If on a Winter's Night a Traveller

More like books than book, this collection by Italo Calvino parodies books, readers, publishing, ideas and his own works, all at the same time. The Reader picks up his book – discovers in a printing error he’s reading a different book – goes to correct the error at the bookshop, university, publishing house, more and more places, each time being given a completely different book, and each time wanting to read it but being thwarted. He meets a fellow Reader – the Other Reader, Ludmilla – and a cast of other odd characters including writers and ghost-writers and professors and critics – and in the end the Reader, you, finally end the book, even if it’s not the one you started with – although of course it is, because it’s his book.