It is a very difficult thing to review a collection of short stories such as this, where some shine brilliantly and others can barely sustain a dull glow. It felt as if reading every short story was a wildcard of quality. Each story was trying to attempt the dry humor Snicket uses in all of his works, to varying success. Some were quite funny. Some, though, flew far too close to the sun and quickly turned into pages upon pages of aimless dialogue, quirky characters, and silly settings - as if being random and sporadic was the key to being clever.

This collection also had bit of a problem with deciding who it was for. I was under the (apparently correct) assumption that this was for children. But there are stories in here that seem rather "adult". In one, a character is decapitated grotesquely. I'm not one for sheltering kids, of course, but this seemed to be a little over the top. One is a story where the characters speak solely in marketing catchprases, sometimes making little sense, which just reads like an experimental art story gone wrong. And another is a really boring account of some affuelent dinner club - what kid cares about something like that? Something felt very off in the way that these authors wrote for kids, which I guess makes sense, seeing as a lot of these authors usually wouldn't.

If there's one overwhelming positive, however, it's the art. The cover of this book underneath the silly removeable one is wonderfully printed, and the images that accompany the stories are pretty cool. I stared at the pullout map for a few minutes - gorgeous.

I feel very mixed about this book, considering how much I loved some of the stories and disliked others. Overall, it was okay. ( )

This is a fun little collection of stories. Some of them aren't that great but others are awesome. My favorites were the Neil Gaiman, George Saunders and the Jeanne DePrau story. I loved the creativity in the title and the dust jacket is awesome with it's half-finished story. Oh, and this book has a hilarious introduction by Lemony Snicket. I bought this book on impulse off eBay because it had a Neil Gaiman story and I'm glad I did. It was well worth what I paid for it. ( )

For a McSweeney's collection, this is weak. ( )

Surprised at the negative reviews for this book. it was a great collection of little weird stories that don't quite aim for greatness. It was a joy reading through these anyway. My favorites were: Monster, Grimble and the Sixth Borough (which has one of the best endings of any short story). The little country was great as well. ( )

The Nick Hornby and Neil Gaiman stories alone are worth reading the book for. Excellent, both. ( )