Jun 01, 2022Melllvar rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Calvino's masterpiece. If you're looking for something challenging (sometimes very) but brilliant, this is a book that constantly frustrates expectations and yet is simply one of the most intellectually exhilarating creative texts of the…
Aug 12, 2020Hipmama814 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
An amazing book! You, the reader, become a character in this incredible mystery that keeps you turning, excited to find out what happens next. A clever and witty book written by a genius. I loved it.
Jul 05, 2018velveetahead rated this title 1.5 out of 5 stars
I threw this book down after finishing and declared, "This book was dumb." It didn't start out that way, though.
I thought it was pretty clever and interesting with a guy getting a book and starting to read it when suddenly the pages…
Apr 09, 2018wyenotgo rated this title 1.5 out of 5 stars
How to classify this oddity? The publisher's blurb refers to it as suspense but the only suspense I encountered was waiting for the story to get started. Calvino tantalizes the reader with an interminable game of cat & mouse (or more…
Oct 16, 2017scribby rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
This is a witty bit of literary surrealism in which ten beginnings of ten different novels are linked by a framing story where "You" (the reader) and the book itself become characters (although it's never the right book). Eventually those…
Sep 16, 2017gale37 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
This is more of a tour de force of writing for writers rather than readers. Intriguing at first, it is ultimately as frustrating as it is for the protagonist. try as I could, I gave up before the end.
Apr 01, 2017TechLibrarian rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This is not an easy book, but it's a great one, well worth the effort, especially for serious readers. The main character is you, the Reader, as you seek a missing chapter, "traveling the earth from book to book." If that sounds mind…
A fast-paced, semi-dizziness-inducing kaleidoscopic romp of a narrative. Its so delightful, hallucinatory, and mysterious that it merits a few more re-readings.
S
Sarah1984
Nov 28, 2014Sarah1984 rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
The blurb on GR makes me think the book is going to be a cross between Robin Sloan's Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore and a book from Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series - books within books, characters aware that they are being read, and…
Sep 23, 2009tragedyinpants rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
If you like stories within stories then this book about reading books will make you smile and hold onto your book just a little bit tighter. I should also mention it's perfect for anyone who thinks too much.
Comments (16)
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler