Normally I write a review after I finish reading a book. Since the bulk of my readings are novels, this makes sense. I want to know where the author is taking this story. I focus on the plot and don't want to prejudge the ending. I'm making an exception to my rule for two reasons. First is simply because this is a collection of short stories, so there is no plot. I normally avoid short stories, but a book club I belong to selected this book and I follow their lead. That allows me to be pulled out of my comfort zone and discover new things I never would have guessed I would like. Occasionally I'm disappointed. It's too early for me to say I'm disappointed here. I'll withhold my final judgement. The second reason is more important. So far, I'm having a difficult time with this book. Genius is at work here. Often when that's the case, I have a hard time following along. Is what the author has written based on reality, or is this an instance of their imagination? I wasn't looking for one yet, but I'd really like to have a companion volume, an annotated version, which researches the questions which I have no answers for. For classics, like Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, annotated versions exist. I'd sure like one for this book.

I still have not finished reading this book, but I think I'm starting to understand it a bit more. I was lost reading the first few chapters. But having read "An examination of the work of Herbert Quain" and the following chapter, "The library of Babel," I think I am making sense of it. It's written backwards. The early chapters contain many references to prior information, but because it's backwards, we have to wait till the later chapters to learn what they refer to. These are not short stories. I was wrong. They are pieces of a whole. The chapter "An examination of the work of Herbert Quain" has the key to this mystery. It describes the structure of chapters using an analogy drawn from mathematics. The initial chapter is "z" which is a function of the next few chapters "y", which in turn are functions of the next few chapters "x". Normally "x" precedes "y" which precedes "z". It further makes the case that there's not one path through this. Different combinations of "x" lead to different "y"s, and different "y"s predict "z". I've read other books that use this technique. In only one of them, Charles Baxter's "First Light", did the backwards approach add to the story. That was because the central character was an astrophysicist exploring the big bang. They, of necessity, work backwards to the "ultimate" event. Normally I find the backwards approach disorienting. I'd love to hear a good rationale for books organized backwards. I've always wondered if they were actually written in the normal forward manner, and only after they're written are they organized in the reverse order. Does anyone know?

The next chapter, "The library of Babel" showed Borges' brilliance. He imagined a library where every person in the world existed in a separate room lined with bookshelves. It extended infinitely, vertically, and as many rooms below. No one could see the full extent. The books contained combinations of 25 symbols, the lower case letters, the comma, the period, and the space. People only understood a small portion of the "words" that appeared in the books. Some of those words made sense. To others, those who understood the language in which that word made sense, they understood that word. An editor's note asserted that the original text for the Borges book was written with those lower case characters, possibly before publication and translation .

I finally finished the book. Unfortunately, Part II did not provide the enlightenment I was looking for. My hopes that I could unravel the first part of the book were dashed. I could see some brilliance in the writing. Borges was well read and had insights into religious texts and folktales embodied in The Thousand and One Nights. He focused on the historical role of Jews in the era of the birth of Christianity and in the early twentieth century. I hope someone creates an annotated version of this book. My guess is this was richer than I could fathom. ( )

The stories in this collection often had a peculiar twist that exploded suddenly into a vast plane of possibilities and nuances. While reading the twist you can feel the physical effect on your brain - it goes from a calm cozy contemplation to a violent combustion of grappling and grasping for explanations and boundaries. It's a stimulating ride at the end of which you tilt your head back and quietly whisper: "wtf". ( )

27 years later, I read stories that I barely remember. The library and circular ruins are familiar, but the rest are not. I remembered enjoying the book in college, but this time the work and labor of reading did not fulfill. ( )

This is a small book of 17 short stories. Each one has to be focussed on and I found they didn't work as bedtime reading when I was tired. I am not much of a short story reader as they are fleeting; in my head in the moment and then gone. I don't have the same investment in characters that I do with a novel. This was true of these stories too and it is hard to remember much about them, apart from the last one that I read today. This was The South, a story of how unpredictable life is and how pointless planning is. Some of the stories were unfathomable to me and may suit those who are better read. Death and the Compass has elements of a crime mystery story that I liked. Others read like a book review or an obituary. The Library of Babel is a clever fantasy. This seemed like a book to dip in and out of, enjoying the intellectural stories. ( )

Me encanto!!! después de mucho tiempo me reconcilie con Borges, al fin me amigue. ( )