A change of name.

I think we'd all agree that reading the print edition of a book is a more pleasurable experience than reading its digital version on a Kindle or an iPad. Nevertheless there are times when the latter come in handy: when we're going on holiday and want to save space and weight in our luggage, or when we want to read in bed with the light out in order to avoid keeping our spouses awake. And e-books do have one tremendous advantage over their traditional cousins: they're searchable. I've downloaded from Gutenberg digital versions of a large number of out-of-copyright books I already own for that sole reason. If I want to track down a half-remembered reference or quotation it only takes a few seconds. However, quite rightly, you have to pay to acquire an e-book whose copyright hasn't expired and for several years this had caused me a problem. To explain.

   Ever since I began this blog I knew that there was a more apt title than the one I'd given it. Some years previously I'd come across a character in one of Camilleri's Montalbano stories whose name would supply the perfect title. Unfortunately, although I could remember the plot, I'd not only forgotten his name but that of the book as well. The problem was compounded by the fact that he appeared in a short story, not a novel. Camilleri's novels all have a brief résumé on the fly leaf, so if it had fallen into that category the book would have been relatively easy to identify. The short stories don't, and there are four volumes of them. So I abandoned the idea.

   Then today, whilst browsing the net, I stumbled across free - no doubt pirated - PDFs of two of the volumes. I downloaded them and within minutes, by putting a plot detail into the search field, had found the story I was looking for. It's called Pezzetti di spago assolutamente inutilizzabili [Completely useless bits of string] and appears in a collection called Gli arancini di Montalbano [Montalbano's Croquettes]. The character I was seeking is called il ragioniere [the accountant] Ettore Ferro. So, quest over, The Pool of Narcissus has now become La cantina del ragioniere Ettore Ferro.  If you want to know his cantina's relevance to this blog I'm afraid you'll need to read the tale - though unfortunately there doesn't seem to be an English translation.

   By the way, the Ettore Ferro in the photo is a blues-singer and, as far as I know, has no connection whatsoever to Camilleri's story.


Update: 10th October.

The Young Montalbano TV series with English subtitles is currently airing on the BBC. Episode 3 incorporates the plot of Pezzetti di spago assolutamente inutilizzabili.

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