In May 2020 we’re reading Carlo Collodi’s classic children’s story ‘Le avventure di Pinocchio’. Share your progress / Join the discussion by scrolling down to the bottom of this page and leaving a comment on this page – comments will be pre-moderated – your email address will not be published or used for any other purpose.
Resources
For people who want to read the original, it’s available free online! 36 short chapters should be manageable for many of you, though the language is archaic in places. There are many places you can find the text:
- it.wikisource.it – the export functions are slow and not very good, but if you’re happy reading online, the html pages are nicely done and have the original images (scroll down to see links to each chapter. This is where I began.
- The author’s foundation, www.pinocchio.it, has a free .pdf to download.
- liberliber.it has this free .pdf, not with the original images and not fantastically formatted
- Project Gutenberg is always reliable and offers a choice of formats
For those who like to listen, there’s a RAI audio version (it’s probably abridged, I haven’t checked).
And/or you could BUY our, very short and simplified, ‘easy reader’ ebook, which also has audio. Click here to view it in our online shop and download the free sample chapter.
Whichever version you choose, remember, the fun of a book club is interacting with others and sharing opinions and ideas!
To do that, scroll down and complete the comment form. Comments will be moderated (to prevent spam) so may not appear immediately. An email address is required but will not be published or used for other purposes.
Lynne F says
Now on Chapter 25 so the end is in sight. I have noticed that my speed of reading had actually slowed down.. I now know why, because I am actually understanding more and the temptation to skim over something has gone. What a dark book this has turned out to be not as i remember it as a child. Perhaps my then innocent mind was captivated by the puppet that was alive! Who didn’t dream of one of their toys coming to life and sharing adventures? Now I am relieved that my toys didn’t come to life. The comments made by fellow book clubbers have again been interesting giving further thoughts to mull over. A little late in joining in the discussion about reading aloud but i will add my comments. As a former Early years teacher i spent many years teaching children to read and part of that was hearing them read. out loud. Once they were reading it was encouraging them to read “in their head,” silent reading. Perhaps the reading out loud was for assessment rather than teaching to read. As adults i think it is a matter of personal choice, whatever you feel helps you. I favour the silent reading and I am sure my husband agrees, Reading Pinocchio out loud in Italian at midnight especially as
he doesn’t speak Italian would not go down well! Hoping the book club will continue and look forward to sharing another text with you all.
Daniel says
I’m at the same point as you, Lynne, and wishing that the author had got himself a good editor, someone who would have given him a slap, pointed out the many inconsistencies, and told him to cut it by at least fifty-percent to make a short story out of it or rewrite it completely as a proper novel, ideally one with some sort of purpose.
I think Italians love Pinocchio, by the way, because it gives them a cultural justification for doing whatever the hell they like (not paying taxes, driving their cars like maniacs, etc.), while the story’s constant moralising is as easy to ignore as that of the Catholic church.
Besides, P. is much more fun when he’s not trying to be good, right? “Don’t be such a GERMAN!” people say here.
Laura says
I’m still a big fan of Chapters 1-14! I loved Cigliegia, I also loved the conversation between Geppetto and Pinocchio when Geppetto was fixing Pinocchio’s burnt feet. Geppetto says, “Why should I fix your feet, so that you can run away from the house again?!!” And when Pinocchio did something wrong, Geppetto tells him that they’ll do their math/i conti when they get home! I guess that was an old expression for the fact that a little discipline was on the way! Lol For me, the cat and the fox had me laughing so hard — talking about the money tree Pinocchio can grow if he plants his money, and then how they leave him to pay the entire bill at the end of their meal together. Discovering that it’s really the cat and the fox that are covered in sacks trying to rob Pinocchio at mezzanotte had me practically on the floor with laughter. When one of them tries to get the money out of Pinocchio’s mouth, Pinocchio bites off the criminal’s hand only to discover it was not a hand at all, but a cat’s paw. And then when Pinocchio meets up with the cat and the fox the next day and notices that the cat’s paw is missing, I couldn’t believe how the fox explains the absence of the cat’s paw — saying that the cat was such a kind soul that he had bitten off his own paw in order to give a bit of food to a poor suffering creature. I had to reread that part a couple times just to make sure I had understood it correctly!
So anyway, those were my favorite parts of the story! I think Collodi did a great job with those chapters (except for chapter 15).
Daniel, I also liked your comment on why you think the Italians love the Pinocchio story! Another good laugh for the day!
Lynne F says
Yes I tend to agree Daniel, It seems Collodi thought up every possible opportunity for Pinocchio to misbehave and included them all in the book. I am still smiling at your comments about Italians and rules .and your story about taking a toy dog for a walk during lockdown came to mind. Three chapters to go now I’m afraid the sunny weather and garden took priority at the weekend.. look forward to the new book already downloaded .
Zsuzsanna Snarey says
I bought and read the Easy Reader version (complete with the exercises) and listened to it on Soundcloud.
Now I am getting to grips with the original. Just started Chapter IV. I sometimes need some clarification and instead of using a dictionary which is clumsy and time consuming I use an App called Talking Translator. Is that allowed Daniel?
I have found an Italian Audible version which makes very good listening. Audible has offered me two free books for a month which can be cancelled anytime.
I was very interested to read the comments pointing out the deeper meaning and jokes for adults. I might have missed these.
Il Nome Della Rosa was a very long book and I must confess I have not yet finished it, maybe later when my comprehension has improved!
Daniel says
sometimes need some clarification and instead of using a dictionary which is clumsy and time consuming I use an App called Talking Translator. Is that allowed Daniel?
Ah, you have to make your own rules, Zsuzsi. In my house, it’s NOT allowed, but decide for yourself… I’ve written again and again that tolerating the gaps, the ambiguities, the uncertainties is part and parcel of effective reading.
Il nome della rosa (note that Italian titles, headings etc. are not capitalised like in English) was indeed very long, and difficult. But worthwhile. I was pleased with myself when I finished it.
Robert Youngblood says
For the Pinocchio person wondering whether a newly encountered, unknown Italian word is one of high frequency or not, a frequency project i completed from a high frequency source of 10 million words by form down to two occurrances (far less frequent) might furnish the answer:
https://youngblooditalianblog.wordpress.com/2019/03/23/italian-word-forms-list-of/
Daniel says
That’s very interesting, Robert!
Laura says
Daniel,
I just read your email today, and yes, I would love to do another mini book club with the new easy reader! I love seeing other people’s reactions to the books, and I love interacting with everyone. Our book clubs are giving me something to look forward to in the middle of this nightmare we’re living through right now, which in the United States is not being helped at all by the media. I finally had to ask my husband to turn off the news for large chunks of the day (he likes to have it on while he works from home). As for me, I’m to the point I can’t tolerate it anymore. The only thing I hear from the newscasters is “Be afraid, be afraid, be very afraid.” (That’s a line from the sci-fi thriller, The Fly, I think!) Don’t get me wrong, I know this is a very real and serious situation, but what the news media here has done with it is absolutely reprehensible. Mass panic and hysteria definitely are not good for our immune systems either.
That being said, I like your Easy Italian News! I just subscribed yesterday, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for including other topics, instead of just focusing solely on Covid like they do in the US!
Hopefully everyone else will want to continue with a new mini book club! 🙏
A presto!
Laura
Chris says
Insomma, finished both the original and the easy reader last night. It seemed to be a quick end after all the drama young Pinocchio had gone through. I haven’t really thought about analysing a book since doing A level English literature. I am not an intellectual arty at all. Very interesting to read all the comments though and this book club is broadening my outlook.
There were some dark elements to the story which for a child may have been terrifying or perhaps that was the idea! The hanging , the turning into an ass, the being swallowed by a huge dog-fish! I am unable to fathom why Collodi would finish his original series at chapter 15! A dark mind!
I noticed the elongation of chapters after that but didn’t think much about it. Glad Collodi continued with the story to leave us with a happy ending.
A lot of vocabulary I did not know but went with the flow. I was so pleased when 2 words appeared that I had just come across in my Skype lessons with Madrelingua.
Thank you Daniel for these book clubs. You are making me read texts I wouldn’t normally read in English let alone Italian. Having the book club makes me accountable so makes me read. Please do carry on with it. I had a quick look at UNO, nessuno e centomila. Sounds very interesting.
Grazie mille e ci vediamo
Chris 🙂
Daniel says
With a final push on a Sunday afternoon, I’ve FINISHED Pinocchio, all thirty-six chapters of it. And I have to say that ‘Il nome della rosa’ was more fun.
But there, now I can say I’ve read it. So tomorrow, on with Uno, nessuno centomila!
Laura says
Daniel,
Will you be sending out the link to purchase the easy reader in your email tomorrow? I think I’m going to need it! I will attempt to read the real book with the rest of you, but yesterday I looked at Chapter 1, and without a dictionary I understood only 15-20%! Something about him noticing his nose for the first time after a bit of a nasty comment from his wife, and becoming obsessive about how he appears to others, something he had never thought about before. I guess that was pretty much the idea of Chapter 1, but there was at least 80% of text I didn’t understand!
Congratulations on finishing Pinocchio! Did you find the ending a bit cliche, too?
Laura
Daniel says
Sounds like you got the general idea, Laura. Yes, there’ll be information about the easy reader version tomorrow.
Congratulations on finishing Pinocchio! Did you find the ending a bit cliche, too?
Not so much clichéd, no – I suppose it must have been original for its time or it wouldn’t have become so well known. There were parts that I enjoyed more than others, I admit. But overall, I’m glad I read it.
My real criticism would be that the ‘whole’ could have been significantly better with a little more discipline and consistency on the writer’s part. It was written in episodes over a period of time, I read some place. Unfortunately that shows.
I’d say this was a rare example of when the film (any of them!) was probably much more coherent and logical than the book. I wrote in another comment that this could have been cut right down to make a great little short story, or expanded into a ‘proper’ novel. Either way would have asked more of the writer than to just ramble along as he appears to have done.
That said, rambling along is not uncommon in story-telling, especially when it’s extended over time as this was. Think of the plot twists and general craziness in popular TV dramas (anyone remember Dallas?), soap operas, and more recently watch-on-demand TV series.
Seems to me that a lot more effort and thought went into the Harry Potter novels or the eight series of Breaking Bad…
Laura says
I’m not sure if cliche is the word I should have used, after reading your response. I guess that for me, everything was too perfect at the end of Pinocchio. He was such a role model now, and I guess maybe I wanted to see just a flicker of his mischievous character at the end of the story. This impish behavior was so evident at the beginning of the story, and at the end, it felt like a part of Pinocchio’s very essence had been stripped from him. Does that make any sense?
Daniel says
Sure, so not clichéd, just not very well-written. A clever author or one who cared more would have had Pinocchio wink at the reader in the final chapter and hint that there would be further adventues to come.
Laura says
Exactly!!! Just a wink would have been sufficient! I guess at the end Pinocchio reminded me a little of one of the Stepford Wives after she had been remodeled! But who knows, maybe that’s what Collodi wanted to imply happens when we strive for social conformity and don’t hold on to our individuality?