Read it last week and I was eager for it to end throughout the second half or well, even the last two thirds of the book. It’s rather short as a novel but felt drawn-out nonetheless. Probably something that would have worked much better in the novella format.

Interestingly, this is something I’d say about every Calvino book I’ve read so far. He tends to milk whichever idea he comes up with until it’s drier than dirt.

The chapter Oxen of the Sun from James Joyce’s Ulysses. The chapter is set inside a maternity clinic, the characters are talking about embryology and obstetrics and during the whole chapter, the language replicates the “birth” of the contemporary English language step by step throughout the ages. Pure genius.