Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman is a collection of short stories and a few poems. Neil Gaiman is one of my favourite authors. He's one of my favourites because of the way he crafts his stories. I just really like the way he has with words that can paint, not just a picture, but the mood of a piece.
The thing liked most about this collection of stories was that they really felt like someone was just sitting around telling the story. Most of the collection wouldn't sound out of place if read aloud. I really couldn't even pick a favourite, each one became my favourite as I finished reading it and moved on to the next.
From the idea of the months of the year sitting around telling stories, to the list of instructions if one happened to find oneself in a fairy tale. The life of someone who lives the headlines of The World Weekly News or Sherlock Holmes in the world of H.P. Lovecraft. The weakest story in the bunch was "Diseasemaker's Croup" and I think it suffered because Gaiman wasn't as sure of some of the terms he was using as he thought he might be.
Of course, most of the stories have been printed before but I don't tend to collect anthologies so they were all new to me. I had considered picking up the Legends collection that included "Monarch of the Glen" but now have the story in Fragile Things. I may download "A Study in Emerald" from Gaiman's blog because I do like to hear him reading his own work. I give this one a 5 out of 5. I could read it again and again.
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