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I bought this book to give to my mother for Christmas, and so, according to long-standing family tradition, I read it myself first. I learned a lot about Dickens's life, the writing of A Christmas Carol, and Victorian ideas about Christmas, and I enjoyed the book. I think Mom will like it too.
Sep. 6th, 2013
I was really, really loving this book until I got to the end. ( Read more... ) Still, I'm in for the next one.
This collection of short stories was up and down for me. Some of the stories were really great (Peter Beagle's contribution comes to mind) while others were only so-so. Gaiman's own contribution, about the sunbird of suntown, is a story I've read at least twice before in other collections. I think he needs to let it rest a while before trotting it out again. Still, though, I reread it and was captivated all over again.
The second installment in the series didn't disappoint, at least not really. I'm happy with the way she's moving forward the Clary/Jace conflict; I'm enjoying Simon's character development, and I like the addition of Maia, although we need to get to know her better. I'm also interested to see where the Morganstern family backstory is going - I have some ideas, based on comments from the Fairy Queen, Valentine, and Imogene, but we'll see. Glad I have #3 ready to go on my To Read shelf.
I loved this little Arabian-nights style time travel tale. Chiang does time travel properly: he outlines the rules, doesn't deviate from them, and doesn't allow for changing the past, but he's able to create layers of nuance and meaning within this framework. It's not a big story but it's one that resonated with me and that I think I'll remember. Possibly my favorite Chiang story after Story of Your Life. (Tagging with the Hugo tag because it won Best Novelette in 2008 - is there anything Chiang does that doesn't get Hugo recognition??)