If there's one thing a goomba understands, it's love. For his mother and her Sunday sauce, his family, his Family, his friends, his wife, his goomar on the side, even for his car (in which he better not catch you eating) — the goomba is a big, bubbling, oozing, overflowing...well, let's just say the goomba is full of love, capice?

In his first book, Steve Schirripa explained how to live like a guy from the neighborhood. Now, in The Goomba's Book of Love, Steve helps every goomba, non-goomba, goomba-ette, and goomba-wanna-be figure out the finer points of goomba love. Motherly love, for instance. You weigh 250 pounds and you bench press 350, but still you cry when your mother yells at you. Or fellow goomba love. Who else are you gonna go to a Mets game with? There's also romantic love, of course, complete with romantic goomba movies (The Bridges of Bergen County), songs (Killing Me Softly...with Piano Wire), and Christmas songs (I'm Dreaming of a White Clam Sauce). In other words, the whole lasagna of love.

Steve Schirripa really should charge a coupla hundge for wising you up like this, but since you're such a good person he'll let you slide for the price of the book. Don't mention it. But maybe next time you stop by, you can bring a dozen cannoli from that bakery on 82nd Street in Bensonhurst...

From the New York Times bestselling author of A Goomba's Guide to Life (more than 78,000 copies sold) comes the sequel, a hilarious, honest look at goomba amore.

“After reading my husband Steve’s book I didn’t know whether to hug him or call my attorney.” —Laura Schirripa

From the Trade Paperback edition.

From the bestselling author of A Goomba's Guide to Life comes the sequel: a hilarious, brutally honest look at goomba "amore" in all its many forms.

Move over, Miss Lonelyhearts . . . Steven R. Schirripa, author of the runaway bestseller A Goomba’s Guide to Life, is back with more life lessons from the neighborhood, and this time the subject is love.

Now, your average goomba may be better known for his penchant for gold chains and macaroni, but Steve Schirripa knows there is one driving force in a goomba’s life and that’s love—love for his mother and her Sunday sauce, his wife and kids, his friends, his goomar on the side, even for his car (and he better not catch you eating in it, if you know what’s good for you). In other words, the goomba is full of love, capice?

Recalling stories of his own colorful journey from the streets of Bensonhurst to the bright lights of Las Vegas and stardom as Bobby “Bacala” Baccilieri in HBO’s hit series The Sopranos, Schirripa observes the finer points of amore in all its forms. Take, for instance, the boundaries of brotherly love: It’s okay, he explains, to go to a Mets game with your buddy but definitely not to a yoga class. Then there’s the tough love of la famiglia. Every goomba is a family man, after all. So you want him to tell the truth? Ask him to swear on the heads of his children. Steve also waxes poetic about romantic love, complete with goomba dating tips (“Do steal a kiss; don’t steal her purse”), what to look for in a real goomba broad (“Her? She’d go to the chair for me”), and a list of tender goomba movies (The Way We Was).

Alternately touching, telling, and laugh-out-loud funny, The Goomba’s Book of Love proves that no one loves as fiercely (or as frequently) as a goomba.

STEVEN R. SCHIRRIPA is best known to television audiences as Bobby “Bacala” Baccilieri on HBO’s The Sopranos, and has recently appeared on Law and Order: SVU, George Lopez, Ed, and Damon Wayans’s My Wife and Kids. He is also a frequent guest on Hollywood Squares, and can be seen in numerous feature films, including the upcoming release Stuey. He lives with his wife and two daughters in New York City and Las Vegas.

CHARLES FLEMING is the author of the novels The Ivory Coast and After Havana, and coauthor of Three Weeks in October and A Goomba’s Guide to Life. An accomplished chef, he puts the man in manicotti.

First love : a goomba and his mother — Brotherly love : a goomba and his buddies — Looking for love : the goomba's guide to dating — True love : the goomba relationship — Tough love : the goomba family man — A fool for love : the two-timing goomba — A time for love : the romantic goomba — Material love : the things a goomba can't resist.