I'm halfway through this and man is it good! I love short stories. I love people watching. I love 99% of these authors. It's really too good to be true, this collection.

Written mostly by well-known writers (Smith, Edwidge Danticat, David Mitchell, Jonathan Zafran Foer, ZZ Packer, Nick Hornsby, etc.), these stories are a pretty mediocre bunch overall. Each writer was asked to submit a story (well, two of them are graphic stories, I guess) about one character, and the proceeds go to a charity. Good premise. The characters and styles are diverse, but most of the stories left me flat; the best are perhaps "Frank" by A. L. Kennedy and "Donal Webster" by Colm Toibin--but they aren't exactly "uppers." A few years ago I read a similar charity collection edited by Hornsby, and that one was even less successful. (Hopefully these authors aren't donating work that hasn't been accepted elsewhere.) ( )

After reading The Book of Other People I realized that reading is another type of self-medication; also reading is a great way to avoid other people. ( )

I know its for charity, but the problem is it just isn't very good. I had high hopes, admittedly. A handsomely designed hardback with twenty-three short pieces on the theme of character, containing work by some of my favourite novelists – David Mitchell, Hari Kunzru, Jonathan Safran Foer, Dave Eggers and Colm Tóibín – and a supporting cast of other interesting writers that I had either enjoyed before or wanted to know more about – A. L. Kennedy, ZZ Packer, Andrew O'Hagan, Zadie Smith, Nick Hornby, Toby Litt and A.M. Homes. What could go wrong ...

David Mitchell's Judith Castle was the first big disappointment. I haven't read anything by David before that was less than brilliant, but this is pretty shallow and tedious with a punchline that you can see coming from less than half-way through.

Rhoda, Jonathan Safran Foer's Jewish granny stream-of-consciousness, has its moments, but is a long way from the best of his writing. Andrew O'Hagan's Gordon (yes, that Gordon) is a great idea, which he doesn't quite come off, while Dave Eggers' Theo is a throwaway idea stretched and meandering way beyond the point where it was interesting.

The two best stories for me were Colm Tóibín's affecting Donal Webster and A. L. Kennedy's genuinely unsettling Frank. Both create vivid and believable individuals who find themselves in situations that you desperately want to know more about.

Anyway it is for a good cause – www.826national.org (unbelievably they even get the website wrong in the introduction) – and I hope the book raises them lots of cash. However, if you want to read something captivating and amusing I would suggest you try the letters to President Obama written by some of the students supported by this organisation instead. ( )

Any time you dive blindly into a short story collection (that is, with no idea or pre-conceived notions about the stories, not even a hint of genre) which is a compilation of various authors, it is usually with equal parts trepidation and excitement. This collection held the added trepidation that I did not recognize most of the authors. However, there was the enticing premise of the book – “make somebody up”. You would think that making somebody up is the basis for any story (isn’t that what characters are for?), yet it was evident from the titles (just people’s names) and the introduction that it led to something different.

And, in general, I was happy to have visited. To start with, it was well beyond the third or fourth story before I said, “Well, that one didn’t work.” And, while any collection should start with the strong stories, it was apparently just serendipity in this case as the stories were delivered in alphabetical order by the title of the story (character.) And, even though there were disappointments in this collection (I have to specifically point out a story that was about [spoiler-alert] Jesus which I specifically point out because it violated the rule about making someone up), there were interesting and intriguing approaches to the challenge and the stories.

One in particular I want to point out - Jordan Wellington Lint to the age of 13 (by C. Ware), a graphic-novel approach whereby each page was a year in the life of the character. It is written from the perceptions of that character – so the early pages show next to nothing. At first, it just seemed a one-trick pony of a story. However, the author’s use of space and changes in the perceptions cause more than a cursory glance and a solid inspection into the content.

There are good stories in here. As with most collections there are others that are just not as good and some that are good but predictable. In other words, as you will find in many collections, a mix of tastes and results from which you are sure to find something for your enjoyment.

And now I'm going to do something I try to never do. Make comments based on other people's reviews. (I write my review - then read what others say.) After reading the other reviews posted for this collection, I think it makes my final point. It is interesting to note that some people like the ones that others hate. And some feel blah about ones others rave about. I stand by my assessment - you probably will not like everything you read in here, but you will find things you like. (And they will be different than the popular choices of others.) ( )