How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
"I like to keep one book distinct from the other, each for what it has that is different and new; and I especially like books to be read from beginning to end. For a while now, everything has been going wrong for me: it seems to me that in the world there now exist only stories that remain suspended or get lost along the way." (21.13)
As you stand in front of the readers at the library, you finally say out loud what has been troubling you throughout this book. You give voice to your disappointment as a reader, and reaffirm that you are a person who has normal expectations when it comes to reading.
Basically, Calvino is putting words into your mouth and is trying to make your character feel the way he's been trying to make you feel by breaking off his ten different novels at their most exciting moments. By giving you only the beginnings of novels, Calvino wants you to get used to reading with a sense of total potential and to have as few expectations as possible when it comes to reading. This will lead you to find new forms of pleasure and happiness in reading. At this point in the book, though, your character still hasn't been totally broken by the constant interruptions. Instead, he makes one last appeal for some sort of normal plotline and complains about how the whole world of his reading seems to be messed up.