Week in Review (34) and Short Story Sunday - Week 3

Random Thoughts

September is feeling like a month where I am reading a lot, but not seeming to accomplish much to show for it. It is frustrating me! I think it is because I have read three books that I really enjoyed this month and it is making everything else dull in comparison, so I am having a hard time getting caught up in the books. I also think that I am probably doing fine reading-wise, but there is just so much else that I want to read and I can't do everything... Hopefully for the last week of the month I can chill out a bit and just have fun!

Challenge News

I finished Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and A Tale Dark & Grimm for the R.I.P. Challenge. Then, I finished The Fellowship of the Rings which is perfect for the R.I.P. Challenge, too. The Poison Eaters is for the Short Story Peril. Prince of Thrones also turns out to work for the challenge.

Weekly Reads

205. A Tale Dark & Grimm by Adam Gidwitz (Completed September 18, 2011)
206. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (Completed September 21, 2011)

207. The Lord of the Rings: Volume 1 by J.R.R. Tolkien (Completed September 22, 2011)
208. The Poison Eaters: And Other Stories by Holly Black (Completed September 22, 2011)
209. Prince of Thrones: Book One of The Broken Empire by Mark Lawrence (Completed September 23, 2011)

Weekly Posts

Week in Review (33) and Short Story Sunday - Week 2

Storm Front by Jim Butcher - Read-Along - Part 1

Buddy Review: Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

Buddy Review: When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

Review: Helene Hanff - Two Books and a Movie

Friday Reads - 11th Edition

'The Fellowship of the Ring' Read-Along - Part 3

New Additons

Bought:

Still waiting for one more book from my birthday loot...

Borrowed:

84, Charing Cross Road (movie)

Blameless: An Alexia Tarabotti Novel by Gail Carriger

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

The Butterfly Cabinet by Bernie McGill

Extensions by Myrna Dey

Loaded:

Nothing this week...

Received:

Nothing this week...

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Short Story Sunday - Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman - Week 3

In the introduction to Neil Gaiman's short story collection -- a wildly diverse assortment of horror, sci-fi, dark fantasy, poetry, and speculative fiction -- he explains the book's title: "Stories, like people and butterflies and songbirds' eggs and human hearts and dreams, are fragile things, made up of nothing stronger or more lasting than twenty-six letters and a handful of punctuation marks."

Noteworthy selections in this undeniably exceptional collection include the Hugo Award winning "A Study in Emerald," which deftly blends Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's late-19th-century England with gruesome Lovecraftian horror; the Locus Award winning "October in the Chair"; an homage to Ray Bradbury that features the months of the year personified; and "How to Talk to Girls at Parties," a tale featuring two oversexed teenagers from an all-boys school in South London who stumble into a party full of what they take to be hot chicks but are in reality alien tourists! Also included are a brilliant American Gods novella ("Monarch of the Glen") and "Strange Little Girls," a series of, well, strange very short stories that first appeared in a Tori Amos tour book.

Like his previous short story collection (1998's critically acclaimed Smoke and Mirrors), Gaiman's Fragile Things is anything but; this is a powerhouse compilation that proves once again that Gaiman is a true master of short fiction. It's fitting that he dedicates this collection to three short story icons -- Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, and Robert Sheckley.

This is the third week of the read-along of Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman as part of the R.I.P VI challenge.

Stories Read This Week:

'Going Wodwo'

'Bitter Grounds'

'Other People'

'Keepsakes and Treasures'

'Going Wodwo'

Let's face it, I don't like poetry. I was going to write about this post and I had absolutely no memory of what this was about. I didn't even remember it was a poem until I looked the story up in the collection. I just seem to have a block when it comes to poetry and Neil Gaiman isn't have much luck convincing me otherwise...

'Bitter Grounds'

This is a strange story. A man walks away from his own life and finds himself choosing to live someone else's. On the other hand, he could be dead. I really am not sure what to think of this story. It just seemed rather silly to me and I couldn't really get into it.

'Other People'

This story was just plain creepy. It does take place in the afterlife. It is a very dark story and I am not sure I overly enjoyed very much. I am not crazy about stories where people are tortured. The main character has to tell the truth of his life before he can go free, but then it seems like when he does go free he becomes the torturer. It was a messed up story...

'Keepsakes and Treasures'

Of the four stories read this week, I think this one was probably the only one I can honestly say I liked. Once again a creepy story, but I enjoyed it for the most part. There was one aspect of it that I could have done with out, but it helps explain just how evil Mr. Alice is and how he has human, well, maybe not human, needs just like everyone else. I was mostly interested in Mr. Smith and how he became the character that he is. I understand he appears again in the collection and Gaiman says in the introduction that that there will probably be more from Smith in the future. I could do without Mr. Alice, but Mr. Smith is intriguing.

I have to admit I am pretty 'meh' about these four stories this week. I just didn't like them for th most part and they didn't make a huge impact on me. Hopefully my post next week will be more interesting!