Got pic related as a gift recently, is it any good?
imo he's a hack worse than murakami
>>8073207
Dont listen to this fuckwit, yes is good go and read it.
>>8073205
Is he the guy who studied under joyce?
>>8073230
That's the one, thanks
>>8073205
Calvino is supposed to be fun if you like wacky pomo meta stuff. He gets very "cute" though, so your mileage may vary.
Somewhat related, but does anyone know if The Baron In The Leaves by Calvino is any good? I found a copy lying around outside in a pile of unwanted books along with Bolano's The Skating Rink and took those two because why not.
calvino is one of the best. also that book is one of the coolest books of all time. it's art. it's so much more than a book. I never thought books could be that different until I read that one. enjoy.
>>8073245
>The Skating Rink
Cant talk about the calvino one, but mang that shit is gold.
>>8073246
What'd you get out of it? I found it pretty confusing.
explain this novel to me i did not understand it
>>8073245
Calvinofag here, il barone rampante รจ ottimo
>>8073252
Cool. Good to know that it's something worthwhile even if I didn't pay for it. And the Calvino one was actually The Baron In The Trees, not leaves.
>>8073257
I read it about 10 years ago. I just remember it pushing the medium to the max. it was so fucking meta. the book was talking to me and shit. I fell in love with the chick and everything. book had me wrapped around its finger. I don't remember what I got out of it. but I'm going to my bookshelf now to look at it again. maybe it's time to re read it.
>>8073265
wtf are you on about lol?
>>8073265
t. edgy newfag
>>8073205
OP it's a fantastic book. one of my all time favorites
i really wish there was a place on the internet where people knew anything about being right about anything.
next you will begin to pretend than invisible cities are good too when those are worse than any coleho's crap book
oh, you probably unironically love paulo coelho too
pshaw
>>8073516
wow you are really pissed off and angry lmao!
>>8073528
Not the same person here. But it legitimately is annoying to see people praise dogshit like Calvino and Pessoa here.
>>8073530
>samefaggging
>assures everyone he's not samefaggging
Wew lad. Wew.
why don't you just read it and find out?
>>8073205
Ludmilla is qt
meta fiction is the found art of the literature; completely lacking in substance.
T R A S H
R A S H T
A S H T R
S H T R A
H T R A S
>>8073705
I'd rather fuck her sister's marxist cunt desu senpai
barely above genre fiction
>>8073245
Baron... is alright, but it's straightforward. It's also a throwback to the 19th century. I prefer his more experimental works.
>>8073265
t. dull newfag
/lit/ always loved calvoni, gb2/reddit/ etc.
>>8073245
its a super comfy book
>>8073738
>tfw will never fuck lotaria and ludmilla at the same time
>>8074752
Marcovaldo is comfiest however
>>8073205
its on the meme list so yes
>>8073257
If you don't understand the structure of the book by the end of the second chapter you're a moron
>>8073258
The novel alternates between (1) a second-person narrative where "you" are reading a novel (called If on a winter's night a traveler), meet a girl in a book store, try to track down the book's author, and so on; and (2) the various short stories "you" end up encountering along the way. The first chapter is you buying the book, getting comfy, and starting to read it. The second chapter is the actual story. The third chapter is you wondering why the book stops abruptly and going back to the book store. And so on. It's very meta and very comfy.
>>8073265
Lmao this chump!
What's wrong with Calvino's books? And what's great about them?
Haven't started reading him yet, but he's next in my line. and I'm just curious of your opinions, which seem pretty diverse around here.
>>8075346
>
it's not diverse at all, it's one guy who's obnoxiously samefagging. calvino is overwhelmingly liked here.
his stuff is fun and whimsical and explores metafictional elements and the "nature of literature" in an approachable way. his work is firmly canonical and respected by the vast majority of readers and critics. very few people will say he's an all time unparalleled great, but he's liked by almost everyone except this one edgelord ITT.
I haven't gotten a chance to read his books yet, but I read "Why Read the Classics?" by him, and damn I agreed with everything he said and why he said it. I'm looking forward to reading more of his stuff.
>>8075354
i didnt understand if on a winter's night a traveler, explain it to me pls
>>8075354
>it's not diverse at all, it's one guy who's obnoxiously samefagging. calvino is overwhelmingly liked here.
for me it seems vice versa, 1-2 guys samefag and memepost to make somebody read the crappy book
>>8075707
>he's still posting
Jesus Christ, please just stop.
>>8075707
The cycle here goes so:
>everybody loves thing
>someone makes thread about thing on /lit/
>replies hold no content but overwhelming positive comments
>because of this Anon, who has no business dabbling in author, tries reading thing
>Anon, Holder of Good Taste, is mad about having gotten tricked and must let everybody know
Happens in every case. Modular frequency / time periods depending on how popular thing gets and how accessible it is to Anon.
>>8075707
B-but why is it crappy, senpai?
>>8075689
You're just supposed to have fun and enjoy different genres of literature while being "personally" integrated in the story in a meta way. As one anon said, it's pretty "cute" but don't consider it something the scholars are going to talk about 100 years from now. I suppose its a bit over-hated because nobody on /lit/ can really identify with the ending because they never get the girl.
>>8075689
>>8075689
if you dont think there is, at the minimum, something fun and cool about reading a second person narrative that rolls 10 books into 1, i don't know what to tell you
it's a parody and a pastiche and a tribute to the act of reading itself. it's "us readers" done in a enlightening and sophisticated and humorous way. it's a paean to the joys of, well, reading. look by no means does this mean you have to love it, but im of the opinion that if you really enjoy reading you should love this book.
if you're some autistic who reads books to "get the point" or something and has no concern for the experience itself, the book is probably not for you.
>>8073265
Go read The Invisible Cities.
>>8073530
>thinks Pessoa is Bad
>Thinks Clavino is bad
I've got bad news for you: You're more plebeian than you think.
>>8075857
>if you really enjoy reading you should love this book.
Calvino really nailed that glorification of reading with the opening chapter, describing the pure joy of sitting down with a new book. You see the same shit posted on /lit/ all the time, but Calvino does it with some really mastery of the language.
>>8073205
it is really good.
if you like it, try Cosmicomics
>>8073205
Anyone here tried reading the frame story chapters in succession, as if it were a short novel, then all the individual stories as if they were a short story collection and see if either of the two parts hold merit on their own? It'd be interesting and I think I'm going to try it sometime. Sure, the stories don't always feel like rounded up stories, they feel like first chapters in longer works and that's how they were intended, but I think any (or most) of them are not too bad as standalone pieces either. Some of them are brilliant.
On an unrelated note, anyone here fapped like a madman to the Japanese story, desu senpai?
>>8077706
>On an unrelated note
no, but a boner
I was blown away by the first few chapters but never finished it
I was really underwhelmed a year or two later when I started again and read the whole thing
>>8073516
I refuse to believe that there is anyone worse than Paulo Coelho.
>>8078140
Or two.
>>8073265
jesus christ
>>8073205
I got it as a gift earlier this year and was unfortunately very underwhelmed by it, having heard so many good things about it before. But many people consider it one of their favorite books, so just read it and find out for yourself whether it's good.
This book is basically a litmus test on if you actually like enjoy reading, or if you just like the idea of reading and appearing "intellectual."
