I decided to read something serious by Gaiman, and picked up this collection of short stories. They were all very good, but there was something will-o'-the-wisp-y about them. In the Introduction, he mentions that he'd originally meant to write a collection of stories with unreliable narrators; that plan fell by the wayside, but there's still often a feeling that what's really happening may not be quite what you think it is. The title is very apt. All these stories are fragile little soap bubbles; if you poke them too hard, they'll break.

I don't know if you'd call it favorite, but the story that stood out the most to me was "Sunbird," which Gaiman wrote in the style of R.A. Lafferty as a birthday present for his daughter Holly. I have been a Lafferty fan since college, I absolutely adore his unique sideways look at reality. I kept thinking as I read "Sunbird" that it had a Lafferty-ish feel, although it never quite managed the giddy spark of wonder that Lafferty often achieved. Anyway, after I finished Neil's story, I had to go dig up my yellowed copy of New Dimensions III and re-read my all-time favorite Lafferty story, "Days of Grass, Days of Straw." ( )

Neil Gaiman is known to pen imaginative stories with intriguing characters. His anthology "Fragile Things" delivers both, but the collected short stories and poems vary in quality as much as subject matter. Anthologies tend to tickle us in different ways, so I'll simply say I enjoyed "A Study in Emerald," "October in the Chair," and "The Monarch of the Glen" (featuring Shadow from "American Gods"). ( )

Another satisfying read from Mr. Gaiman. The man never fails to impress and I was very happy when my book club voted to read this wonderful collection of poems, short stories, and novellas for our October selection. All the stories in this collection were enjoyable and none of them were disappointing to me. There were a few that stood out to me though:

A Study in Emerald: I have never read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but I have read some Lovecraft. This mixture of the two had me laughing and imagining. A good combo.
October in the Chair: This is typical of Gaiman: a well written story within another well written story. As if creating a persona for the individual months of the year wasn't hard enough, that's just the stage for the tale of an unloved boy who befriends a ghost, and possible becomes one too. Humor, sadness, sympathy, and then undeniable creepiness. Effectively evoking these emotions is a tough task to tackle, but this story get is done in 15 pages.
The Hidden Chamber: Love and haunting. One of my favorite poems in the book.
Closing Time: This is my favorite story in the whole collection. Once again, its a story within a story. The private clubs of London sets the stage for the telling of another tale, of childhood exploration. I personally identify with this story because I too remember exploring woods and abandoned places near my various homes growing up and stumbling upon places you knew you just weren't supposed to be at. I would like to think that all children at some point have had that opportunity to mix danger and exploration into their development, but I'm afraid that this experience is becoming fewer and far between. Anyway, this story ends in a most believable and creepily satisfying way.
Other People - This short story evoked the most discussion at our book club meeting. Basically the group was undecided on whether or not the demon and man were simply trading places continuously forever, or there were new sinners coming into and eventually being turned into a demon, just so they could administer the punishment to the next sinner. I fell into the latter camp, being partial to Dante and plus it was more poetic for a sinner to become the embodiment of his own punisher. Now if I could only decipher what a "Lazarene's Daughter" is?
Keepsakes and Treasures: This story is somewhat connected to Hittites, and features the mysterious Mr. Alice. Yeah!
The Problem of Susan - I'm not a big fan of C.S. Lewis, but this one evokes some very kinky images between Aslan and the white witch, something I imagine only Gaiman could conjure up.
How to Talk to Girls At Parties - Sci-fi, humor, and 70's brit punk. The things these girls say, if only it were like that when I was 15 years old.
Sunbird - A nice blend of mythology, humor, and appetite.
The Monarch of the Glen - Shadow is back and he's on vacation.

There are many more great stories in this collection. I really appreciated the format of this book in that Mr. Gaiman gives a little intro and background in the introduction to each story. It helped put the stories into context and added value to their reading for me. It also helped me realize that Neil Gaiman is a very very busy man and no wonder he isn't always coming out with new books. ( )

How to describe this collection of short stories by Neil Gaiman? Here's the thing - this is a really odd collection because it's contrary to how collections normally go. There weren't any stories that left me totally mesmerized, but there weren't really any that were total slouches either. Here's the strange part - the stories each separately would probably rate as 3 stars - but since they were all 3 stars I feel it brings the collection up a 1/2 star. Overall, Gaiman has a real storyteller talent - like I could picture him many lifetimes ago being a bard traveling the lands or a tribe's shaman keeping stories alive. ( )

Intriguing and unusual . Gaiman is a brilliant story teller. The stories are odd, with no loose ends, not really.
Even if you are not a Science Fiction fan, you will enjoy this book. ( )