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If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler | Italo Calvino, William Weaver
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) Introduction by Peter Washington; Translation by William Weaver Italo Calvinos masterpiece combines a love story and a detective story into an exhilarating allegory of reading, in which the reader of the book becomes the books central character. Based on a witty analogy between the readers desire to finish the story and the lovers desire to consummate his or her passion, IF ON A WINTERS NIGHT A TRAVELER is the tale of two bemused readers whose attempts to reach the end of the same bookIF ON A WINTERS NIGHT A TRAVELER, by Italo Calvino, of courseare constantly and comically frustrated. In between chasing missing chapters of the book, the hapless readers tangle with an international conspiracy, a rogue translator, an elusive novelist, a disintegrating publishing house, and several oppressive governments. The result is a literary labyrinth of storylines that interrupt one anotheran Arabian Nights of the postmodern age.
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IndoorDame
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#weirdwords #weirdwordwednesday I read a great article this week titled “Italo Calvino's 14 Definitions of What Makes a Classic” and when I googled the highlighted word most of the results linked back to the article I‘d started from. Apparently Calvino uses it in the tagged book too. It never shows up in a dictionary but the consensus seems to be that he‘s Anglicized the Italian verb for to pulverize (I don‘t speak Italian).👇🏼

IndoorDame I‘m all for adding more nuanced words to writing when a language don‘t have one. When I write poetry I‘m frequently wishing English had words we just don‘t. 10mo
CBee @IndoorDame I agree! Thanks for sharing. Funny how the English language is so vast but still sometimes limiting 🧐 10mo
42 likes2 comments
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Yuki_Onna
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Here's my #December #Bookspin /#Bookspinbingo list! ❄️
@TheAromaofBooks

This also gives me some options for the prompts of the December #winter #Pokémon #GottaCatch'emAll challenge created by @PuddleJumper 😊
Super excited for December and lots of cozy reading while it's raining or snowing outside!

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 11mo
PuddleJumper ❄️❄️ 11mo
16 likes2 comments
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Jen2
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Pickpick

This is a wild ride!!!!

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wanderinglynn
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Group C- Y‘all, I‘m having a tough time narrowing it down. Let me know what you prefer.

#coldweatherreads

See All 9 Comments
Bookwormjillk I haven't read any of these, but The Winter Garden and The Winter People sound most intriguing to me. I'd be happy with any of them though. 12mo
suvata I read The Winter People, but I haven‘t read the others. I‘m not a big fan of Calvino. Personally, I would pick The Winter Garden, but I will go with whatever the rest of the group picks. (edited) 12mo
TheBookHippie I read 12 dates but none of the rest. All the others look good! (edited) 12mo
wanderinglynn @suvata @Bookwormjillk @TheBookHippie I‘ll go with The Winter Garden. 😀 12mo
44 likes9 comments
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Creadnorthey
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Pickpick

It has taken 25 years + to finally reread this book and it was well worth the wait. It is amazing how a book can get you thinking and inspire you to approach the big questions with humour and humanity. This is that type of book.

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Creadnorthey
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This book was one I had read way back in 1988. I loved it! I promised myself that if ever I had a life changing event, I would use it as an anchor to stabilize me (if you know the book you see the irony). With time and life changing events passing I came to fear that I may have put this book too high on a pedestal. With a triple bypass looming it came off the shelf. Pleased to say both bypass and book are standing the test of time admirably.

BookwormM Great book and glad you are doing well 1y
14 likes1 comment
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JenDR
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So this is a buddy read pick with a co-worker. Know nothing about it except that she was excited to read it. Decided to start reading it in a new independent coffee shop that opened in the town next to mine. Liking both so far.

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Sophronisba
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“To fly is the opposite of traveling: you cross a gap in space, you vanish into the void, you accept not being in any place for a duration that is itself a kind of void in time; then you reappear, in a place and in a moment with no relation to the where and the when in which you vanished.“

#SundaySentence

Cathythoughts Great sentence 👍🏻 2y
Sophronisba @Cathythoughts This book can be confounding, but it has tons of great sentences and paragraphs. 2y
10 likes2 comments
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Read-y_Picker
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@TheAromaofBooks' March #Bookspin numbers are drawn! I'm excited about my picks and I have a great feeling about this month's board. Time to get reading!

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 2y
32 likes1 comment
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underground_bks
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Pickpick

This modern classic is a postmodern puzzle following “you,” the Reader, and the Other Reader (an attractive woman) on a quest to find a full story, each time finding a book incomplete or misprinted, and thus over and over getting hooked by a series of incipits (openings of texts). A kaleidoscopic examination of reading and writing and storytelling ensues—and a book I found clever, amusing, and frustrating (1970s gender & sexuality) at times.

IuliaC Great review! I enjoyed this one 2y
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johncadams
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Pickpick

Such good fun and never takes itself too seriously.

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psalva
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📚 If on a Winter‘s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
✒️ John Irving
🎞 Inside Man
🎤 The Ink Spots
🎼 “I Want to Break Free,” by Queen, “I‘ll Be Your Mirror,” and “I‘m Waiting for the Man,” by The Velvet Underground, “I‘m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter,” by Fats Waller, “I‘m So Tired,” by The Beatles, “Illegal Smile,” by John Prine #manicmonday #letteri @CBee

psalva This one was tough for me- I had a hard time picking everything except songs. There‘s too many good songs starting with I! 2y
CBee It was tough for me too, except the songs! Thanks for playing 😊 2y
13 likes2 comments
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CindyMyLifeIsLit
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Pickpick

I fell utterly in love with this book! I was instantly charmed when I started reading. The spiral of texts takes us down a delightful rabbit hole! Calvino explores the multitude of ways that readers interact with stories and books. He starts with the physicality of books and obtaining them and moves on to how we process stories. He goes on to address the impact of author origin and history, the fluidity and evolution of languages, ⬇️

CindyMyLifeIsLit and the vagaries of translations. Throughout, he is constantly evaluating and examining the essence of stories. The book comes across to me, from beginning to end, as a celebration of everything to do with reading. This definitely goes on my “Favorites” shelf!! 3y
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Csn
Pickpick

A wonderful book, very off the wall but enjoyable none the less. Speaks to the heart of a bookworm‘s soul.

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CindyMyLifeIsLit
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I read this with a Goodreads group and loved it! Other members found it difficult or not to their tastes, so it definitely doesn‘t work for everyone. The writing is exquisite, but the format is more nontraditional and experimental. I‘m adding it to my favorites shelf!
#QotD

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CindyMyLifeIsLit
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“I would like to be able to write a book that is only an incipit, that maintains for its whole duration the potentiality of the beginning, the expectation still not focused on an object. But how could such a book be constructed? Would it break off after the first paragraph? Would the preliminaries be prolonged indefinitely? Would it set the beginning of one tale inside another, as in the Arabian Nights?” (173). So glad he figured it out! 😁

wanderinglynn This book has been on my TBR for a while. 3y
CindyMyLifeIsLit @wanderinglynn It‘s definitely different! Some of the people in my group dnf‘d it, but I absolutely loved it! 3y
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CindyMyLifeIsLit
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“ . . . the signs of that invisible movement that reading is, the flow of gaze and breath, but, even more, the journey of the words through the person, their course or their arrest, their spurts, delays, pauses, the attention concentrating or straying, the returns, that journey that seems uniform and on the contrary is always shifting and uneven” (165). So many quotable lines in this book!! ❤️❤️

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keepingupwiththepenguins
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Panpan

It‘s clever, it‘s interesting, it‘s masterfully written… but I kept falling asleep. If On A Winter‘s Night A Traveler is the most soporific novel I‘ve picked up since The Golden Bowl. It‘s like, I could appreciate that the writing craft was excellent, but I couldn‘t ignore that the reading experience was so-so (at best). Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/if-on-a-winters-night-a-traveler-italo-calv...

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CindyMyLifeIsLit
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“Reading,” he says, “is always this: there is a thing that is there, a thing made of writing, a solid, material object, which cannot be changed, and through this thing we measure ourselves against something else that is not present, something else that belongs to the immaterial, invisible world, because it can only be thought, imagined, or because it was once and is no longer, past, lost, unattainable, in the land of the dead . . . “ (70).

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CindyMyLifeIsLit
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Just started reading this and am already delighted with Calvino‘s fantastic description of a reader‘s foray into a bookstore. The reader is forced to navigate through the book displays as though they were opposing forces. “ . . . you have forced your way through the shop past the thick barricade of Books You Haven‘t Read, which were frowning at you from the tables and shelves, trying to cow you.” Too true, and too funny!! ❤️❤️

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NataliePatalie
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Mehso-so

Character limit here, so I wrote a longer review on goodreads which I'll link below if you're curious BUT in short: I like the idea, I like the theme, but I don't think I liked the actual story or Calvino's writing style. Maybe skip this book & listen to SYGNYL: A General Mystification instead (which is what my bookmark is from 👀) https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3899661623

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Therewillbebooks
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Pickpick

Just posted episode 46 on March our bookclub selection, Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveler. It's enjoyable if you're into postmodern meta fiction and books about reading books and half finished stories. I liked it, Peter liked it less and I'm curious to hear what everyone else thinks. We have a fun conversation about it though. Enjoy!

https://open.spotify.com/show/6A6hXZ7eaOG7BtHOSJpCTI

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rwmg
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Mehso-so

I can recognise that it is something of a tour-de-force and I know it is loved by many but, although it has made me more aware at least for the moment of how I read, ultimately this book didn't really do it for me. It probably deserves a pick as an accomplishment but my own reaction is a so-so

Ruthiella Yeah, this one didn‘t work for me either. I‘ll try another of his books one of these days. 4y
23 likes1 comment
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rwmg
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An essential clause in any pre-nup

EdnaC That‘s a great requirement 4y
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rwmg
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Reggie Hmmm lol 4y
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rwmg
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rwmg
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rwmg
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You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino‘s new novel, If on a winter‘s night a traveler. Relax.

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

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rwmg
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Reggie Lol, awesome! 4y
Reggie Looks very relaxing. 4y
22 likes2 comments
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NataliePatalie
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"...then from the very first page you realize that the novel you are holding has nothing to do with the one you were reading yesterday."

Blueberry 😆, gotta read it to get that. 4y
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NataliePatalie
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1. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler (WEIRD)
2. The newest Susanna Clark book...forgetting the name?!
3. None right now! But I need to order my next bookclub book soon.

@rachelsbrittain #weekendreads @Blueberry

OutAndAbout Piranesi? I‘m looking forward to that one. Hopefully it wasn‘t too forgettable! (edited) 4y
NataliePatalie @OutAndAbout Ah yes that one! I added it to my "to read" list so you'll have to let me know how it is!! 4y
13 likes2 comments
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Therewillbebooks
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New episode just posted! We choose a book from this stack of four and discuss many interesting things, literature, Kubrick, Orson Welles, stuff like that. Check it out here: https://open.spotify.com/show/6A6hXZ7eaOG7BtHOSJpCTI?si=dMxV1X1IQQGA8gN8eHI1Ug

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Christopher_Tallon

This is the coolest book. It inspired the SYGNYL podcast, from the creator of AMC's Dispatches from Elsewhere. (I interviewed him on my podcast!) It has 2nd person POV!!!!!!
Not done reading it yet, but it's so cool. I've not read anything else with the same structure.

NataliePatalie Just finished reading it, also thanks to SYGNYL :) 🌀 4y
Christopher_Tallon @NataliePatalie So good. The podcast I mean. The book too. 4y
18 likes2 comments
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Skygoddess1
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Five years ago today I was in Omaha enjoying lunch at M‘s Pub and looking through the book shown as I had just bought it at an used bookstore in Old Market, when the restaurant‘s gas line was ruptured and blew. While I was not physically injured, I was mentally affected and even today have lingering trauma from that experience. Today I will be spending focusing on my mental health and self care.

eri.reads So sorry u endured those circumstances. PTSD is so debilitating. Much love and prayers your way. ✝️❤️ 4y
Deblovestoread I am so sorry you experienced something so terrifying. It can be a long journey to recover but being gentle with yourself will help. 4y
CoffeeK8 I‘m so sorry you had to deal with that ❤️ 4y
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StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego Wow! That's wild. Thankfully you weren't hurt, but it's understandable you'd be traumatized. Sending love 💖 4y
Skygoddess1 Thank you @eri.reads @Kdgordon88 @CoffeeK8 and @StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego for all the warm thoughts and well wishes. They mean so much 4y
BiblioLitten Sending love and peace💕 4y
Ellies_Books06 Sending love and strength 💙📖💙 and of course a happy reading saturday night! 4y
30 likes7 comments
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rachaich
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Blimey, three chapters in and I'm feeling slightly unacademic and in need of more education! It's intriguing but needs a lot of concentration 📖📖😊🙄

16 likes2 stack adds
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shadowspeak17
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Mehso-so

⭐️⭐️
Man, this book was hard to get through. I really liked the idea behind this book, and I thought the first few chapters were brilliant, but after the amazing beginning things just got so painfully dull. All the interrupting stories felt so similar, and I didn‘t really care for most of them, and the main story wasn‘t very interesting either. There were things to appreciate in this book, but I found it hard to focus on them and really most of ⬇️

shadowspeak17 the book in general. It got to the point where I actually started falling asleep whenever I‘d try to read this, which is why it took me almost two months to finish when I could normally finish a book this length in under a week. I‘m between a pan and so-so for this because I found it so tedious, but I‘m feeling generous today, so I‘ll go with so-so for the excellent beginning and the fact that there were still ⬇️ (edited) 4y
shadowspeak17 nuggets of goodness scattered throughout the rest of the book.

#catsoflitsy #Phoenix
4y
Leftcoastzen I have a friend who loves it & I‘ve been hesitant to try it for reasons outlined in your review!😃😻kitty! Adorable! 4y
shadowspeak17 @Leftcoastzen I have a friend who loves it too. He‘s the one who gave me the book, actually. I have yet to tell him I didn‘t really like it. 😬 If you ever read it, I‘d be interested to hear your thoughts on it. :) 4y
45 likes4 comments
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shadowspeak17
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1. If on a Winter‘s Night a Traveller and Song for the Unraveling of the World
2. A Time to Kill (Ecclesiastes 3:3)
3. “You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino‘s new novel, If on a winter‘s night a traveler. Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought. Let the world around you fade.”
#weekendreads

wanderinglynn If On A a Winter‘s Night is on my TBR. I really need to move it up. 4y
27 likes1 comment
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shadowspeak17
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1. If on a Winter‘s Night a Traveller, Call Me Zelda, and Flowers for Algernon
2. Dune
3. If on a Winter‘s Night a Traveller
#weekendreads

Reagan I love Flowers for Algernon and I keep seeing it. The universe is telling me it is time to reread it. 4y
27 likes1 comment
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IuliaC
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Pickpick

I've taken a short break from contemporary literature to read this unique, authentic and reference novel written in the 1970s - a vast reflection on the possibilities of literature, several literary genres brought together and explored in a single novel

ErickaS_Flyleafunfurled One of my absolute favorites ❤️❤️❤️ 4y
IuliaC @ErickaS_Flyleafunfurled 🤗 I'm happy I came across it 😊 4y
31 likes2 comments
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Libby1
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This is my house and this is my book, but it is not my cat.

🤣

Susanita Are you pet sitting, or is he some random cat that wandered into your house? 4y
gibblr Uhhh what?!? 😂 4y
AlaMich @Susanita 😂 I was wondering that myself! 4y
See All 12 Comments
Tanisha_A I read this book a few days back, what a fantastic experience! 4y
Libby1 @Susanita , @gibblr , @AlaMich , @Tanisha_A - this is my neighbour‘s cat who thinks he‘s OUR cat. I fostered him when he was a tiny baby, but he went to live next door nearly a year ago. Now he‘s recently claimed us again! We don‘t feed him, but he wanders in through the cat flap every day and spends most of the day here. He even has his own “spot”! (Pictured). 😊 4y
AlaMich I love this!! Even more because he looks just like my Luna, who we lost a few years ago. 4y
gibblr That‘s awesome 😻 4y
gibblr @AlaMich We have a Luna too! He‘s prob in some of my posts. 4y
AlaMich @gibblr He‘s a cutie! Our Luna was a little girl. 4y
gibblr @AlaMich We were told he was a girl...until they cut him open to spay him and didn‘t find what they were looking for. 4y
AlaMich @gibblr 😳So it seems to me that determining an animal‘s sex is Day 1 of vet school? 4y
underthebelljar I love this 😆 my husband and I have been adopted by our neighbor‘s cat as well 4y
57 likes12 comments
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shadowspeak17
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1. If on a Winter‘s Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino and Dune by Frank Herbert
2. The Martian by Andy Weir
3. Rabbits for Food by Binnie Kirshenbaum

#weekendreads

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Tanisha_A
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Pickpick

What a rollercoaster of a ride, this one! Imagine you (the reader in this novel) open a book, but never get to its ending. Then you try to find the proper copy of that book, but turns out it's a different book altogether, which is held in suspension as well, and so it goes on. It's a novel about the reader's quest to find the complete copies of the book(s), but ending up encountering ten thrilling, atmospheric, philosophical stories;

Tanisha_A but more importantly, i feel, it's a novel about love of reading. Example, this quote: "For this woman, reading means stripping herself of every purpose, every foregone conclusion, to be ready to catch a voice that makes itself heard when you least expect it, a voice that comes from an unknown source, from somewhere beyond the book, beyond the author, beyond the conventions of writing: from the unsaid, from what the world has not yet said of ?? 4y
Tanisha_A itself and does not yet have the words to say." 4y
vivastory Fantastic review! Easily one of my favorite books about books. I love Calvino. 4y
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readordierachel Oh, I love that quote! Stacked. 4y
Emilymdxn This is one of my favourite books of all time!! 4y
batsy Great quote and beautiful review. How have I gone this long without reading Calvino?! 4y
Tanisha_A @vivastory Thanks Scott! 🙂 I echo both of you about this being a favourite. I am definitely re-reading this. @Emilymdxn 4y
Tanisha_A @readordierachel @batsy You two will love this book. No doubt about it. 😃 4y
Rissreads Another fantastic review! Stacked my friend, it sounds so interesting! 4y
64 likes5 stack adds9 comments
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Tanisha_A
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First time reading Calvino, and wow, i am transported. This has got a quirky concept (nothing like i have read before), and add to it, absolutely gorgeous writing. What's also interesting is how one as a reader is addressed, with all their reader/reading behaviour/characteristics displayed to them.

"The pleasures derived from the use of a paper knife are tactile, auditory, visual, and especially mental."

Emilymdxn This is one of my favourite books of all time! 4y
Bookish.SAM I love this book! Unfortunately, I lent it out and never saw it again 🙁 I need to pick up a new copy... would love to re-read it. 4y
NeedsMoreBooks Love this mind-bending book ❤️ 4y
See All 7 Comments
vivastory One of my favorites! 4y
JennyM Hi lovely - just letting you know the parcel I sent you at the start of March has made its way back to me due to Covid restrictions ☹️ I will hang onto the books and resend to you when the world becomes a little more normal. I‘m so sorry. Hope you are keeping well. Love to you and your family 😘 4y
Tanisha_A @JennyM Hi J 💚! All is well here. Hope you and family are keeping safe and healthy! Aw, i know it's pretty messed up right now but i am glad the book is safe with you. I will share my current address via email (the one i am going to stay put at for a while). Don't worry about posting it soon. Take care! 😘 4y
JennyM @Tanisha_A it doesn‘t even look like it left Australia!! I‘ll let you know when it makes its next journey. Glad you are keeping well my lovely xx 4y
55 likes2 stack adds7 comments
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CindyMyLifeIsLit
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I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it—I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me—I have a lot of books. Join the fun if you want. This is day 10! #bookstoread #tbrpile

38 likes1 stack add
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LinaBobina
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Pickpick

Wow, what a book. Haven‘t read anything like it. It‘s perfect for breaking up the rhythm and infusing a little (or a lot) of wonder to your reading experience. Unique, very unique.

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ValerieAndBooks
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I love this page — sorry if it‘s hard to read but it‘s 💯

Leftcoastzen Oh wow ! I have this book in my house , why am I not reading it right now.😀 4y
ValerieAndBooks @Leftcoastzen it‘s good, but you do have to be in the right mood for it...it‘s a bit convoluted! 4y
55 likes1 stack add2 comments
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ValerieAndBooks
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Pickpick

Reading this is like walking through a labyrinth and finding a different story each time you turn the path (chapter). I liked the concept, and this novel, but I feel I must re-read in order to fully appreciate its intricacies. Not soon, though. My favorite part is the first chapter describing choosing and buying a book in a bookstore (I‘ll share a quote next post).

#1001Books

tjwill I have started and bailed on it a couple times. I love the premise, but haven‘t been able to really get into it yet. I know I will come back to it again someday, and I love seeing positive thoughts about it. 4y
ValerieAndBooks @tjwill I understand. It‘s just one of those books you have to be in the right mood for. And even then I‘m not sure it got the full attention from me that it demands. It‘s worth trying again when you‘re ready 😊 4y
65 likes2 comments
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ValerieAndBooks
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I need to get through my physical #1001Books TBRs. I have a lot of those. I‘ve decided if they don‘t hook me by page 50, I‘ll mark them read, but with a note that I bailed. Let‘s see if this one passes the test!

Blaire This was my college boyfriend‘s all-time favorite book. I hope you enjoy it. 4y
ErickaS_Flyleafunfurled Love this book - you have to stay til the end to really appreciate it! Hope you enjoy! 4y
emtobiasz Oh, I love this one, but it‘s out there 😂 Hope it speaks to you, too! 4y
See All 12 Comments
merelybookish Loved this! Fun if you like meta-fiction! 4y
erzascarletbookgasm I really enjoyed this. Not anything I‘ve read before! 4y
CafeMom Valerie I like your motto. I may to to borrow that one. I have only read some 200 books from the list. 4y
ValerieAndBooks @Blaire it‘s different— but I like it so far! 4y
ValerieAndBooks @ErickaS_Flyleafunfurled it‘s definitely keeping me intrigued! 4y
ValerieAndBooks @emtobiasz you‘re right, it‘s unusual! But I like it so far. 4y
ValerieAndBooks @merelybookish meta-fiction is a rare experience for me, but Calvino is doing this one well so far. 4y
ValerieAndBooks @erzascarletbookgasm and it‘s difficult to try to describe, too 😊 4y
ValerieAndBooks @CafeMom borrow away 😊. You‘re doing better than I am. My 1001books app says I need to read 4 books per month from the un-read list before I die and that is already impossible. I want to read other books too, for one thing 😆! 4y
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alessandrafn
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Nessie One has a new friend: Nessie Two.

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