»Marcovaldo, or The seasons in the city

This collection of bucolic stories is amongst my favourite by any author. Calvino's imperturbable hero, the eponymous Marcovaldo, spends some of his time dreamily lost in a fog; some of his time earnestly providing for his impoverished family; and some of this time privately fending for himself. None of these aspects lead to any sort of moral; rather, Calvino uses each of the brief narratives as an episode. The spare writing underscores the quotidian nature of Marcovaldo's life.

I was so engrossed in this book that I missed my stop on the train to work (while reading "The wrong stop"!).