From the Bookshelf of Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die…

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler

Italo Calvino,

William Weaver (Translator)

Start date: February 15, 2024

Finish date: March 14, 2024

Discussion: 1001 Monthly Group Read

Why we're reading this: February 2024 Group Read
[close] February 2024 Group Read

Find A Copy At

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 211 topics — 5,386 comments total

1001 Monthly Group Read

This topic has been closed to new comments.

* 1001 BOOKS GROUP READS LIST -- Everything We've Read and Everything Coming Up
By Charity · 18 posts · 3264 views

last updated Dec 26, 2024 06:04AM

* October (2025 Discussion) -- Junkie, by William S. Burroughs
By Karen · 3 posts · 22 views

last updated Sep 29, 2025 04:46AM

showing 10 of 12 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Dec 01, 2009 Chloe rated it it was ok

Shelves: italy, fiction, books-about-books, 1001-list

I can not think of a book that has let me down more than Italo Calvino's If On a Winter's Night a Traveler. Admittedly, this may have been caused by in no small part by my high expectations for this novel after having read the deliriously exciting first chapter several times in a bookstore during one of those quite regular hunts for the next book to steal my heart. I mean, who can resist a first chapter that contains paragraphs like:

"In the shop window you have promptly identified the cover with I can not think of a book that has let me down more than Italo Calvino's If On a Winter's Night a Traveler. Admittedly, this may have been caused by in no small part by my high expectations for this novel after having read the deliriously exciting first chapter several times in a bookstore during one of those quite regular hunts for the next book to steal my heart. I mean, who can resist a first chapter that contains paragraphs like:

"In the shop window you have promptly identified the cover with the title you were looking for. Following this visual trail, 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. But you know you must never allow yourself to be awed that among there there extend for acres and acres the Book You Needn't Read, the Books Made For Purposes Other Than Reading, Books Read Even Before You Open Them Since They Belong To The Category Of Books Read Before Being Written. And thus you pass the outer girdle of ramparts, but then you are attacked by the infantry of the Books That If You Had More Than One Life You Would Certainly Also Read But Unfortunately Your Days Are Numbered." Pg. 5

Has there ever been an author that more exquisitely expresses the stressful choosing of which books are to be adopted into your Home for Lost Books and which are to remain in the Book Repository awaiting their Lee Harvey? This, thought I, is an author who speaks my language. At least, that's what I thought until the end of Chapter 2, when the story I was allegedly reading "If on a Winter's Night a Traveler" was perfunctorily cut off and Calvino began addressing his main character as the second person "you," leading to vast confusion of a wholly unpleasant nature. And so the book progresses, alternating throughout from the first chapter of various Books That Have Not Been Written to the maddening second-person pronoun-filled main "story," though none of it ever makes sense aside from as a plot device to string together 14 first chapters of Books That You Would Rather Read Than This One.

I'm not one to let books offend me on a regular basis. In fact, I can think of no other book that has so personally rubbed me the wrong way that I would like to slap its author across the face and challenge him to a duel. Calvino gets a pass on this by virtue of being dead, but come zombiegeddon his corpse and I will have words (or, rather, I'll have words, he'll have monosyllabic grunts (being dead isn't great on the language centers of the mind)). My rage reached a boiling point around the 3/4 mark when Calvino, in another of the "you" chapters begins describing in vivid detail your frustration at the book and your longing to just find the thread of one of the far more captivating tales begun previously.

Perhaps I'd have been more forgiving of this meta- style of writing if I hadn't seen it done far better in other books. Sure, maybe Calvino was breaking new ground in 1979 when this was first published, but a book recognizing that it was a book and using its inherent form to prank the reader is old hat at this point. Perhaps if Calvino had a character more like my own to address as "you" then I would have enjoyed it more. All I know is that all the things he attributed to me are in no way keeping with my character and that if he presumes to use me as a character in his escapades then he should have invested some time in getting to know his subject. This book was not fun to read. This book was not revelatory or ground-breaking. This book was simply jarring and irritating. I would be hard-pressed to think of a book read in the past five years that I enjoyed less- and I'm including my dabblings with Margaret Atwood here. ...more

134 likes · Like · see review

Jun 01, 2011 M rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books, library, read-in-2011, favorites

This book is perfect. That's it.

If on a winter's night a traveler is a love letter to readers and reading, and an insight into the process of writing. I think it's important to know the structure of this novel to really love it, especially if you are not keen on post-modern literary devices. First, the majority of the novel is written in second person, so the reader is actually the Reader and protagonist. I think this is great fun and, although I'm not a thirty-something white male, I didn't car This book is perfect. That's it.

If on a winter's night a traveler is a love letter to readers and reading, and an insight into the process of writing. I think it's important to know the structure of this novel to really love it, especially if you are not keen on post-modern literary devices. First, the majority of the novel is written in second person, so the reader is actually the Reader and protagonist. I think this is great fun and, although I'm not a thirty-something white male, I didn't care obliterating myself temporarily and becoming this Reader for better enjoying this amazing piece of writing. Kind of a choose your own adventure book, only you don't really get to choose. Second, this is heavily influenced by a great tradition of tale-tellers, best represented by Arabian Nights (and Raymond Queneau), which means that we start several stories and the only one that ever finished is that of the Reader (you!). I thought this trick would soon tire me and wondered how Calvino would invent ten different excuses to justify abruptly cutting the ten diffent incipits, but he does and I grew more interested, if possible. Of course, after a while, it starts turning a bit surreal, like magical realism. It helped that that one is a genre I already love. I was positively invested on the Reader (my!) quest to find the missing novels, as I was also (mildly) irritated when the stories suddenly halted. After all, I am a committed reader and simply need to know what happens next. After a while, though, I started considering the incipits as fully developed short stories, and found them amazing on their own. I also think everyone who considers him or herself a reader should read If on a winter's night a traveler, or at least the first chapter. I identified with the Reader buying this book in a bookshop. Such a simple act from the outside, but such a battle on the inside, as we face the difficult task of choosing one single book to bring back home (like adopting an abandoned kitty!). One of my favorite passages.

I have a feeling I'll be coming back to this book. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Apr 22, 2010 Maryanne rated it really liked it

Shelves: research-for-plays

Obviously well-done, well-written, but you know what? Not really my style. I actually preferred Invisible Cities - this kind of droned on a bit for my tastes. I think I've been reading too many fast-paced teen novels :) ...more

Like · see review