If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler Readalong Wrap-Up

This book is like a bibliophile’s acid trip or maybe their worst nightmare, but in a completely enchanting way. A reader picks up a book and just when it gets good the book ends. No matter what they do they can’t find a complete copy of the text and so they can’t finish the book. Instead they are led to begin reading one new book after another, each one ending before they can finish the text. At one point Calvino is blaming one of his characters for leaving a text unfinished and he says,

“Ermes Marana appears to you as a serpent who injects his malice into the paradise of reading.”

That’s exactly what Calvino was doing and it was hilarious that he was poking fun at himself through the text. At first I wondered if the stories would wrap up in the second half of the book à la Cloud Atlas, but soon I realized that wasn’t the point. The book is an exploration of reading, not of one specific story.

The thing I truly loved was Calvino’s language. He has a way of creating beautiful images, particularly whenever he was talking about the act of reading.

“To fly is the opposite of traveling: you cross a gap in space, you vanish into the void, you accept not bring 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. Meanwhile, what do you do? How do you occupy this absence of yourself from the world and of the world from you? You read; you do not raise your eyes from the book between one airport and the other.”

Even the lines of each title are beautiful. They read like a poem, which we find out at the end is, of course, intentional.

In a network of lines that intersect

On the carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon

Around an empty grave

What story down there awaits its end?

The introduction and the ending chapter were my two favorite parts. Calvino’s love of reading and his descriptions of it are just breathtaking. While some of the other chapters ran together a bit for me, those sections so perfectly captured the magic of being a reader.

I hope you all had fun with this one. It’s a completely unique book and one that I’m glad I finally read. It’s certainly experimental, but I think Calvino’s talent as a writer rises above any tricks he pulls.

What did you like about the book?

What didn’t work for you?

Was it what you expected?

You can check out Care's mid-way post here and mine is here.

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler Readalong Mid-way Point

Care is hosting our mid-way check in at her blog, so make sure you stop by and see what everyone else is saying. The first half flew by for me and I’m looking forward to the rest. 

Stop back by here for the final wrap up post on November 30th. 

I’m having serious Cloud Atlas flashbacks with this book. Not only does it have a similar structure (Cloud Atlas was apparently partially inspired by this book) but it has an equally gorgeous writing style.

The book opens with one of my new favorite intros. The author goes through a whole spiel about settling in before you start the book. Get comfortable, let the world around you fade and then dive in. From there we begin the novel “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler” set in a train station. Soon we are back to the reader’s point of view as the story breaks off.  

From there it’s a wild goose chase to find the rest of the book. Instead of finishing “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler” our reader (as well as the actual readers) are introduced to one new story after another and we also meet the "other reader" who trying to track down the same book. 

First Outside the Town of Malbork, then “Leaning from the Steep Slope” featuring Miss Zwida and a prison break. I particularly loved this section. Then we are introduced to “Without Fear of Wind or Vertigo,” followed by a Parisian murder and Ruedi the Swiss in “Looks Down in the Gathering Shadow.”

It’s like a rabbit hole for bibliophiles. It's a book about the magical experience of reading a book for the first time; not knowing where it will tale you, but blindly following where the author leads. 

So far the stories seem unconnected except for a few elements, but I’m hoping it all comes together in the second half. 

“There are plenty, younger than you or less young, who live in the expectation of extraordinary experience: from books, from people, from journeys, from events, from what tomorrow has in store.” 

“Reading is going toward something that is about to be, and no one yet knows what it will be…”

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler Readalong Begins

The readalong begins! We've got a great group that's decided to tackle Italo Calvino’s masterpiece, If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler together. Care’s Online Book Club and I are co-hosting a laid back readalong of the book starting today. Anyone is still welcome to join in if they would like! 

Here are the details:

1) Try to read the first 5 chapters (114 pages) by November 15 and do a mid-way post if you would like to. Stop by Care's blog that day to see what everyone is thinking so far. 

2) Finish the remaining chapters by November 30th and post about it when you can. I'll be doing the wrap up post. 

3) Tweet your thoughts as you go with #ReadCalvino.

4) Please add a link to your blog (if you have one) using the Linky below if you're participating. 

I can't wait to hear everyone's thoughts as we go along! 

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler Readalong

Who is ready for a fall readalong? Care’s Online Book Club and I are co-hosting a laid back readalong of Italo Calvino’s masterpiece, If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler. I’ve been hearing about Calvino’s work for years and I can’t help but feel curious. I think this one will be great to read as a group because it will probably help us catch things we might otherwise miss.

A few other reasons you should join in the fun:

1) Entertainment Weekly named it one of their Top 100 All-Time Greatest Books, describing it as…

“A fleet-footed entertainment about the high-intensity sport that is reading. Calvino was a stellar stylist, and this astonishingly inventive novel proved there was no sentence he could not write.”

2) It’s only 260 pages!

3) This fantastic article with David Mitchell’s thoughts about the book. He starts with…

“You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a winter's night a traveller. Relax. Let the world around you fade.”

4) It’s a book about someone trying to read a book.

5) It’s on the 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die List.

So if you’d like to join in, here are a few details. We’ll be tweeting about it with #ReadCalvino. We’re going to start reading on Nov. 1st and try to finish by the end of the month. We’ll post one mid-way post and another wrap up post. Feel free to post in the middle or at the end or just as you go along.

Start Here: Read Your Way Into 25 Amazing Authors

Start Here

Read Your Way Into 25 Amazing Authors

by Jeff O'Neal and Rebecca Joines Schinsky

★★★★

The lovely people at Book Riot put this gem together to help readers navigate their way through the work of 25 authors.

There are a few authors on the list that I have already read all of the mentioned books. That list includes; Jane Austen, Ray Bradbury, Charles Dickens, E.M. Forster, and Edgar Allan Poe. I think that with each of these authors the suggested books are a great snapshot of their work.

There are other authors that I have read almost all of the work mentioned, like Ernest Hemingway, Neil Gaiman, Richard Russo and John Irving. With each of these authors I either learned a new tidbit about their lives or was encouraged to pick up another book they’ve written.

The authors I was the most excited about were the ones that are completely new to me and the ones I’ve heard about for years, but have never managed to read. Most are intimidating authors that I’ve never really known where to start. I’m hoping to try one by Italo Calvino, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Haruki Murakami this year and I’m grateful to have a place to begin.

BOTTOM LINE: If you’re curious about finding new authors this book is a must. Someone else has already done the hard work for you. All you have to do is pick up the suggested books and start reading!

**You can get a kindle copy here. I’m in no way affiliated with Amazon or Book Riot, I just think this book was a great idea and I’m excited that people may find some new authors they love.