David Goodberg

Review based on ARC.

This is David Goodberg's debut and a collection of shorts. I almost hesitate to put that in the beginning of the review because a lot of people avoid short story collections. However, if you like time-travel and a wry sense of humor, read it! It was a thoroughly enjoyable collection. Again, I was grateful to follow a bit of a drag-read (Rut - see my blog, All Book Reviewer, for review) with something so full of life, recharging my reading-stamina.

The short stories in show more Selected Shorts are amusing with often serious underlying morals or implications. Following each short story was a blurb, lesson, thought, etc. -- sort of a mini-story that filled up less than a page. These blurbs were at least as enjoyable as the stories themselves and often gave me pause. The stories are tied together by the world that has been established by Goodberg, even if the characters within the stories have nothing to do with one another. (e.g., the companies that developed time travel are frequently discussed, even if a character from the first story would never come into contact with a character from the 10th story, who lived a couple hundred years earlier/later in time).

Overall, the book kept my interest and each story only made me want to read the next more. Oh, and the illustrations warrant note: they were a perfect companion! I refrain from saying anything more beyond, Pick it up and read it. It is worth your time. (hehhehheh...)

Recommended for people who like time travel and have a sense of humor... not to mention Hope for our future! show less

Ooh, I just got this first-reads/giveaway/ARC in the mail today - the cover is indeed ever so cute. Ok, all the illustrations are fun-ish. The concept is fun, too. But I'm sorry to say the author didn't pull it off. Now, when I was 11 or 12 I would have loved this, thought it was clever and thought myself clever for enjoying it. Now though, I kept wanting the point of each story or anecdote to be actually significant. I'd recommend it for people who think watching TV is a good use of their show more time, I guess. show less

Selected Shorts and Other Methods of Time Travel had me confused most of the time. I would get into a story and it would just drop off with no real ending or closing. I really enjoyed the way the stories were written and I enjoyed the mini-stories between each short more than the actual short stories.

I’m still boggled as to what I should get from reading this book. Each story was a bit odd and some had that dry sense of humor. But, by the end of each I was thoroughly confused and show more constantly re-analyzing the stories. I then thought, well maybe each story is to bring to light what people don’t normally think about each day.

Each short story has an underlying meaning but some of them didn’t quite stand out as much as others. Overall this book had me feeling lost. I recommend this book to anyone who can appreciate the bizarre and metaphorical sense of Selected Shorts!

Review based on ARC copy show less

An ADD afflicted person's dream come true! I loved this book from the very beginning. Following a two chapter introduction to the commercial side of time travel are many short stories interspersed with either thought provoking or humorous anecdotes of a single page in length. From cover to cover this book is bound to at least bring a smile about. The very few stories that aren't amusing are insightful to the human psyche despite the fictional setting.

At the very least a very worthwhile read. show more I definitely suggest that anyone interested in science fiction should go out and find this book come February 8th. show less