List No. 117

THE BOOKSHOP

Italo Calvino

1979

Italo Calvino’s 1979 book, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler, is an enchanting novel that sees you, the reader, attempting to buy and read Italo Calvino’s novel, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler. In one particular passage of the story’s first chapter, the following types of reading material are listed as you navigate a crowded bookshop, eager to locate Calvino’s.

Books You Haven’t Read;

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;

the Books That If You Had More Than One Life You Would Certainly Also Read But Unfortunately Your Days Are Numbered;

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;

the Books You’ve Been Planning to 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;

the Books Read Long Ago Which It’s Now Time To Reread;

the Books You’ve Always Pretended To Have Read And Now It’s Time To Sit Down And Really Read Them;

the New Books Whose Author Or Subject Appeals To You;

the New Books By Authors Or On Subjects Not New (for you or in general);

New Books By Authors Or On Subjects Completely Unknown (at least to you)