TBT: The Witch of Blackbird Pond

So obviously you can't look inside, but this was the only picture I could find of my edition, so ignore that for now. Or head to Amazon and look inside!

Anyway, Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders by Neil Gaiman is a collection of short stories and poems.

I saw a lot of bad reviews of this before I started reading it, so I guess I was pleasantly surprised by it! I really enjoyed these stories for the most part, although some of them did feel like they were unfinished bigger projects.

My personal favorites were...
The Fairy Reel--a short poem about splitting one's self in two.
October in the Chair--a delightful short story about the month's taking turns telling stories and the story October chooses to tell.
Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire--this is a hilarious story about someone who is supposed to write dark and dreary semi-horror stories but can't help but turn them into comedies
Instructions--another short poem about surviving a fairy tale
Fifteen Painted Cards from a Vampire Tarot--these are fifteen short vignettes about different types of vampires and I really appreciated their basis in Tarot cards.
The Day The Saucers Came--another short poem about missing out on life
Sunbird--a short story about an epicurean club
Inventing Aladdin--a poem about Scheherazade and the Thousand and One Nights
Monarch of the Glen -- a novella from the American Gods verse (woohoo +2 for novellas!)

That actually is about half the book which I greatly enjoyed. I mean the others were definitely a bit difficult to slog through, but I don't actually think it diminished my enjoyment of the book as a whole that much.

Favorite Lines: "She does not know where any tale waits/ before it's told. (No more do I.)/ But forty thieves sounds good,so forty/ thieves it is. She prays she's bought/ another clutch of days. / We save our lives in such unlikely ways."
"You didn't notice any of this because/ you were sitting in your room,/ not doing anything/ not even reading, not really, just/ looking at your telephone, / wondering if I was going to call."
"When I was young I was a fool. So wrap/ me up in dreams and death."