel.” (Mademoiselle) “It’s refreshing to find a female narrator with an authentically lusty voice.” (New York Times) “A moving love story.” (Redbook) “Ciresi mixes the tragic and the comic aspects of love in hilarious fashion.” (Tampa Tribune-Times) “Bright characters and sharp dialogue make this witty romantic comedy a worthy sequel to the author’s admirable Blue Italian.” (Dallas Morning News) “Pink Slip amuses from start to finish.” (Penn Stater).

Ciresi’s volume of linked short stories, Sometimes I Dream in Italian, was published in 2001 to positive reviews from Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, and newspapers from the St. Petersburg Times to the New Haven Advocate. The New York Times Book Review listed the volume under its “New and Noteworthy Paperbacks” and stated, “Ciresi has a lovely ear for dialogue and the ability to nail the details in descriptions that are both funny and painfully accurate.” The collection was a Book Sense 76 pick and a finalist for the Paterson Fiction Prize; it was translated into German by Goldmann Verlag as Italienische Kusse.

Remind Me Again Why I Married You is a sequel to Pink Slip. Told in alternating voices, Remind Me explains what happens when a man who values his privacy above all else marries a woman who is writing a tell-all novel.

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Books by Rita Ciresi

Average rating: 3.16 · 949 ratings · 139 reviews · 8 distinct works

	Pink Slip 3.20 avg rating — 425 ratings — published 1998 — 4 editions	My rating:
	Sometimes I Dream in Italian 3.02 avg rating — 265 ratings — published 2000 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Blue Italian 3.24 avg rating — 141 ratings — published 1996 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Remind Me Again Why I Married You 3.07 avg rating — 99 ratings — published 2003 — 4 editions	My rating:
	Mother Rocket 3.53 avg rating — 15 ratings — published 1993 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Bring Back My Body to Me 4.50 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 2012 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Swan Song 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2010	My rating:
	Italienische Küsse: Roman 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2001	My rating:

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May 02, 2012 09:50am

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Rita Ciresi marked as to-read: This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More. For Young and Old Alike. by Augusten Burroughs	My rating:
May 14, 2012 02:47pm
Rita Ciresi marked as to-read: Canada by Richard Ford	My rating:
May 14, 2012 02:47pm
Rita Ciresi gave to: Lost in Shangri-la by Mitchell Zuckoff (Goodreads Author)	My rating:
May 14, 2012 02:44pm
Rita Ciresi marked as to-read: Flushed: How the Plumber Saved Civilization by W. Hodding Carter	My rating:
May 14, 2012 02:39pm
Rita Ciresi marked as to-read: Blood: An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce by Douglas Starr	My rating:
May 14, 2012 02:39pm
Rita Ciresi marked as to-read: The Calendar by David Ewing Duncan	My rating:
May 14, 2012 02:38pm
Rita Ciresi marked as to-read: I Suck at Girls by Justin Halpern	My rating:
May 12, 2012 12:02pm
Rita Ciresi gave to: Bond Girl: A Novel by Erin Duffy	My rating:
May 12, 2012 11:59am
Rita Ciresi gave to: Breathless by Lurlene McDaniel	My rating:
I think this book will really appeal to my students who want to write Y-A fiction and I'm going to include it on my syllabus next time around, as it is sure to spark interesting debate. It's a page-turner that also forces young readers to think throu...more
May 12, 2012 11:58am · see review
Rita Ciresi gave to: The Man in the Rockefeller Suit: The Astonishing Rise and Spectacular Fall of a Serial Imposter by Mark Seal	My rating:
May 12, 2012 11:52am