I listened to this collection of short stories by the author of Sandman and Coraline on cd (this is my new lazy way of reading books). The stories were pretty cool. Most felt like fairy tales, especially the first which is a retelling of Humpty Dumpty’s death (hardboiled detective story style).
I really enjoyed the story about an old lady who finds the Holy Grail in a flea market, and later Aladdin’s Lamp. She is very blase about the whole affair, even when Galahad himself shows up at her doorstep.
My favorite story was probably How to Talk to Girls at Parties, about an awkward youth and his suave friend who stumble unknowingly into a highly strange party. Strange is a word that could be used to describe most of the stories in this collection, and so, of course, I liked them all. They aren’t as polished maybe as some of Gaiman’s later prose, but lovers of trolls, graveyards and related topics will find something to like in this collection.
DweebMeter: 3.5/5
