Italian Easy Reader: Morte in Maratona (Italian Edition)

I have read several of Ms. Medaglia's kindle books. The Easy Readers are for the intermediate student as they offer some challenges but remain very readable. This new story is fairly typical though it may be a bit longer than the others. I try reading "real books" occasionally but I keep coming back to these. There are plenty of words that I don't know so my vocabulary continues to grow. Sentence structure is very simple so even though the book is easy to read, it is not really preparing me for the types of sentences I would encounter in normal books. Ms. Medaglia has written for kindle a couple of books that are a bit more difficult that may be helpful with this transition.

On my Kindle, it seems that all apostrophes, quotation marks and accented letters show as a white question mark in a black diamond. Annoying to read. See photo. Beware-- Amazon allowed only one week for a return! By the time I started the book, the return period had expired. It's not much money but return should be available for defective items.

4.5 stars. I liked this murder mystery story very much. It's longer than the first two mysteries I read by the same author (Omicidio alla moda and its sequel Omicidio in passerella) which I also liked. Morte in Maratona has a much more complex plot and my Kindle version worked just fine with the 3 Italian-English Kindle dictionaries I have. It's so helpful to be able to pause briefly to look up a new word and then keep on reading!

This author does a fine job in writing books in Italian that are both easy to read yet provide vocabulary, especially idioms in current usage. Death in a Marathon is one in this series. The story, which is basically a murder mystery, is not complicated, but it's not boring, either. I like her books, and this one is no exception. I found it useful and fun reading at the same time.

I did not expect this book to be Dante Alighieri quality, and it was not. But it delivered what it advertised, a nice, funny easy to understand book in Italian. I already bought my second one by the same authores

Very interesting and easy to follow. The end was a bit abrupt but surprising too. Definitely recommend it.The kindle version is the best. I know very little italian but with the aid of the google dictionary available through kindle I was able not only to follow but to enjoy it. It is even better than a print version were you have to put the book down to go look in a dictionary. Definitely recommend it.

I'm a beginner so the book was perfect for my level. The story, however, wasn't as good as her other murder mystery dealing with the fashion industry. But, I still enjoyed the reading.

I am enjoying this very much. It is readable (for a rank beginner) and engaging. The kindle file, however, is missing the graphics. I am writing this in hope that it might be fixed before I finish the book.

This is relatively easy to read and excellent practice for anyone learning italian. This author pitches the language at the perfect level for post-beginner/elementary level adult/teenage learners. The plots are racy, the characters easy to engage with and the dialogue 'realistic'.You will need to have a reasonable grasp of italian grammar as it is mostly written in passato prossimo & imperfect. However, there is not too much use of conditional, which potentially elementary level learners may not have covered. Where there are words/expressions/slang that have probably not been covered in class, there is an English subscript.I did read with a dictionary to the side of me but didn't have to use it too often and was able to read quite comfortably and fluently. If you enjoy this, 'Il Segreto di Julia' is even better! A much easier read for beginners, also by this author, is Omicidio alla Moda, which is written almost completely in dialogue (present tense).

I like this series of books they have helped very much with practicing Italian. This one has a good story but perhaps a bit obvious as to the outcome but it still holds the attention. I found it pitched just right for intermediate level (about B1). The characters are good and the plot throws the odd twist

I enjoyed this book, it's great to have an adult beginner/improver book. There are quite a few errors, the wrong names for example which made the understanding of the text a little difficult. I still enjoyed it though and learned a lot, it doesn't detract too much from the story.

Yes bought for somebody else and they liked it,peronally its all a foreign language to me.PS. I hate being pestered to write reviews about everything I buy.

An easy reader that was a pleasure to read because the plot was still engaging though in simple Italian. As another reviewer said the tenses used were relatively straightforward so you could concentrate on new vocabulary and the story line