Mr. Palomar is the most underrated Calvino book imo. It's up there with any of the books you mentioned. No idea how it reads in Italian but its got some of the most beautiful translated prose I've ever read in English (shout out to William Weaver, Calvino's English translator, who must be up there with the all time greatest translators to create such beautiful writing from a source text in another language).
The first time I read The Cloven Viscount I was 11 and I loved it straight away. After reading all of Calvino's works, I still believe it's his most enjoyable novel, but The Path to the Nest of Spiders will have my heart forever... it is always a fantastic reading experience for me.
After 5 of his works, I have a love/hate relationship with the guy. If On a Winter's Night remains one of my favorite reads but I just can't stand beind the whimsy-bubble of some of his other pieces. Invisible Cities did not land for me at all but I would like to revisit. The Castle of Crossed Destinies was the only book last year that I did not bother finishing. Hated it. Baron is still on my shelf waiting to be read though so you have left me optimistic. Great vid!
I see what you mean about Castle of Crossed Destinies, it's the kind of book you read more for its origins than its contents and I confess I remember close to nothing about the actual stuff going on in there. But Baron in the Trees is much less quirky than that or Invisible Cities, I hope you'll like it :)
First- get better man. Second- can you give some other Italian translated book recommendations for some books/authors that might not be known outside of Italy. Love reading translated text from the love languages and other cultures. Thanks for all the work you do man!!
Thanks man, I'm much better now :) Umberto Eco is a must read of course, and going back a bit in the 20th Century, I'd highly recommend both Zeno's Conscience by Italo Svevo and The Day of the Owl by Leonardo Sciascia. And of course there's Elena Ferrante - I have never read her stuff yet but I've friends who are huge fans of hers!
This month I've read my first Calvino - 'The Cloven Viscount', but in German translation callend 'Der geteilte Visconte'. What should I say? I really enjoyed it! 'If On a Winter's Night' is still waiting for me on my bed table; I'am so excited. Thanks for your recommendations. 'The Baron on the Trees' is noted. Great video.
Hello, The_Bookchemist. Thank you very much to make this video, this was a very useful one 'cause I was finding out some Calvino's novels. Anyway the Calvino's ones I read in order are: 1 Our ancestors (The Baron in the Trees, The Cloven Viscount, The Nonexistent Knight); 2 Marcovaldo; 3 Invisible Cities; 4 Last comes the crow. I've also got Mr Palomar,The Castle Of Crossed Destinies, All The Cosmicomics that I've finished yet and If On a Winter's Night a Traveler which I'm going to read next ( thanks a lot for had a video about it), anyway I'd like to read other novels of the guy and the ones you showed in this video. Hope you'll understand and like the comment.👍
At your suggestion, I just read his "Why Read the Classics" essay. Fascinating stuff! The image of being in a room with some noise going on outside the room really stuck with me.
I am currently reading Invisible Cities and I like it. If On a Winter... was also a book I really liked, I am curious now about The Baron in the Trees.
I've just discovered your channel and I'm really enjoying your videos already! Calvino is my favorite Italian writer and "The baron in the trees" is my favorite book too :)
Thanks for this. I just finished Invisible Cities. And I've read If On A Winter's Night a Traveller.... So, I was trying to decide on the next Calvino to read, when I stumbled upon your video. Now I have to decide between The Cloven Viscount and The Baron in the Trees. Perhaps both.
I read my first Calvino in December and all the time I was watching your video I was hoping that it won't be your number One but it was... I must say that I was a little bit disappointed by this book, I've heard a lot about it before I read it and now while I'm listening to you I think I feel more frustrated than ever, I feel like I missed something... First of all, I was very surprised when you talked about the love story... It was totally not the main "story" for me in this book... and it's not the first thing I think about or talk about when I talk about this book (I read it in french for the record)... I totally forgot the love story, to be honest. So I'm a little bit confused right now haha. The main lesson for me in this book was that sometimes you must take some distance for humanity to feel more human... if I can say it that way. Anyway, I loved this video obviously, many people recommended to me the n°2 in your video and I will definitely read it. Meanwhile Invisible cities is already in my TBR and will probably be my next Calvino. Thank you for all the recommandations :)
I don't think you're missing out at all - your take on the novel makes total sense to me! And it might be just me who was so impressed by the love story bit (which indeed does not take up too much of the novel as far as pages go)! If on a Winter's Night is very different from Baron and you might like it much more ;) let me know, and thanks for the comment :)
Esportare i grandi scrittori italiani penso sia la cosa migliore che si possa fare per cambiare l'opinione mondiale sull'italia; sono capitato per caso su questo video ( perchè cercavo videolezioni su calvino) ti assicuro che hai esposto e presentato l'argomento meglio di un sacco di videolezioni IN ITALIANO. grande👍🏻 P.S. Per migliorare il tuo inglese prova a non gesticolare 😁
Feel better, thanks for going through the agony and struggle to make the video. I'm sorry that I have to deduct TH-cam dollars from your account for wearing a scarf indoors, dont worry, Calvino vids are rare so you'll make it back in no time. I've only read the Cosmicomics and Invisible Cities, but I own a lot of the ones you mentioned, one of them is a collection of really short stories called Numbers In The Dark that looks interesting, any thoughts on that? I'm not familiar with his less known work, thanks for putting them in perspective.
I'd never heard of it! I've checked it out and the Italian version has a completely different title but still I had never heard of it! Will have to check it out :D
have I said you're the best booktuber? if I haven't you should know this ! I bought bunch of books you recommended ! I have five of the books on the list and I read If on winter's.. which is one of my all-time favorite book !
I agree with what you said about Invisible cities. I thought it had a nice style, but it was a collection of descriptions with a plot twist at the end (which I didn't much care for.)
Bookchemist, did you know that Italo Calvino was American author Gore Vidal's favorite modern writer? Vidal wrote about him and mentioned him several times in interviews. (By the way, you speak English well and you're quite attractive.)
This might be a dumb question, but can the books in the Our Ancestors Trilogy be understood in a different order, or in isolation? Could I just read The Baron in The Trees without feeling too lost?
Thanks for the insights of an Italian writer within its country - I get a similar sensation when hearing people address the magic realism circle and having two worlds - in and out of one's house. I wonder if you read them all in their original version, and if you have read him in other languages apart from Italian, what do you think about the translation.
Have you read much Updike? He's about as unfashionable right now (at least I never see him mentioned on "booktube") as a massively acclaimed writer can be but I loved the Rabbit books.
I admit I'm not the biggest fan of Updike! I only read Rabbit, Run and The Witches of Eastwick but found them deeply unpleasant although of course wonderfully written. I think he's just not my kind of writer.
This video really made me want to check out the Our Ancestors Trilogy, especially The Baron in The Trees. Invisible Cities is my favorite Calvino novel. Blew my mind the first time I read it, and continues to do so every time I pick it up. In your opinion, how is the English version compared to the original Italian?
I'm afraid I can't help you - I read his books in Italian! Is your translation William Weaver's? He's a famous one, if that's the one you have it should be a good translation!
No! I have read sadly little French literature beyond Flaubert and Voltaire - and some Fred Vargas; I'd love to read more. Stendhal in particular is very high in my list.
I just finished _If On A Winter's Night A Traveler_ and I have to say I was a little disappointed. Maybe I would have liked it more had I come to it with a different frame of mind, but I found it a little too self-referential, a little too metaphysical. Look, it's like this: Some days you want the book about you reading a book of kind of abstruse reflections on the purpose of reading _per se_ ... and some days you just want a book that reminds you of why you enjoy reading in the first place. Not that the two categories are necessarily mutually exclusive, but tonight I was in the mood for the latter and got a big helping of the former instead. 🤷♂️
Hey Mr. Bookchemist. I just heard about Antonio Moresco and was wondering if you ever heard of him, if you have or have read him what is your opinion of his writing?
I know of him - he has a big reputation as a "difficult"/ambitious writer, in the same ballpark as Bolano or Pynchon or William Vollmann - but alas I've never read him!
Hello, @thebook_chemist. I have been following your channel for years now. Congrats. I have a request: could you give your thoughts on Italian Decadentism? Another request: nowadays it is very fashionable (in the small world of Literatura, anyhow) to belittle Julio Cortázar, the Argentinian writer. Have you read him? If so, I would like to hear your thoughts about his work. Greetings from Vienna.
I didn't know Cortázar was having a bad moment - I love him! "Axolotl," "House Taken Over" and a handful of others are among my favorite short stories! As for Italian Decadentism, I'm afraid I don't know much about it, although I've always been meaning to read D'Annunzio's Il piacere!
I've onyl read one of his books (the first in his famous series of detective novels?) and I'm afraid it didn't resonate too well with me. Sorry - and to be honest, it might have been a faulty translation!
What's the best Calvino to start with? ty -- Also -- would love to hear your ideas on novels made up of short chapters, you mentioned in another vid, you would talk about that sometime -- ty
Probably The Cloven Viscount - or, if you are into postmoderism or anyway self-referential and quirky literature, then If on a Winter's Night a Traveler!
Hii thnx for this video Honestly I want ur help in one of Italo calvino's short stories its called a general in the library And I have to analysis according Neo_Marxist theory So can u help me abt it😑plz
thank you for sharing. Since the communists in China never read invisible cities by IC, their modern architecture all look like grand egg shells, absurdities.lol
I absolutely loved Invisible Cities. It's one of those almost mandatory books for architecture students in Portugal!
Is it? Awesome :D
Same! I study Architecture in Florida and got introduced to Invisible Cities right at the start of my program. Fell in-love right away
1) Invisible Cities 2) Cosmicomics 3) If On a Winter's Night a Traveler 4) Marcovaldo 5) Under the Jaguar Sun
Mr. Palomar is the most underrated Calvino book imo. It's up there with any of the books you mentioned. No idea how it reads in Italian but its got some of the most beautiful translated prose I've ever read in English (shout out to William Weaver, Calvino's English translator, who must be up there with the all time greatest translators to create such beautiful writing from a source text in another language).
I love this yt channel. I used to watch it a lot years ago. I'm finally reading Calvino, it took a bit of preparation to get there.
Invisible Cities is one of the best books I've ever read. It's beautiful.
I am reading it now and I never want it to end so I only read about one city a week.
The first time I read The Cloven Viscount I was 11 and I loved it straight away. After reading all of Calvino's works, I still believe it's his most enjoyable novel, but The Path to the Nest of Spiders will have my heart forever... it is always a fantastic reading experience for me.
After 5 of his works, I have a love/hate relationship with the guy.
If On a Winter's Night remains one of my favorite reads but I just can't stand beind the whimsy-bubble of some of his other pieces. Invisible Cities did not land for me at all but I would like to revisit. The Castle of Crossed Destinies was the only book last year that I did not bother finishing. Hated it.
Baron is still on my shelf waiting to be read though so you have left me optimistic. Great vid!
I see what you mean about Castle of Crossed Destinies, it's the kind of book you read more for its origins than its contents and I confess I remember close to nothing about the actual stuff going on in there. But Baron in the Trees is much less quirky than that or Invisible Cities, I hope you'll like it :)
I'm convinced that the Cosmicomics are the best short story collection of all time, or if not, very close.
top 5 for sure, imo Donald Barthelme's Sixty Stories is the greatest short story collection of all time.
1. Mr Palomar
2. Invisible Cities
3. Argentine Ant (short story)
4. If on a Winter's Night a traveler
5. Marcovaldo
(no particular order)
Calvino is one of my all-time favourite writers. Thanks for the summaries. I shall add some of these to my reading list. kudos.
First- get better man. Second- can you give some other Italian translated book recommendations for some books/authors that might not be known outside of Italy. Love reading translated text from the love languages and other cultures. Thanks for all the work you do man!!
Thanks man, I'm much better now :) Umberto Eco is a must read of course, and going back a bit in the 20th Century, I'd highly recommend both Zeno's Conscience by Italo Svevo and The Day of the Owl by Leonardo Sciascia. And of course there's Elena Ferrante - I have never read her stuff yet but I've friends who are huge fans of hers!
This month I've read my first Calvino - 'The Cloven Viscount', but in German translation callend 'Der geteilte Visconte'. What should I say? I really enjoyed it! 'If On a Winter's Night' is still waiting for me on my bed table; I'am so excited. Thanks for your recommendations. 'The Baron on the Trees' is noted. Great video.
Hello, The_Bookchemist. Thank you very much to make this video, this was a very useful one 'cause I was finding out some Calvino's novels. Anyway the Calvino's ones I read in order are:
1 Our ancestors (The Baron in the Trees, The Cloven Viscount, The Nonexistent Knight);
2 Marcovaldo;
3 Invisible Cities;
4 Last comes the crow.
I've also got Mr Palomar,The Castle Of Crossed Destinies, All The Cosmicomics that I've finished yet and If On a Winter's Night a Traveler which I'm going to read next ( thanks a lot for had a video about it), anyway I'd like to read other novels of the guy and the ones you showed in this video.
Hope you'll understand and like the comment.👍
At your suggestion, I just read his "Why Read the Classics" essay. Fascinating stuff! The image of being in a room with some noise going on outside the room really stuck with me.
I am currently reading Invisible Cities and I like it. If On a Winter... was also a book I really liked, I am curious now about The Baron in the Trees.
I've just discovered your channel and I'm really enjoying your videos already!
Calvino is my favorite Italian writer and "The baron in the trees" is my favorite book too :)
Thanks for this. I just finished Invisible Cities. And I've read If On A Winter's Night a Traveller.... So, I was trying to decide on the next Calvino to read, when I stumbled upon your video. Now I have to decide between The Cloven Viscount and The Baron in the Trees. Perhaps both.
Thank you very much for this! I just picked up invisible cities and I loved it! So great to hear more recommendations :) Cheers!
Want to read all of these after reading Traveler last year. Great video as ever.
I read my first Calvino in December and all the time I was watching your video I was hoping that it won't be your number One but it was... I must say that I was a little bit disappointed by this book, I've heard a lot about it before I read it and now while I'm listening to you I think I feel more frustrated than ever, I feel like I missed something... First of all, I was very surprised when you talked about the love story... It was totally not the main "story" for me in this book... and it's not the first thing I think about or talk about when I talk about this book (I read it in french for the record)... I totally forgot the love story, to be honest. So I'm a little bit confused right now haha. The main lesson for me in this book was that sometimes you must take some distance for humanity to feel more human... if I can say it that way. Anyway, I loved this video obviously, many people recommended to me the n°2 in your video and I will definitely read it. Meanwhile Invisible cities is already in my TBR and will probably be my next Calvino. Thank you for all the recommandations :)
I don't think you're missing out at all - your take on the novel makes total sense to me! And it might be just me who was so impressed by the love story bit (which indeed does not take up too much of the novel as far as pages go)! If on a Winter's Night is very different from Baron and you might like it much more ;) let me know, and thanks for the comment :)
Invisible Cities is amazing. Simply wonderful.
I'm reading the castle of crossed desire right now, it's v good! It seems to be a lesser known book though?
Esportare i grandi scrittori italiani penso sia la cosa migliore che si possa fare per cambiare l'opinione mondiale sull'italia; sono capitato per caso su questo video ( perchè cercavo videolezioni su calvino) ti assicuro che hai esposto e presentato l'argomento meglio di un sacco di videolezioni IN ITALIANO.
grande👍🏻
P.S. Per migliorare il tuo inglese prova a non gesticolare 😁
Feel better, thanks for going through the agony and struggle to make the video. I'm sorry that I have to deduct TH-cam dollars from your account for wearing a scarf indoors, dont worry, Calvino vids are rare so you'll make it back in no time. I've only read the Cosmicomics and Invisible Cities, but I own a lot of the ones you mentioned, one of them is a collection of really short stories called Numbers In The Dark that looks interesting, any thoughts on that? I'm not familiar with his less known work, thanks for putting them in perspective.
I'd never heard of it! I've checked it out and the Italian version has a completely different title but still I had never heard of it! Will have to check it out :D
Thank you for doing this with a sore throat..
have I said you're the best booktuber? if I haven't you should know this !
I bought bunch of books you recommended !
I have five of the books on the list and I read If on winter's.. which is one of my all-time favorite book !
I agree with what you said about Invisible cities. I thought it had a nice style, but it was a collection of descriptions with a plot twist at the end (which I didn't much care for.)
Bookchemist, did you know that Italo Calvino was American author Gore Vidal's favorite modern writer? Vidal wrote about him and mentioned him several times in interviews. (By the way, you speak English well and you're quite attractive.)
This might be a dumb question, but can the books in the Our Ancestors Trilogy be understood in a different order, or in isolation? Could I just read The Baron in The Trees without feeling too lost?
Absolutely! They are each self-conclusive and indipendent from the other two ;)
I’m currently reading Marcovaldo 😆
Thanks for the insights of an Italian writer within its country - I get a similar sensation when hearing people address the magic realism circle and having two worlds - in and out of one's house. I wonder if you read them all in their original version, and if you have read him in other languages apart from Italian, what do you think about the translation.
Have you read much Updike? He's about as unfashionable right now (at least I never see him mentioned on "booktube") as a massively acclaimed writer can be but I loved the Rabbit books.
I admit I'm not the biggest fan of Updike! I only read Rabbit, Run and The Witches of Eastwick but found them deeply unpleasant although of course wonderfully written. I think he's just not my kind of writer.
Italian Folk Tales
www.downpour.com/italian-folktales?sp=317951
This video really made me want to check out the Our Ancestors Trilogy, especially The Baron in The Trees. Invisible Cities is my favorite Calvino novel. Blew my mind the first time I read it, and continues to do so every time I pick it up. In your opinion, how is the English version compared to the original Italian?
I'm afraid I can't help you - I read his books in Italian! Is your translation William Weaver's? He's a famous one, if that's the one you have it should be a good translation!
Yep, William Weaver!
Thank you for this video. I will read more of Calvino’s. A side question here, have you read Balzac’s Lost illusions?
No! I have read sadly little French literature beyond Flaubert and Voltaire - and some Fred Vargas; I'd love to read more. Stendhal in particular is very high in my list.
I just finished _If On A Winter's Night A Traveler_ and I have to say I was a little disappointed. Maybe I would have liked it more had I come to it with a different frame of mind, but I found it a little too self-referential, a little too metaphysical.
Look, it's like this: Some days you want the book about you reading a book of kind of abstruse reflections on the purpose of reading _per se_ ... and some days you just want a book that reminds you of why you enjoy reading in the first place. Not that the two categories are necessarily mutually exclusive, but tonight I was in the mood for the latter and got a big helping of the former instead. 🤷♂️
Hey Mr. Bookchemist. I just heard about Antonio Moresco and was wondering if you ever heard of him, if you have or have read him what is your opinion of his writing?
I know of him - he has a big reputation as a "difficult"/ambitious writer, in the same ballpark as Bolano or Pynchon or William Vollmann - but alas I've never read him!
Actually, it's Kublai Khan!
Hello, @thebook_chemist. I have been following your channel for years now. Congrats. I have a request: could you give your thoughts on Italian Decadentism? Another request: nowadays it is very fashionable (in the small world of Literatura, anyhow) to belittle Julio Cortázar, the Argentinian writer. Have you read him? If so, I would like to hear your thoughts about his work. Greetings from Vienna.
I didn't know Cortázar was having a bad moment - I love him! "Axolotl," "House Taken Over" and a handful of others are among my favorite short stories! As for Italian Decadentism, I'm afraid I don't know much about it, although I've always been meaning to read D'Annunzio's Il piacere!
Could you do a video on Paco Ignacio Taibo II author of An Easy Thing and much more fiction? Please.
I've onyl read one of his books (the first in his famous series of detective novels?) and I'm afraid it didn't resonate too well with me. Sorry - and to be honest, it might have been a faulty translation!
What's the best Calvino to start with? ty -- Also -- would love to hear your ideas on novels made up of short chapters, you mentioned in another vid, you would talk about that sometime -- ty
Probably The Cloven Viscount - or, if you are into postmoderism or anyway self-referential and quirky literature, then If on a Winter's Night a Traveler!
Is that a Leonard Cohen poster behind you?
It's the debut album (I had it in a plastic sleeve)
Hii thnx for this video
Honestly I want ur help in one of Italo calvino's short stories its called a general in the library
And I have to analysis according Neo_Marxist theory
So can u help me abt it😑plz
thank you for sharing. Since the communists in China never read invisible cities by IC, their modern architecture all look like grand egg shells, absurdities.lol