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calvino is my most beloved author. here he’s written three quick stories based on his memories of the summer 1940, as italy entered the war and he entered adulthood. it’s a time of great confusion and reconciliation that he writes beautifully, and his usual sense of whimsy functions in such an interesting way here cause it deals directly with the contradictions of a whimsical adolescence under fascism. my favorite was the third story “UNPA nights”
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“...we can not love or think except in fragments of time each of which goes along its own trajectory and immediately disappears."
second calvino of the year after invisible cities. very meta, which in less serious hands could become cloying. it manages to work out.
you (the real you, not the second perspective protagonist of most of the book) will think about the act of reading in a different way by the end of it, or at least become more conscious of it. so read if you like to read and read about reading.
Mar 3, 2025
the australian italo calvino! his 1982 masterpiece The Plains is totally magical, the sort of book where nothing at all happens but youre still totally rapt from page one. it’s about artists and patrons, it’s about the act of creating, it’s about nature, it’s about community, it’s about art. it’s thrilling. it’s haunting. it’s ekphrastic! i love murnane.
Apr 9, 2024
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Awesome book by ítalo Calvino highly recommend
Jan 24, 2025
Top Recs from @june
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u don’t have to go then. a text in this moderne age will even do la trick
Mar 24, 2024
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even at room temperature the thin wet layer will evaporate slowly like a veil being lifted. worth a watch
Feb 19, 2024
what an incredible way to write. makes you want to really run around! brilliant, active voice that surprises and specifies endlessly. some bits of dialogue were so funny and read so theatrically it made me jealous as a sore tooth!!
Feb 16, 2024