It feels kind of like cheating to say that I read this, because in reality, I read Calvino's essay about classics at the beginning of the book, then read the essays which I was knowledgeable enough to follow (which still amounted to a few essays). I love Calvino's thoughts on classics and their importance in our lives as readers. He talks about the difference in reading something in one's youth as opposed to reading it as an adult which I found really interesting. He said that as an adult, we should set aside time to read the books that were most important in our youth. This is because of the natural change that occurs when we have seen a bit more of what life has to offer and we have different context for a number of situations and circumstances. It left me wanting to revisit 1984, A Wrinkle in Time and others.

The text does come across as pretty dry from time to time, very dense with literary criticism "lingo." However, after a short period of adjustment, it didn't trip me up too badly. It definitely made me want to look more critically at what I read and spend a bit more time thinking about what it means in general and what it specifically means to me. It was an inspiring read and I think it would be very handy to read the opening essay in any literary criticism/discussion class.