This meme hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies is so cool! From the original post:
“Shelf Control picks will be books that I already own — either physical copies from my overflowing shelves, or one of the many unread titles elbowing each other out of the way on my Kindle.”
What will be included in each post is:
- Title metadata (essentially)
- How I got it
- When I got it
- Why I want to read it
You can find last week’s post here.
Without further ado, I present you this week’s pick!
Title: L’armata dei sonnambuli (The Army of Sleepwalkers)
Author: Wu Ming
Publisher: Einaudi
Year Published: 2014
Synopsis: 1794. Parigi ha solo notti senza luna. Marat, Robespierre e Saint-Just sono morti, ma c’è chi giura di averli visti all’ospedale di Bicêtre. Un uomo in maschera si aggira sui tetti: è l’Ammazzaincredibili, eroe dei quartieri popolari, difensore della plebe rivoluzionaria, ieri temuta e oggi umiliata, schiacciata da un nuovo potere. Dicono che sia un italiano. Orde di uomini bizzarri riempiono le strade, scritte enigmatiche compaiono sui muri e una forza invisibile condiziona i destini, in città e nei remoti boschi dell’Alvernia. Qualcuno la chiama «fluido», qualcun altro Volontà. Guarda, figliolo: un giorno tutta questa controrivoluzione sarà tua. Ma è meglio cominciare dall’inizio. Anzi: dal giorno in cui Luigi Capeto incontrò Madama Ghigliottina.
TRANSLATION:
1794. Paris knows only moonless nights. Marat, Robespierre and Saint-Just are dead, but some swear to have seen them at the Bicêtre hospital. A masked man roams the roofs: he’s Ammazzaincredibili, hero of the slums, defender of the revolutionary working class that used to be feared and which is now humiliated, stifled by a new order. They say he’s Italian. Hordes of bizarre men swarm the streets, cryptic writings appear on the walls and an invisible force controls the destiny of the city and of the woods of Alvernia. Some call him “fluid,” others Willpower. Look, son: one day all this counter-revolution will be yours. But it’s best to start from the beginning: from the day in which Luigi Capeto met Madam Guillotine.
How I got it: I was on holiday in Sardinia and picked this up when I ran out of books to read on the beach (easy-summer-reads who?).
When I got it: Almost exactly three years ago.
Why I want to read it: So… the deal with this book is that it’s fascinating. Wu Ming is not the name of the author, but of a collective of authors that wrote this book over twenty years. It’s a horror story with a magical realism/fantasy twist and strong V for Vendetta vibes. It’s also historical fiction and from the synopsis, it seems like it has a very personal, intimate narrative tone. So much genre-blending is going on, I was so intrigued. It’s quite a hefty tome (and I have no doubt it will be a complicated read), so I don’t think it will be moved to the top of my TBR pile soon, but I think I’ll turn to some Italian reading after my fantasy reading spree. Would you be interested in a review (in English) of this book, if and when I end up reading it?
Any books sitting on your shelves you’re itching to read? Tell me about them in the comments!
Bookmarked 
This does sound interesting, especially the backstory of how it’s written by a collective!
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