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RMST 202 Literatures and Cultures of the Romance World II: Modern to Post-Modern
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books

If on a Winter’s night a Traveler – mind is blown, mouth is agape

If on a Winter’s night a Traveler by Italo Calvino. Forgive me for having an impressionable mind, I can’t help but love every single media I consume, and I say this the loudest when I read this novel. From the beginning to the end, I was obsessed – it was unique, it was new, I […]

Posted in Blogs | Tagged with books, literature, metamodernism

Interactive Exploration – If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler

I did not expect going into this novel, for it to be an interactive book, involving us as readers in the story. Also going into the book, I didn’t know what role we would play in the story as the writer of the book would continuously tell us what kind of reader we should be, […]

Posted in Blogs, Calvino | Tagged with books, fiction, if-on-a-winter's-night-a-traveler, Italo Calvino, reading

Welcome to my rant: Calvino’s “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller”

Starting with “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler” by Italo Calvino is like going on an exhilarating literary rollercoaster that defies conventional narrative assumptions. Calvino transforms readers from passive spectators into active players within a multi-layered story, making this novel more than just a book. It’s an immersive experience. The novel’s unique capacity to […]

Posted in Blogs, Calvino | Tagged with books, confusing, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller, Italo Calvino, literature, reading, scattered, short-stories, WTF

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler, a (y/n) story

I remember when I was looking through books to read I saw the blurb about If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino and I thought it sounded very unique. I don’t think “unique” begins to describe what this book is! It really pushes you, the readers (me!), expectations, I never knew quite […]

Posted in Blogs, Calvino | Tagged with books, cliffhangers, point of view, unique

Navigating the Labyrinth of Stories: A Journey Through “If on a winter’s night a traveler” by Italo Calvino

This book changed my entire perspective on reading! I was trapped in these lines of text, just as the author had warned at the very beginning of the novel. This book is all about a reader’s relationship with their novels- as in I did not only read this novel but experienced, explored, and unravelled like […]

Posted in Blogs | Tagged with book-reviews, books, Italo Calvino, literature

Suffering and Emotion in Time of the Doves

Hello everyone! Hopefully, you all had a great reading week and enjoyed reading The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda. This novel is a story full of emotion and hurt detailing the protagonist Natalia’s life through the Spanish civil war. The novel is written in a way that folds the emotion into the words […]

Posted in Blogs | Tagged with book review, book-reviews, books, children, coping, death, doves, emotion, fiction, Historical Fiction, merce Rodoreda, sadness, Suffering, Time of the Doves

Innocence Lost , Realities Found by Alberto Moravia

This book started off with a seemingly idyllic scene, as a young boy enjoys a carefree vacation with his mother on a sunny beach. Initially, their relationship appears wholesome and healthy. However, I noticed a few chapters later, this wasn’t really the case. Throughout the book, I didn’t how I felt towards the narrator, sometimes […]

Posted in Blogs | Tagged with book review, book-reviews, books, parenting, writing

GIVE ME AN APEROL SPRITZ AND SEND ME TO AN ITALIAN SEASIDE RESORT TO HAVE A VACATION ROMANCE PLEASEE (hopefully I don’t have any developing and highly impressionable children with me :P)

Hey everyone, I hope you are all doing well this week! I have just finished reading “Agostino” by Alberto Moravia, and it was different. Compared to some of the other lengthier novels we’ve read it was for sure easier to follow and had a pretty simple storyline. Regardless, there was an in-depth story with a […]

Posted in Blogs, Moravia | Tagged with book review, book-reviews, books, desire, family, fidelity, history, Italy, life, narrative, perspective, sexuality, story, Travel, youth

What it Means to Have Nada

Nada, or Nothing when translated from Spanish, is a heart-wrenching, dramatic novel by Carmen Laforet that details a family’s life in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. Laforet details the class divide, what it means to go hungry, and different kinds of love. We follow Andrea, a student, navigating her strange family and different […]

Posted in Blogs | Tagged with book review, book-reviews, books, Carmen laforet, family, fiction, Haunted-Houses?, Hunger, love, madness, nada, Spain

Agostino by Alberto Moravia

Agostino by Alberto Moravia is not the usual coming-of-age novel. The story revolves around the adolescence of a 13-year-old Agostino in the midst of puberty. The novel revolves around sexuality and emotions that the boy faces and how he tackles this uneasiness. Agostino is a mama’s boy and loves her however when a prospective suitor […]

Posted in Blogs | Tagged with adoloscence, Alberto Moravia, book review, book-reviews, books, coming of age, Italy, reviews, sexual frustration

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