Fagile Things by Neil Gaiman

The first book I read in 2009 was Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman. This book was one of three given to me by Rose, a friend from work. I've loved everything I've ever read by Gaiman and this book was no exception.

Fragile Things is a collection of short stories and poems written by Gaiman. If you think Gaiman's novels are unique, you should try his short stories. I loved the book on the whole, but some stories I enjoyed more than others. Some were really twisted, while other were just extremely imaginative, some creepy and some were just downright disturbing.

My favorite story was "Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire" (yes, that's the full title). This story was an interesting twist on the traditional gothic mystery/romance and I loved it.

"October in the Chair" was interesting, though it left me feeling dissatisfied, like the story wasn't finished. Though I did find it interesting that this story was kind of like a starting point for The Graveyard Book, which Gaiman was in the process of writing when Fragile Things was published.

"Other People" disturbed me the most, while at the same time I found it morbidly fascinating.

I was also really interested in "Monarch in the Glen," mostly because it was a novella set in the world of American Gods, about two years after the events of that novel. I loved American Gods and enjoyed hearing more about what Shadow has been up to.

I think the story that bothered me the most was "The problem of Susan." It started out well, but took the typical twisted Gaiman turn. The problem being that I am a huge Narnia fan, and the direction this took was just a little too wrong.

On the whole I think I liked Smoke and Mirrors, Gaiman's other book of short stories, better than this one, but I still really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to any Neil Gaiman fan (or anyone who is a fan of truly original, but somewhat twisted science fiction).