INVISIBLE CITIES

No matter how good the narrator--and John Lee is quite fine here, precise and elegant--some books are difficult to put across in audio. In Calvino's 1972 classic, Marco Polo describes the cities he visited on his expeditions to Kublai Khan. You must set aside everything you expect in a novel, such as character or plot, and be prepared after each city's description to think about what it means and how it fits into the book. Lee never rushes, but you may still feel the need to pause and reflect before going on. You may even want to look at a map as this is a work that talks a lot about atlases. Or you can just sink into the music of Lee's voice. D.M.H. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2013]