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Quote by Italo Calvino

“Sections in the bookstore - Books You Haven't Read - Books You Needn't Read - 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 - Books That If You Had More Than One Life You Would Certainly Also Read But Unfortunately Your Days Are Numbered - Books You Mean to Read But There Are Others You Must Read First - Books Too Expensive Now and You'll Wait 'Til They're Remaindered - 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 - Books You've Been Planning to Read for Ages - Books You've Been Hunting for Years Without Success - Books Dealing with Something You're Working on at the Moment - Books You Want to Own So They'll Be Handy Just in Case - Books You Could Put Aside Maybe to Read This Summer - Books You Need to Go with Other Books on Your Shelves - Books That Fill You with Sudden, Inexplicable Curiosity, Not Easily Justified - Books Read Long Ago Which It's Now Time to Re-read - Books You've Always Pretended to Have Read and Now It's Time to Sit Down and Really Read Them”

Quote by Italo Calvino

Work

If on a winter's night a traveler

This novel is a postmodern work that combines elements of fantasy, science fiction, and metafiction. It follows the story of a reader who becomes immersed in a series of tales, each with its own unique style and ending. The narrative structure is non-linear and often self-referential, challenging the reader's perception of reality and the nature of storytelling. more

Author

Italo Calvino
Italo Calvino

Italian writer and journalist, known for his unique narrative style and rich imagination. Calvino is considered one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, whose works have had a profound impact on literature both in Italy and around the world. more

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“A few days ago I resumed that 'war-service' - or, more correctly, 'manoeuvre' life, which I discovered years ago to be the most suitable for myself at certain times. Sleeping in bed in the afternoon as long as possible, then walking about for two hours, then staying awake as long as possible. But in this 'long as possible' lies the hitch. 'It isn't possible for long', not in the afternoon, not at night, and yet I'm actually wilted when I get to the office in the morning. And the real prize lies hidden in the depths of the night, in the second, third, fourth hour; but nowadays if I don't go to bed at latest around midnight, night and day and I myself are lost.”

“Like most species, we have come to expect that we shall wake up more or less where we fell asleep. We associate the night with being static, becalmed. We might toss and turn a bit, and some may even sleepwalk. But as a rule it is the one period in each 24-hour shift when our frenzied movements hither and yon come to a halt. Hence there is something indefinably sneaky about popping up somewhere in the morning at a location that bears little relation to the one we were inhabiting the night before. It is perhaps the nearest most of us come to performing a magic trick.”

“If you think you’re in a lucid dream, focus on your hands. For some reason, hands look strange in dreams. Count the fingers—there may be too many, or too few, or the number of fingers may change. Lucid dreamers report counting and recounting the number of fingers and getting different numbers each time, or fingers appearing rubbery as though they had no bones, or that they had fingers growing out of fingers. This strange phenomenon has been reported by lucid dreamers around the world and across cultures... Lucid dreaming experts suggest you can push on a solid object to see if your hand goes through it, or check your reflection in a mirror to see if it looks normal. Another clue can be found in watches or clocks. They, too, seem to be off in dreams. Digital watches and clocks may have no numbers, or the numbers may be hard to read, or they may morph in strange ways.”