[Yobmod]

Anyone read him? Got any opinions?

I've now read the three books i had by him on my to read list, and he is possibly one one of my favourite writers. He's not writing genre fantasy, but they have all had fantasy elements so far, and it's certainly not realism...
So far the only author i've read that is at all similar is Borges, but Calvino is so much more fun.

Cosmicomics is a collection of linked short stories in which an imortal being describes some formative experiences of his life throught eternity, inspired by topical physics from the time eg. The moon used to be nearer to the Earth, but in Cosmicomics it used to be near enought that people could climb a ladder to harvest the 'moon-milk'. Sometimes hilarious and sometimes deep, but always great IMO.
Synopisis at Science fiction museum (http://www.sciencefictionmuseum.com/stories/reviews/snop010.html)

At one time, according to Sir George H. Darwin, the Moon was very close to the Earth. Then the tides gradually pushed her far away: the tides that the Moon herself causes in the Earth's waters, where the Earth slowly loses energy.

How well I know!--old Qfwfq cried--the rest of you can't remember, but I can. We had her on top of us all the time, that enormous Moon: when she was full--nights as bright as day, but with a butter-colored light--it looked as if she were going to crush us; when she was new, she rolled around the sky like a black umbrella blown by the wind; and when she was waxing, she came forward with her horns so low she seemed about to stick into the peak of a promontory and get caught there. But the whole business of the Moon's phases worked in a different way then: because the distances from the Sun were different, and the orbits, and the angles of something or other, I forget what; as for eclipses, with the Earth and Moon stuck together the way they were, why, we had eclipses every minute: naturally, those two big monsters managed to put each other in the shade constantly, first one, then the other.

Orbit? Oh, elliptical, of course: for a while it would huddle against us and then it would take flight for a while. The tides, when the Moon swung closer, rose so high nobody could hold them back. There were nights when the Moon was full and very, very low, and the tide was so high that the Moon missed a ducking in the sea by a hair's-breadth; well, let's say a few yards anyway. Climb up on the Moon? Of course we did. All you had to do was row out to it in a boat and, when you were underneath, prop a ladder against her and scramble up.

Now, you will ask me what in the world we went up on the Moon for; I'll explain it to you. We went to collect the milk, with a big spoon and a bucket. Moon-milk was very thick, like a kind of cream cheese.

Invisible Cities consisits of dialogues between Marco Polo and Genghis Kahn (who may or may not really exist), and the descriptions of bizarre hypothetical cities. Described as 'possible his most beautiful work', the writing really is without parallel.
Chapter extract (http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/calvino/calvaldrada.html)

there is tonnes of info, and extracts and stories to try here: http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/calvino/

[Yobmod]

Oh, I forgot the main reason for starting the thread - to tempt people to try his books. And as everyone here is an avid reader and book lover, everyone shoud enjoy this extract (for the beginning of If on a Winter's Night a Traveller...):

So, then, you noticed in a newspaper that If on a winter's night a traveler had appeared, the new book by Italo Calvino, who hadn't published for several years. You went to the bookshop and bought the volume. Good for you.

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 them there extend for acres and acres the Books 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. With a rapid maneuver you bypass them and move into the phalanxes of the Books You Mean To Read But There Are Others You Must Read First, the Books Too Expensive Now And You'll Wait Till They're Remaindered, the Books ditto When They Come Out In Paperback, Books You Can Borrow From Somebody, Books That Everybody's Read So It's As If You Had Read Them, Too. Eluding these assaults, you come up beneath the towers of the fortress, where other troops are holding out:
the Books You've Been Planning Top Read For Ages,
the Books You've Been Hunting For Years Without Success,
the Books Dealing With Something You're Working On At The Moment,
the Books You Want To Own So They'll Be Handy Just In Case,
the Books You Could Put Aside Maybe To Read This Summer,
the Books You Need To Go With Other Books On Your Shelves,
the Books That Fill You With Sudden, Inexplicable Curiosity, Not Easily Justified,

Now you have been able to reduce the countless embattled troops to an array that is, to be sure, very large but still calculable in a finite number; but this relative relief is then undermined by the ambush of the Books Read Long Ago Which It's Now Time To Reread and the Books You've Always Pretended To Have Read And Now It's Time To Sit Down And Really Read Them.

With a zigzag dash you shake them off and leap straight into the citadel of the New Books Whose Author Or Subject Appeals To You. Even inside this stronghold you can make some breaches in the ranks of the defenders, dividing them into New Books by Authors Or On Subjects Not New (for you or in general) and New Books By Authors Or On Subjects Completely Unknown (at least to you), and defining the attraction they have for you on the basis of your desires and needs for the new and the not new (for the new you seek in the not new and for the not new you seek in the new).

[Brys]

I've read both Invisible Cities and If on a Winter's Night a Traveller. Invisible Cities had some excellent writing in, while If on a Winter's Night a Traveller was very entertaining metafiction. The beginning of it was hilarious especially.

[proudfoot]

I've read most of Calvino's fiction and he can be truly wonderful. Invisible Cities is probably his best, but I'm a big fan of Cosmicomics , The Castle of Crossed Destinies, Marcovaldo and If on a winter's night a traveller too. Frankly some of his stuff goes too far into abtruse subject matter and forgets to be an interesting story, like some of Mr Palomar and T Zero (or Time and the Hunter as it's known in some editions). He's certainly one of the most imaginative European writers of the 20th century.

[Banger]

Calvino is excellent. His writing style reminds me of Ray Bradbury's at its most poetic.

[Erfael]

I only own Invisible Cities from back with its near brush in the book club. I've been meaning to get to him for some time, so this gets him closer to the top. Hopefully before too long.....

[Nic_C]

Oh, I forgot the main reason for starting the thread - to tempt people to try his books. And as everyone here is an avid reader and book lover, everyone shoud enjoy this extract (for the beginning of If on a Winter's Night a Traveller...)

Yes! I love that passage - so much that I, too, sat down and typed it all out when I first read it ;) Calvino was a genius...


(edited: for past tense. ahem)

[firqoret]

I'm reading Invisible Cities right now and I agree that the writing is beautiful and imaginative. It reads like a mix between Borges' intellectualism and the weird imagery of Lord Dunsany or Jack Vance. Excellent stuff.

I've previously read The Baron in the Trees, which is also beautiful but not really fantasy (even though I have this pet theory that Calvino wrote it as an Italian version of LotR); parts of Winter's Night, which I stalled halfway into for some reason I can't remember; and today I also ordered Cosmocomics.

[Murrin]

I've had If On A Winter's Night A Traveller for a while now; it's getting close to the top of my list. I read the first page or two when I bought it, and the writing seemed pretty good. I like the excerpts you posted.

[Blackwing]

Some years ago I read If on a winter's night a traveler and quite enjoyed it. I've been meaning to read Invisible cities for some time. Perhaps next year...