Poor, neglected BookBlog. I'm very behind on everything, so here's something that's been on the TBL [To Blog List].

After wondering about books written in the second person, Kate of Kate's Book Blog was recommended If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino. She seems to be enjoying it. Although Sarah of Fiendish Plot moderated this book for us back in May of 2004, I never made it past the first chapter.

Despite not reading it, I did participate in the discussion with one comment: "I hate this book." At the time, I couldn't expound further. Every sentence felt like torture. I simply wanted to be rid of Calvino as quickly as possible and move on to the next book since second person doesn't work for me. With first- or third-person narration, the reader is along for the ride like a fly on the wall. A casual observer, if you will. But when a book starts talking to me, I can't keep from talking back.

Like when I'm in the grocery store and the self-checkout scanner repeats, "If you are done scanning, please press 'finish and pay,'" as I fumble in my purse for a bonus card because there's no way I'm missing out on the 5-cent discount per pound of American cheese even though my eight ounces will only net me 2.5 cents and the machine's incessant nagging about pressing a button on its unsympathetic, cold screen forces me into telling it firmly, "I am trying to finish and pay, so back off," even though the rational mind knows it doesn't care about the pressure I'm feeling.

And that's another step closer to insanity.

So I didn't read If on a winter's night a traveler. But I participated in the discussion. And I'm going to add an entry to Kate's Calvino Meme.

Books You’ve Been Planning To Read For Ages:
That would be every book in my TBR pile, which now numbers over 200. Just to name a few that happen to be near at hand, we have 10th Grade by Joseph Weisberg, The Bookseller of Kabul by Åsne Seierstad, and The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem.

Books You’ve Been Hunting For Years Without Success:
I'm not much of a collector, so I've never found myself thinking about hard-to-find editions. However, I would love to know what my mom did with the reproduction turn-of-the-century spelling text I won at the county spelling bee. It was clad in fine-smelling leather.

Books Dealing With Something You’re Working On At The Moment:
Of course, A Box of Matches and The Red and the Black, which I will finish if it kills me.

Books You Want To Own So They’ll Be Handy Just In Case:
The BookBlog Library. Although a discussion may be over, I often go back and refer to them again. I have a handful of reference books, like The Vogue Sewing Book.

Books You Could Put Aside Maybe To Read This Summer:
I have never understood the summer reading thing. Why put off to summer what you could start reading now?

Books You Need To Go With Other Books On Your Shelves:
One of the references I like to keep handy is The Riverside Shakespeare. I wish I had The Riverside Chaucer. I used to, but I sold it with all my books when I left Chicago.

Books That Fill You With Sudden, Inexplicable Curiosity, Not Easily Justified:
Everyday People by Stewart O'Nan. Besides Clyde remarking on the author's name, it's been compared to Clockers by Richard Price. Both are books by white guys about black guys. I thought Clockers was only okay, but enjoyed it enough since many of the scenes took place in and around my hometown. Everyday People is set in Pittsburgh. I'm curious to see how the two compare even though the first was only okay, I know little about Pittsburgh, and I'm not a white guy writing about black guys.

By the way, the only other book I know of that's also written in the second person is Aura by Carlos Fuentes.