Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World by Anthony Doerr, 290 pages

Before author Anthony Doerr won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel "All the Light We Cannot See" he won the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

The prize comes with a stipend, an apartment and a writing studio in Rome for a year.  He learned of the award the day after his wife had twin boys.  These new parents packed up the boys when they were six months old and headed to Rome.

Doerr had a novel ruminating in his brain that he thought he would work on during the year.  That novel eventually became "All the Light We Cannot See" but he didn't do much writing on it during the year he spent in Rome.

I listened to this book, read by the author, and it was such a wonderful peek into this brilliant writer's mind.  He knows his words, this one.   It was also a wonderful look at Rome and Italy and life in general.