I love cummings' little turns of phrase. "this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart"

A neat idea that's been done many times, in more effective ways.

If you're not in the mood for a thick, dry Borges story (I love him anyway!), you might try some of his poems. Same themes, but with a different touch--lighter, more...poetic, you might say.

Read the play and see the movie. The play is better because there is more doubt (we never see the boy, for instance), but it's thrilling to see the characters brought to life by Streep and company.

Such a good idea, so poorly written. The author puns like crazy (sadly, not for comic effect) and resorts to extreme schmaltz in every story. I was expecting the stories behind odd dedications, instead it's a long list of sometimes uneventful literary love stories. The author likes wrapping things up with a tidy symbol, and will resort to any amateurish trick of detail-planting to get there.

Deep, intricate character study. An examination of the German soul? Worth a read.

Hilarious tale of a hopeless screw-up trying to make it in the perfectionist Japanese business world. The things that happen to her are so strange and cruel and funny. Read it in a day--it feels like a movie.

Find this book if you can. A fascinating look at Stalin's persecution of his own inner circle, told through the doctoring of photographs. As the book goes on, it becomes easier to keep track of the government officials Stalin DIDN'T have killed.

There's no one quite like Cortazar. This is a fun, wild collection of little sketches and stories masquerading as a character study of a certain Lucas. I love the bravery with which Cortazar tackles some crazy idea and turns it into a jazzy literary riff.

A silly little book. Not much to it, really.

Fun, Borges-like stories, but with each one I felt as though I'd missed something of vital importance.

A loving tribute to a great writer, and in itself an extremely well-written work. Manguel's sentences are perfect, as is his pacing. He reveals his Borges in a perfect combination of little scenes.

Exquisite, terrifying, uplifting, humorous. The main character goes through a huge range of human fears in just a few heart-pounding pages. Suskind is perhaps the only writer who, in describing a simple pigeon, could make the reader feel like he's watching a horror movie.

The things Cortazar does with the narrative structure of the short story are astounding. The Night Face Up, A Yellow Flower, Axolotl, Letter to a Young Lady in Paris. A man vomits bunnies, for heaven's sake! Read this book!

A study in starry-eyed optimism, although that's part of the point of it. A love poem to space travel and space science, very hopeful, but ultimately not much as a narrative on its own.

Previously read, my favorite Cortazar so far. A great writer having fun--literature can be very playful.

Capek's take on various historical figures. Sort of a Monty Python feel, though not nearly as funny. Little stories (skits?) wherein historical figures speak like modern day people and riff on their well-known dilemmas and whatnot.

Six intellectuals describe their initial attraction to, and later rejection of, communism (specifically Soviet communism). Through their stories we get a fascinating look into the human mind, and several well-thought out reasons to reject communism and in some cases idealism in general. A great book of ideas, recommended even for those not interested in the whole communism debate.

Haven't got to "Through the Looking Glass" yet. Not sure how I feel about this book. Kinda fun, nice poems, but lots of puns and in-references. I read it because of its influence, which is formidable.