#252 Neil Gaiman: Fragile Things

[bellinghman]

Neil Gaiman: Fragile Things

Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Headline Review (25 Sep 2006)
ISBN-10: 0755334124
ISBN-13: 978-0755334124
Category(ies): Fantasy

This is another collection of short stories and poems by one of the best short story writers in the English language. It's Neil Gaiman: what more could you want?

Comments

[sierra-le-oli.livejournal.com]

what more could you want?

A novel. :-) Generally, I love Gaiman's work, but his short stories usually aren't my thing. And his poetry leaves me completely cold.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

No pleasing some people, is there?

More seriously, I love the short stories. They're tiny polished gems of writing.

I love short stories as an art form. The problem is that, per page, they take much more effort than a novel does, so most writers go for the long form. Gaiman is, even among short story writers, really very good.

But I can appreciate that not everyone loves the same things. For example, musicals usually leave me cold (with the exception of 'Once More With Feeling', which actually has a valid reason for everyone to keep bursting out in song).

[sierra-le-oli.livejournal.com]

:-D

I'll probably persevere with Gaiman's short stories, maybe it'll click one day.

I do love short stories in general, though for some reason I haven't really read any since Susanna Clarke's fabulous collection came out. But Starlight 3 made me take it out of the library the other day and showed me the error of my ways.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

It may just be that what you (maybe unconsciously) want out of a short story and what Gaiman provides a bit different. For me, I find that whereas I consider a mixed short story collection good if I like 50% of the stories, with Gaiman, it's approaching 100%. You might also like 50% of the mixed collection, but a mostly different 50%.

[sierra-le-oli.livejournal.com]

That might be it. A good point to ponder.