Fragile Things

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Such marvelous creations and more—including a short story set in the world of The Matrix, and others set in the worlds of gothic fiction and children's fiction—can be found in this extraordinary collection, which showcases Gaiman's storytelling brilliance as well as his terrifyingly entertaining dark sense of humor. By turns delightful, disturbing, and diverting, Fragile Things is a gift of literary enchantment from one of the most unique writers of our time.

Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves of the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire" (3 stars)- I still have absolutely no idea what in the world was going on. We have a man writing a ghost story and oh yeah he may live in a haunted house. And people are not who they appear to be. And things just end on no explanation. So what's wrong with this one? Well... a number of little things that add up to enough to make me unable to give it more than 3 stars. The stories are generally good, though some certainly better than others, and Neil reading them is always a bonus, as he reads his work so well. But, perhaps (and probably) because it is in an audio format, one does not really have the time to digest the individual pieces. There is mere seconds of transition time between the various stories/poems/commentary. If you listen to your books while doing tasky things, as I often do, it is not feasible to stop between pieces, digest the tale, think about the work, etc. Some of the pieces are short enough and esoteric enough that it is not automatically clear that one story's ended and another begun. I think it likely that, had I read this book in paper format, I might have had a different experience. It is recorded that the emperor died in his sleep, and that is true, as far as it goes—although it could be remarked that his death was not entirely unassisted; and his oldest son, who became emperor in his turn, had little interest in maps or mapmaking. Coralineis a children’s book that adults can enjoy just as much. This is thanks to Gaiman understanding that stories are universal, and that what is scary for children is also often scary for adults. The book also included, at the very last part, a novella published two years after American Gods came out, entitled Monarch of the Glen. In the novella, the main character from American Gods, Shadow, finds himself lured into a game with monsters. I had my doubts at first on whether I should read it, considering I have yet to read American Gods and might inadvertently run into spoilers, but threw caution into the wind, anyway. The novella, as it would turn out, would have an entirely separate and distinct plot from American Gods. (I asked my husband, who has read it, okay.)What you’ll find here is my ranking of the best Neil Gaiman books. Not his comics or his non-fiction. These are Neil Gaiman’s fiction books. You won’t find Sandman or any of his work for Marvel and DC here.

I may try this again another day. Maybe not, though; I'd already read/heard/seen about half the stories anyhow so I'm not sure that I really need to go through it all again. The Mapmaker" – a very short story included in the book's introduction, originally written for American Gods And so when I read the stories in this book, they give me a little thrill, because I don't expect the vulgar and the so-very-adult-ness of some of these stories. Even though, by all accounts, I SHOULD. I made it all the way to the last disc and then kind of fast-forwarded to the end, skipping giant parts, leaving huge swaths of un-listened-to prose behind me. The Flints of Memory Lane – a real life ghost story has no resolution I'm not happy that a Romani woman is again presented as someone people should be afraid of. There are too many stories like that (3 stars)

I believe in absolute honesty and sensible social lies. I believe in a woman's right to choose, a baby's right to live, that while all human life is sacred there's nothing wrong with the death penalty if you can trust the legal system implicitly, and that no one but a moron would ever trust the legal system. Scattered through the book are a number of poems, all of which I am completely not qualified to give an opinion on, and none of which really spoke to me. Strange, or sweet, or eerie, or heartfelt stories . . . wonderfully peculiar . . . Gaiman relishes the sacred act of telling stories.”— Entertainment Weekly Gaiman's] new collection, Fragile Things, is a delightful compendium rather than a straightforward story collection, but it's a fine sample of the author's versatility. Gaiman writes in different registers: comedy, satire, pastiche, deadpan, lyrical or whimsical, but almost invariably dark. It all depends on whichever sooty, fantastic spirit drops down the chimney of his Minneapolis writing room on any given day. Monarch of the Glen" is a novella which serves as a sequel to American Gods. Here we get to see a little bit of how Shadow is carrying on after the events of that novel. This was a nice teaser, making me want a new American Gods novel now. C'mon, Neil. Everybody wants you to write it.