Ben Katchor's eerie cityscapes evoke the ruins of the kind of world that appeared to be happening in the background of 1950's films noir, and his fanciful industries, charities, and fraternal organizations hearken back to the same imagined time. Reading his work, one becomes nostalgic for a time that never existed. This form of humor is subtle. In fact, it is not the humor for which I buy Katchor's work as much as it is for that strange feeling of fictional nostalgia. You can get humor anywhere, but Katchor's world view is unique to the man himself. If you ever get jaded, remember this review: immersing yourself in a book of Katchor's is unlike anything you've ever felt before.

Julius Knipl: Real Estate Photographer Stories is a collection of Ben Katchor's comics about about middle-class guys in New York City. At first glance each comic (usually 4 or 8 panels) seems to have no point, and the tone tends to remind me of the Jim books (I Made Some Brownies, And They Were Pretty Good, etc.), but Katchor seems to have staked out some pretty bizarre literary territory with these little stories.

One of my favorites concerns a man who is nearly poked in the eye with an umbrella on a rainy day. He's telling a companion his story, when a bystander overhears and tells him that many city residents are actually suffering from eye injuries on a day like this. This eye-injury enthusiast takes our man to the hospital, to see him "offer condolences to the families of the injured."

Another story concerns a group of volunteers who man phone lines all night, just to take calls from concerned citizens who have heard fire engine or ambulance sirens. Lots of the stories are about businessmen with bizarre, pathetic, or just loopy invention ideas: a suitcase that turns into a wastebasket, a storefront which sells rock candy, but only wholesale...

The text is punctuated by hilarious proper names, such as:

Blood & Sawdust Brand Cirkus Straws

The Ascending Colon, with Horace Bismuth and Vivian Scybala

Citric Acid Council

Viosh Shirue's Natural Rainwater Cistern

Katchor doesn't look down at his characters or approach them with anything similar to condescension. If I am motivated to feel anything at all after reading this, it's a bit more humility and compassion for my fellow man. At times these little stories are laugh-aloud funny, but mostly they just bring a smile and a little chuckle.

I am glad I ran across this book.

ken32

And yes, these pieces were not created to be consumed en masse. If you find a few amusing or worthwhile, but they get tiresome after a bit, just put the book down, and read a few of them each day, as you would if your daily newspaper carried them.

these haunting stories are a notch above the first julius knipl book. one can only wonder where katchor is taking us with this series. his comic stories bounce around between the panels and the reader is forced to create other stories that are only hinted at on the page. it's totally beautiful. great book for anyone into old new york, american yiddishkeit, or gorgeous comics.

I read this book after I saw the movie, so I am judging it a bit backwards. I read with a vision in my head of the way the characters were portrayed in the film, and tried to envision them the way Michael Chabon wrote them. For example, in the book, Grady Tripp is a large, imposing man, and his friend and editor, Terry Crabtree, is the same age as he is, and they have been friends since college. Of course, in the film, the slender Michael Douglas plays Grady, and Robert Downey, Jr. plays Crabtree, making him about 20 years younger. But, things always change when books are adapted to film. I think the screenwriter did a fine job adapting this novel to the screen, and keeping it fairly faithful to the book.

Michael Chabon is a very descriptive writer, as far as feelings, sensations, smells and the like. He focuses mainly on Grady Tripp as narrator here, and a lot on Crabtree and James Leer. He is also more open about Crabtree's sexuality in the book, although it wasn't exactly hidden in the movie. There were also some changes, like the name and breed of the dog, which seemed kind of unnecessary.

All in all, I found this book a well-written page turner, with a very interesting protaganist, the confused, dope-smoking, blocked writer, Grady Tripp. There is much more about his estranged wife and family in the book, and the ending isn't quite as uplifting as the film, plus, I would have liked an epilogue of what happened to the characters after the novel was over. Although, the ending of the book is more realistic and ambivalent than the film.

I couldn't wait to finish the book, and then view the movie again. It's rare that a film is so accurate to the novel and so well-casted. Especially since the author himself did not adapt the screenplay, it is amazingly like the book in almost every way. I couldn't wait to finish the book, because I was really caught up in the lives of the characters. Michael Chabon is definitely a very good writer, and I want to read his other novels, so that I can read them without the pre-existing condition of having seen the film.

In a reversal of my usual routine, I saw "Wonder Boys" the film before I read the book. I thoroughly enjoyed the film, and I loved the book.

The book follows the travails of Grady Tripp, an overweight, aging college English professor who wrote the great American novel--and who has been totally unable to finish his follow-up book, which amounts to over 2 thousand pages at the beginning of the novel.

But, as the reader shortly finds out, this is just the beginning of Grady's problems. In the space of one long weekend during his college's WordFest writer's festival, he loses his wife, learns that his lover is pregnant, copes with his sexually ambiguous and troubled editor, and learns the truth about the life and talent of one of his students.

The novel is briskly paced and plotted, and the minute events in Grady's life are alternately funny and pathetic. You see Grady growing in sincerity and realization throughout the novel, and it's a pleasure to watch this dissolute but essentially good-hearted man fall and then rise again due to his change in priorities.

This is a funny, touching, expert piece of writing. Chabon just won the Pulitzer for his most recent novel, and this book clearly demonstrates his talent. I highly recommend it.

I don't quite understand many of the negative reviewshere. People describe his writing as adolescent or reminescent of a story from a writer's workshop. I was an English major in college and realize that to go after one's dreams in the literary field is not easy, simply because of the quirky characters you get involved with. Chabon is not trying to mold profound statements even close to the same league as Chekov or even Updike, but otherwise he works in the same atmosphere as early Philip Roth. He simply describes characters so easily and with such fruition (without overembellishing them) that we are hooked. "The Wonder Boys" is truly about the the emotional atmosphere of the literary world. Unlike medical or law school - writer's are encouraged to stay young - Grady's problem is that he's forty years old, holding on to youth is killing him. The Wonder Boys is not a light a read as I've heard many label it so. It's truly about that gray line between youth and maturity - and within that line resides hundreds of English majors. I loved it, read and enjoy - definitely not a book for anyone who thinks Nabakov is the beginning and end of the artistic plane.

Michael Chabon is America's most gifted storyteller. Throughout his career, from his debut novel (The Mysteries of Pittsburgh) to his newest work (Summerland) he has showcased his incredible abililty to create realistically flawed characters and fascinatingly well-conceived stories.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is a detailed novelization of the history of the birth of comic books in 1930s America. Told from the perspective of two aspiring artists (Kavalier and Clay), the book magically portrays both the Jewish experience leading up to WWII and the development of an industry that would grow to involve billions of dollars and shape generations of young readers.

With his detailed research and cleverly created characters, Chabon has, indeed, written a masterpiece. Incorporating the real-life figures of comic-book legends Stan Lee and Will Eisner (among others), the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay acts as a love letter to an artform that Chabon clearly loves very much. And to have thi sstory take place in an era of such turmoil only adds volume to the overarching themes of love, war and self-discovery.

For lovers of comics, literature or just plain old good storytelling, Chabon has hit another homerun.

If it were possible to write the Great American Novel, "escape" could easily be its theme. America was, in part, founded upon escape: from persecution, famine, and class, and, for those who came to America but were denied freedom, escape from slavery. Michael Chabon's sprawling novel, "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay," explores the dimensions of escape: physical and psychological, literal and metaphorical, and the complex relationship between escaping from and escaping to.

The first 100 or so pages of the book are incredibly powerful. Josef Kavalier is a trained escape artist who uses his talents to leave Nazi-occupied Prague for America. The oppression and suffering are palpable, as are the humanity and suffering of the persecuted Jews. To fool the Nazis, Kavalier shares a trick casket with a golem, a clay figure of Jewish religious significance; both are symbols of the Jewish community's near-death and faith. Chabon is at his tragicomic strongest here, exquisitely recreating the atmosphere of the survival of faith against brutality. This section alone stands as a superb novella.

Once in New York City, Kavalier rooms with his cousin Samuel Clayman (a pun on the golem), whose own escapes from reality yield mixed results. The two young men create the eventually wildly successful comic "The Escapist," a costumed superhero who battles evil forces and rescues the helpless in an initially vicarious exercise for Kavalier. The book is again wondrous here, detailing the low-rent, fly-by-night "enterprises" of those A.J. Liebling once described as "The "Telephone Booth Indians" (Chabon cites Liebling in the book's acknowledgements, along with several other sources that show the scope of the author's research).

About midway through, the book begins to lose some of its focus and the force of its words. Chabon's wizardry with words begins (at times) to seem gratuitous, much like his introduction of various historical figures such as Al Smith, Salvadore Dali, Orson Welles, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Senator Estes Kefauver (I was glad to find that Chabon restrained himself from somehow including American icons Billie Holliday and Joe Dimaggio as well.) To be fair, though, I have a bias against this style; others will enjoy the inclusion of these characters as well as a glimpse into the mechanics of the 1939 World's Fair). In addition, the historical allusions and footnotes add to the book's verisimilitude.

Chabon's spiraling, cascading sentences sometimes work magic, but sometimes seem to ignore Agatha Christie's literary dictum to "kill your darlings." At worst, the prose seems self-indulgent and congratulatory, much like the showy magicians that Kavalier's Prague teacher so disdains. Chabon's voice is so distinctive, his sentences so dazzling, that at times he almost parodies himself, and one is tempted to imagine sentences with his style and diction ("effluvium," and "detritus" come immediately to mind. The unpredictable becomes predictable; the writing seems out-of-touch and wearily linear, like an overly long drum solo or a beloved but stale verbal heirloom.

The last thematic section portrays Kavalier's psychological escape, from his loved ones and from himself, as tragedy hits him. His much-criticized (among reviewers here) retreat to Antarctica is actually fairly interesting, especially if taken on a more metaphorical level, and it sets up the other theme of the book, where and how does one return after escaping. Joe Kavalier's largely unexplored 11-year absence is not as irritating when taken as a symbol of retreat after his traumatic WW11 experiences, and this last section's largesse (about reversing an escape from home to the psychological commitment journey towards belonging and reconciliation) is described with almost the same power and restraint that Chabon shows in the opening Prague scenes. (Later sections on Joe's Empire State Building escapade and the Senate hearing on comic books are somewhat superfluous.) That the characters don't develop much during this 11-year sleep is Chabon's on-target indictment of suburbia, the conformity of the 50's, and the habit-born comforts and gnawing disillusionment that equally inhabit the borders of approaching middle age. Only Joe's love interest, Rosa Saks, lacks sufficient depth here. I cannot imagine her earlier spirit so vulnerable to the effluvium of habit, a miasma pouring like ether from a culture too tired to question itself (as Chabon, though with greater skill, might put it. It must be fun to have Chabon's godlike creative productivity...so many structures and words from which to choose). Wouldn't Rosa have at least explored the new directions in arts and literature?

Because of these faults and annoyances, I dock the book a half-point, but this is a superb, imaginative book well deserving of its accolades and Pulitzer. One may like it even more if one is not familiar with his earlier works, because the literary fireworks will seem less familiar (as was my own experience with reading his beautiful, astonishingly good debut novel, "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh"). Very highly recommended!

Both an ode to comic books and a love letter to New York City, "Kavalier and Clay" will appeal to anyone who enjoys the works of Charles Dickens, John Irving, E. L. Doctorow, and (to a lesser extent) Mark Helprin. Chabon brilliantly interweaves the story of two fictional comic-book artists and their creations, showing how their lives influence their stories and how their art in turn insinuates itself into their lives (to their success as much as to their ruin). Exciting and epic, humorous and heartwarming, the novel grabbed me with its intriguing first sentence and didn't let go until--less than 48 hours later--I mournfully reached the last page.

The prose is masterful. A "flatulent poison-green river" separates Brooklyn and Manhattan; a woman boasts an "extravagant flying buttress of a nose"; a man has "skin the color of boiled newspaper." Framing these vibrant phrases are such throwaway quips as "In the immemorial style of young men under pressure, they decided to lie down for a while and waste time." Even the most seasoned writer must envy Chabon's ability to fill the novel with such vivid description and snappy witticisms, all the while keeping the action flowing at a vigorous pace.

Any book this popular will have its detractors. The two most-often repeated complaints are the novel's length and florid style and its meandering second half and unresolved ending. I suppose in the age of MTV and factoids, the first objection is inevitable. (One amazon reader who apparently thinks literature began with Hemingway and ended with Carver gripes that Chabon's prose contains--heaven forbid--adjectives.) The second objection is a bit more understandable, but I'm glad that the author chose not to make his novel as tightly plotted as an Indiana Jones movie. Instead, "Kavalier and Clay" is as sprawling and unpredictable and fluid as life itself.

Beware! If you love James or desire to discover him, this new edition of OUP's anthology is not the way to go. A previous and superb OUP edition was edited and annotated by Michael Cox. His fascinating comments are cued by asterisks that are liberally sprinkled throughout the text. In the current version, all the annotations are gone--but the asterisks remain! One can imagine how many readers must be scratching their heads over them. In place of Cox's excellent work, there is an innane introduction by the fashionable novelist Michael Chabon, who tells nothing of James's publications and incredibly little of his life (not even his dates), and explores only one of the stories, persistently misidentifying the protagonist, Parkins, as Parkes. You can't make this stuff up. What was OUP thinking? Why fix something that not only wasn't broken, but was something to be admired? I bought this volume as a gift--it's a handsome hardback--but plan on asking for a refund.

First, about M.R. James:

He is excellent! He is one of the best, most underappreciated voices in horror. Lovecraft admired him. His stories, though old, are quite scary. Also, they are very well written. As Chabon points out in his intro, Poe and Lovecraft weren't the best literary stylists. Most people cite "Oh, Whistle..." as James's best story, but I think I'll vote for "Count Magnus." Certainly all of them are good. More than that, they are REQUIRED reading for anyone who wants to have a basic understanding of horror literature. It is also a hell of a good read.

Second, this edition:

I was greatful to a previous reviewer for explaining the asterisks. There are asterisks without footnotes all over this book, as well as other Oxford University Press books (The Monk). Now we know that these are residue from a previous edition that HAD footnotes. Perhaps you might want to get that version.

However, I take great issue with the disparaging of Michael Chabon's essay on M.R. James. If you don't get the edition with his introduction, I recommend going to the bookstore and reading through it anyway. His comments are very illuminating on James and ghost stories in general.

The art of Dr. James is by no means haphazard, and in the preface to one of his collections he has formulated three very sound rules for
macabre composition. A ghost story, he believes, should have a familiar setting in the modern period, in order to approach closely the
reader's sphere of experience. Its spectral phenomena, moreover, should be malevolent rather than beneficent; since fear is the emotion
primarily to be excited. And finally, the technical patois of 'occultism' or pseudo-science ought carefully to be avoided; lest the charm of
casual verisimilitude be smothered in unconvincing pedantry.
-H.P. Lovecraft

Though less well remembered today than some other authors of Gothic ghost stories--like J. S. [John Sheridan] LeFanu, whose work he
edited, Bram Stoker, and Henry James (no relation), or their successors H.P. Lovecraft, Algernon Blackwood, and the like--M. R. James is
one of the great early horror writers. This story, which concerns a mysterious and unpleasant Mr. Karswell, who takes creepy exception to a
negative review of his book, The Truth of Alchemy, shows off James's talents to good effect, combining genuine scares with a droll wit.
But what makes this edition particularly appealing are the 12 splendid black-and-white drawings by Jeff White--an artist with whom I am not
familiar and about whom I could find nearly nothing on the Web--that accompany the text. This slender volume seems certain to get any
reader looking for more stories by Mr. James and more books illustrated by the estimable Mr. White

GRADE : A

In this debut novel by Michael Chabon, we get a good book that hints at the future of his writing and such novels as Wonder Boys and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. While not up to the caliber of those later works, it certainly has its merits.

Mysteries of Pittsburgh is the story of Art Bechstein and the summer after his college graduation. His distant and domineering father is a mob accountant who is unsatisfied with his son's direction in life; the summer of the story will add no new closeness between the two. Art spends the time partying and being seduced by his friend Arthur and a girl named Phlox; Art's own self-doubts push him in one direction, then another. Meanwhile, another friend, the wild-living Cleveland, is interested in a life of crime and sees Art and his family connections as a path in the right direction.

The novel itself is essentially plotless, just a summer-in-the-life tale. While not great, it is entertaining in places and is a worthwhile read for Chabon fans. Others may enjoy this book, but it is mostly of interest for those who want to see what Chabon wrote before he hit it big.

Michael Chabon's first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, has to be the best peice of fiction I've ever read. The dramatic and exaggerated antics of Art, Arthur, Phlox and company paint widely drawn but finely detailed charachters, whom the reader comes to fiercely love by the novel's end. The drama-queen behaviors of Arthur and Phlox and the baseness and blunt truth of Cleveland and Jane do not mimic, as in so many other novels, the real actions of people, yet come at you with honesty, and Chabon makes them so human you come to feel you know them. These characters make the novel ring true every step of the way, and their vivid, face-slapping real-ness makes "The Mysteries..." seem more of an autobiography than a fictional account of the poingancy of loss of youth. The last paragraph of the book makes it all come together, a youthful admittance and half-apology for the common tendency of the young to add to the truth. The allowance that "as usual, I have probably exaggerated everything" only makes the book, the narrator, and his friends more believable.

When you consider Chabon's age at the writing of this book, it becomes even more unbelievable. This is hands down the best book that I've read in the last five years; here is, finally, a concise, dramatic representation of our young generation in the full swing of hope and misery. Chabon avoids hackneyed situations, dialogue and emotions; he avoids sentimentality in its most over-used definition, but his outlook on the characters' relationships is cogent and convincing. I was left breathless by his ability to make us care for people, to show us, with a little humor, the dark sides of us all, and Chabon makes us all feel a little less ashamed of our involvement in life. He is a truly generous writer, in love with his work, and sensitive to the reader. His characters in this book represent us all, and he has, with a single first book, raised the stakes where modern writing is concerned. This book will be remembered for generations; it would be a sign of wisdom to recognize it now.

Michael Chabon is a very talented author, but you don't get the impression by reading this weak collection of stories. Each story is written with no apparent finale. When it does have an ending, it tends to baffle the reader rather than offer closure. I especially disliked the title story where the first person narrator is omniscient only half the time. It's more annoying than innovative. It seems that Chabon didn't have enough materials to write a novel, and thought, "why not write a bunch of stories with disputable continuity and call them vignettes?" I suggest that you skip this book, or you'll be thinking less of a great writer.

I must say, I'm a huge Michael Chabon fan. His books are always filled with dynamic characters in fascinating situations, and A Model World is no different. But where some of his books have a more airy feel, the stories in this collection are dark. the underlying theme to almost every story in this colelction is family breakdown. the worlds in Chabon's book are certainly not the model that anyone would like to follow.

That being said, the writing is as strong as ever and the stories are engaging. From the dark, satirical humour of the first story, to the tense nail-chewing fear in the last, Chabon takes us on a ride.

Chabon is a writer who, in a rare case, is actually living up to his hype. Read A Model World; it's worth it.

There is something about really good short stories that makes me want to write. I am not looking at writing a novel that will define a generation, but a simple story. For some reason a short story seems to be a good small attainable goal. Who doesn't have a story in him that is worth telling? The trick, I suppose, is to tell the story in such a way that someone will want to read it.

In thinking about working on a short story, I am afraid if I try I will only be disappointed because the end result would not be Michael Chabon's "A Model World." His stories feel so real, with a touch of quirkiness that either make you jealous of the characters' lives, or make you feel glad that your life is normal by comparison. I have absolutely no reservations in recommending this collection to anyone. A perfect read to get you out of whatever funk you are in.

Welcome to Clam Island. The weather is always perfect, even if the people are a little strange. Baseball is considered top priority by everyone except Ethan Feld. But on one faithful day, the sun goes behind the clouds and the rain begins to fall. It is then up to Ethan Feld and his group of friends to save the "Summerland", (through baseball) and all who inhabit it.

I have put off writing a review for Michael Chabon's "Summerland" since finishing it a couple of weeks ago. The writing and characters have stuck in my mind, which really says something for Chabon. But, as far as the story goes, I am really not sure where I stand. While it is being promoted as a children's book, I agree with many of the reviewers that it is perhaps too ambitious for a child. At 500 pages, it took me some time to get through. As for adults, it seems that too much as been taken from other fantasy works, such as "Lord of the Rings" and "Chronicles of Narnia", as well as drawing from folk lore and mythology. It just didn't seem to contain much originality. That is the only way I see this being sold as a children's book, assuming they haven't read much else. However, "Summerland" still has its moments. Chabon has a way with words and characters that make you want to continue on. Next time, I hope he can deliver something more in league with "Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay".

I would have given it five stars if I loved baseball or if this book gave me a love of baseball but I do appreciate the author's, Michael Chabon, intense and passionate love of the game. A book for kids is the perfect follow-up to the wonderful Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay and it shows the author's gift for narrative to be as strong as ever and the story moves swiftly and breathlessly. The imaginary worlds he creates in Summerland come as more of a surprise, as they are both fresh and familiar as the same time. It may lack the sense of wonder of the Harry Potters or the complexities of His Dark Materials but it touches elements of both and brings in a little Americanism (reminiscent of Baum) along with it. He has turned the national sport into the stuff of myths and legends and turned the stuff of myths and legends into daily life. It is both a rollicking adventure story and a sweet meditation on story telling with (its only drawback to this non-fan) a lot of baseball. It is truly a modern American fairy tale.

Going into this book with the foreknowledge that it was aimed at adolescents, I was, of course, skeptical. I've been a Chabon fan since the release of Kavalier and Klay, and with his writing style of extravagance I wasn't sure how he would come off as a children's writer. Well, as the stars suggest, I was not disappointed. The masterful prose transformed me from the cynic I am today into the innocent I was of childhood, and made me realize, even if only for a short while, that those really are the best years of your life. Mixing fantasy, baseball, and growing up for the kids, but also underlining with a Chabonesque philosophy on the importance of the little things in life, this novel is one that I will read to my own children, and then hope they read it to their children. Just another step toward Chabon's inevitable title as one of the greatest writers of the past 20 years.

After a while you wonder if anyone has a marraige, or pregnancy, that works. These stories, however, are simply outstanding. Chabon's prose uses the English language perfectly, recognizing that every word has its own true meaning, and using those words to paint uncannily vivid pictures. His characters are also true to life, reflecting how unstable and unpredictable we all can be, and he details the relationships betweeen these characters with great accuracy and understanding.

In addition, we are treated to a short story by "August Van Zorn," the Wonder Boys' author who first united Crabtree and Tripp. I don't know if this will become a regular pseudonym for Mr. Chabon, but if it does, so much the better. Not every story hits the mark, but it's only one or two, and they don't miss by much. Now it's just a matter of waiting for his next book.

Man, maybe I'm a jerk for saying so, but I don't understand the practically unanimous assertion among reviewers who didn't like the book that Chabon's language is ever particularly ornate -- or "flowery", an adjective toward which so many people on Amazon seem to be inclined -- I thought that, in the way of vocabulary, he was actually rather spare, and although his sentences did some twisting and turning, they never failed to guide the reader in the right direction, were never excessively clever. The stories themselves are elegant, laconic, and insightful, if occasionally contrived; the lattermost of which attributions Chabon was doubtless consciously striving to avoid, but which, like some malicious, depredatory creature, keen to the evasive instincts of the short-story writer, managed to catch up to him at least once or twice.

I'll say this: he's better at writing novels, but these stories, as well as, perhaps to a lesser degree, those contained in A Model World, are quick, sharp, maybe a little depressing sometimes (I know from having read some of his personal essays that Chabon endeavors to rectify any erroneous notions readers might entertain regarding the degree to which his stories are autobiographical -- after The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, for example, there were a lot of people who assumed he was gay -- but one can't help but wonder about the state of his real-life marriage when very few of his characters seem to be able to get their love lives together), but overall worth reading... and more than that, worth reading again.

Michael Chabon is mostly known for his novels (Wonder Boys, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay), but I think his short stories are little gems. The opening sentence of the title story alone is wonderful. His writing sparkles with characters, settings, detail, and vivid turns of phrase. The final story, a Gothic tale written in the style of an author-character in The Wonder Boys, was perfectly done. A perfect book to keep in the car or briefcase for reading while you wait--but you may not be able to stop reading when it's time to go!

McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales was a book I really wanted to like. After all, it featured short stories from some really great writers, and the emphasis was going to be on adventure. I really wanted to like it, and found it disappointing that the book was only entertaining in spots.

The goal of the book, as Chabon states in the introduction, is to have an anthology of short stories in a more "classic" vein: the sort of stories that were published in decades past, filled with fun and mystery as opposed to the more literary, plotless, "moment-of-truth" stories of today. Unfortunately, this book did not make me long for yesteryear, but instead made me think that the passing of short genre fiction was not necessarily a bad thing.

The biggest flaw in the book is that the authors - almost all excellent at long fiction, seem to be unable to write a truly good short story. A couple stories, such as "The General" and "The Albertine Notes" are borderline unreadable. Most of the others are just so-so. Even Stephen King - who has shown over the years that he is adept in short fiction as well as novels - has contributed an only mildly okay story which is probably only best enjoyed by his Dark Tower fans. And Harlan Ellison - a master of the short story and an author who I really enjoy - is also a disappointment here, with a story which comes more as a Harlan Ellison parody than the real thing.

There are one or two gems in the bunch (but not much more). Nick Hornby and Elmore Leonard have written a couple good stories, but that's around it. Ironically, some of the stories seem to consist of the very material that Chabon is trying to avoid: for example, one story is nothing more than a character study of a woman climbing a mountain; there is no adventure or real conflict in the tale; it may be good writing, but it does not fit with the themes of the anthology.

Most people will buy this book because they enjoy one or more of the authors featured within. My recommendation is to read the authors you like and approach the others at your own risk.

I was really looking forward to this collection of short stories. I used to love reading short stories when I was in school, but outside of magazines there really aren't that many short stories written anymore. In fact, that was the supposed reason for bringing together this collection of stories. Some of the stories are rather good, but most are mediocre, and a few are just plain stinkers. The stories I enjoyed the most were:

"The Tears of Squonk, and What Happened Thereafter" by Glen David Gold. This story tells the tale of a murderous elephant and how she was finally captured and hung. This is my personal favorite story in the treasury.

"How Carlos Webster Changed His Name to Carl and Became a Famous Oklahoma Lawman" by Elmore Leonard A young boy has his ice cream stolen by a famous gangster and moments later watches the criminal murder a lawmen. That one event (the stealing of the ice cream or the killing?) changes the life of Carlos Webster forever.

"Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly" by Dave Eggers I'll give him credit, Eggers is a more talented writer than I imagined him to be as this story illustrates. It's the tale of a woman's quest to hike up Kilaminjaro. Great storytelling.

"The Martian Agent, A Planetary Romance" by Michael Chabon This story is a "what if" piece of historical fiction. The last bit of a rebellion on the British controlled North American continent is crushed. The two sons of the rebellion leader are saved and rescued by their famous uncle, an inventor of air ships.

Overall THRILLING TALES was a bit of a disappointment. Several of the tales were promising, but did not deliver in the end, such as Nick Hornby's "Otherwise Pandemonium" a story about a VCR that can veiw the future. Others were duds. However, the few outstanding stories make this collection worth reading, though not necessarily worth buying.

McSweeney's doesn't usually publish books of superstar authors like this, so I made sure to get my hands on one as soon as I could befor e they started flying off the shelves. I had high expectations for this collection, and I wasn't disappointed. Every book of short stories seems to have one or two that just aren't interesting, but this book is the exception that proves the rule: every single story is wonderful. While they are all truly great, I particularly enjoyed Glen David Gold's "The Tears of Squonk and What Happened Thereafter," Neil Gaiman's "Closing Time," and Nick Horby's "Otherwise Pandemonium." Stephen King fans will be pleased to note that his contribution, "The Tale of Gray Dick," is actually an excerpt from the upcoming Wolves of the Calla, the fifth book in the Dark Tower series.