If on a winter's night a traveler
Outside of the town of Malbork
Leaning from a steep slope
Without fear of wind or vertigo
Looks down in the gathering shadow
In a network of lines that enlace
In a network of lines that intersect
On the carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon
Around an empty grave
What story down there awaits its end?

This poem is probably the first thing I noticed about the book (my neurotic tendency to scan the table of contents is to blame). I knew that since the chapter names made up a poem, the book was sure to be something interesting. Calvino's take on reading, novels, stories, and life is pretty amazing. It was probably one of the funniest novels I have read in a while, and I would definitely say that having read Danielewski's House of Leaves prepared me for the random narrative style Calvino explores. One event is related to the next event is related to the next event and so on. What was particularly interesting is Calvino's assumption that Reader is male, and Other Reader is female. As a woman reading this text it distanced me even further from it, making me especially aware of its materiality and textual devices. Did anyone else have this experience?

-Corey