From the Bookshelf of Read a book from each country…
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
No group discussions for this book yet.
What Members Thought
I'm really torn on what to say about If On a Winter's Night a Traveler.
Since I'm feeling generous, I would say I enjoyed the book. I like the insight Calvino has into readers, and the little tricks in how it is written kept me interested, even if none of the stories ever finish and you know less when you end than when you started. Calvino is like a mix of Stanislaw Lem and David Mitchell, based on my limited reading experience.
On a bad day, the writing tricks wouldn't redeem the book, and I'd th ...more
Since I'm feeling generous, I would say I enjoyed the book. I like the insight Calvino has into readers, and the little tricks in how it is written kept me interested, even if none of the stories ever finish and you know less when you end than when you started. Calvino is like a mix of Stanislaw Lem and David Mitchell, based on my limited reading experience.
On a bad day, the writing tricks wouldn't redeem the book, and I'd th ...more
This was the first Calvino book I ever read, and the first time I don't think I managed to finish it, largely because I didn't really know how exactly to read it. Revisiting it now, I find myself thinking that it's still just too high-concept for it's own good. The dense layering of the various narratives and framing story almost feels like something Cervantes would have come up with, but unlike Cervantes, this quickly gets too muddied down by it's own overly-intentional complexities. That being
...more
Definitely a 5 in originality - I've never read a book before that made me ponder the act of reading so much. And it was a fun page turner, with cliff hanger after cliff hanger, which helped keep the momentum going just when I was getting a little bored with the philosophical passages.
...more
My first Calvino and I'm in love. If I had read this in my youth I might have found it "precious" or become impatient. At this point in my life I read while laughing and enjoying the play of ideas. Magnificent.
...more
Clever and witty, but that style didn't fit for me. Maybe next time it will be better.
...more
Sep 01, 2007
Rebecca Noran
marked it as to-read
Mar 27, 2008
Terri
marked it as to-read
Apr 24, 2008
Derrick
marked it as to-read
Jul 10, 2008
Maura
marked it as to-read
Aug 03, 2010
John J.
marked it as to-read
Sep 14, 2010
Nom
marked it as to-read
Dec 14, 2010
Duc
marked it as to-read
Dec 08, 2013
Greyweather
marked it as to-read
Aug 20, 2016
Tesserakt
marked it as to-read
Feb 15, 2017
Jennifer
marked it as to-read
