July 16, 2007
From the desk of Jane Galt:Quote of the night
As I was lamenting the disappearance of my copy of Italo Calvino's "If on a Winter's Night a Traveler" to my dinner companion, I discovered that said companion was the source of the disappearance; I had loaned it to him, and he had never returned it.
Could I have it back?
Uncomfortable shrug. "I still haven't finished it," quoth he. "I've started it like, six times."
Wondering why this is funny? Buy the book . . . you'll see.
Posted by Jane Galt at July 16, 2007 11:58 PM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound links"); ?>I've never known anyone who's heard of him; Jane, you really did get an English degree. But boy, oh, boy, if I had a nickel for every time I saw "writer Calvino" in the NYT crossword...
Posted by: Klug on July 17, 2007 1:10 AMEnglish Major General, beggin your pardon Miss, but did you ever read 'The Courtier' by Calvitro(?) reviewed in the WSJ this weekend?
Posted by: michael on July 17, 2007 2:26 AMWe have two - my wife and I each brought a copy to the union. You can borrow it, when we get unpacked (unless some international gang of book thieves gets to it first).
Posted by: Aron on July 17, 2007 7:41 AMmichael above is referring to The Courtier by Baltissare Castiglione:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Courtier
life imitating art and all that good stuff.
Invite him to go hunt for the book with you.
Posted by: hederman on July 17, 2007 9:53 AMThe first time I tried to read it, I gave up in disgust halfway through the first chapter, wanting to throw it across the room for being so preciously self-referential.
The second time, I held my nose through the first chapter, and it improved markedly.
But getting the steam up to plow through far enough for it to be effective, rather than precious, took some effort.
Posted by: Sigivald on July 17, 2007 2:02 PMI knew someone who had a copy of that book that actually was missing some of the pages.
Posted by: John on July 17, 2007 11:52 PMFirst Rule of Book Club: Anyone whose treatment of your copy of a metafictional mannerist book strikes you as even somewhat ironic needs a brutal ass-kicking.
Posted by: Some Book Guy on July 18, 2007 2:51 AMI have a copy of Italo Calvino's "Invisible Cities" that I will likely never finish. But, at least it's my copy and not somebody else's.
Posted by: ping on July 18, 2007 9:09 PM