July 16, 2007

silhouette3.JPG 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
Comments
Posted by: Klug on July 17, 2007 1:10 AM

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: michael on July 17, 2007 2:26 AM

English Major General, beggin your pardon Miss, but did you ever read 'The Courtier' by Calvitro(?) reviewed in the WSJ this weekend?

Posted by: Joe Zwers on July 17, 2007 4:06 AM

Fabulous book. You should also read Cosmicomics.

Posted by: Aron on July 17, 2007 7:41 AM

We 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: meep on July 17, 2007 9:17 AM

michael above is referring to The Courtier by Baltissare Castiglione:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Courtier

Posted by: hederman on July 17, 2007 9:53 AM

life imitating art and all that good stuff.

Invite him to go hunt for the book with you.

Posted by: Jane Galt on July 17, 2007 11:21 AM

:)!

Posted by: Sigivald on July 17, 2007 2:02 PM

The 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: Peter VE on July 17, 2007 5:23 PM

Did you also lend him your copy of Ulysses?

Posted by: J on July 17, 2007 7:09 PM

When's the wedding?

Posted by: Brad on July 17, 2007 10:08 PM

So how do we buy it if you won't give us an Amazon link?

Posted by: John on July 17, 2007 11:52 PM

I knew someone who had a copy of that book that actually was missing some of the pages.

Posted by: Some Book Guy on July 18, 2007 2:51 AM

First 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: ping on July 18, 2007 9:09 PM

I 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.

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