You have to be familiar with the writers to really appreciate
589993
This book is a great and interesting read with a few qualifications. It really helps to actually have a deep conviction to live a life that is pleasing to our Creator. It also helps to know the background of where these two writers come from and the story of how they met and become lifelong friends despite the differences of those backgrounds. Nehemia Gordon is a Karaite Jew who does not hold that Jesus/Yeshua/Yahushua is the prophesied Messiah of the Old Testament. Keith Johnson is a Methodist minister who has discovered the connection of Jesus as the Messiah who through his shed blood has allowed a way for any God-fearer to return to the original one and only covenant laid out in the first five books of the OT known to Jews as the Torah. Nehemia, despite what some Christian legalists would say, has a true heart for the Father and has helped provide great insight from a Jewish perspective for many who are returning to the Torah of the Father through Messiah Jesus/Yeshua. He doesn't try to convince you of anything. He simply provides scholarly information of which this book as well as others he has written benefits greatly. On a personal note, this book really touched me deeply. It can actually be a very spiritually uplifting book if you meditate on some of the new information you will discover about the "Lord's Prayer". It is quite profound. God Bless.
3512001
Amazing,but you need to read Collection 1 to completely understand.
234432
If you are a fan of the Masterpiece Theatre series, reading the books makes you realize how an excellent screenwriter and great acting can change an otherwise ho hum set of mystery stories. Without the familiarity of the series with James Norton and Robson Green, this set of short stories while mildly entertaining are nothing wonderful. We can be grateful James Runcie created the characters but it's the tv series producer, writers and actors that bring these stories to a whole new level.
2262961
As an English Lit graduate, and aspiring writer, I have to admit that I took a step back when I saw this selection as Oprah's Summer Reading.  Faulkner is not exactly the writer you take to the beach to read in snippets between sunscreen applications and frisbee tosses.

In my opinion (which probably isn't worth much to anyone except myself), Faulkner is quite possibly the most brilliant writer this country has ever witnessed.  I have read too many of the reviews on Amazon that claim Faulkner's novels have no "plot".  But any writer knows that plot is only one element of writing (and probably the least significant element).  Too many contemporary novels (and movies...and TV shows) have nothing but plot.  Faulkner's work fully realizes the most important elements of a beautiful story...character and ideas.  Don't expect too much action in these books.  Then again, are our lives defined by our daily actions, or how we feel about them?  Faulkner's novels are about the inner lives of his characters, not their inane movements from one place to another.

I must admit that I think Oprah made a mistake with this choice.  I am going to predict that 90% of the people that purchase this collection won't make it past page 20 of THE SOUND AND THE FURY.  However, if you want to know what GREAT literature tastes like, take a chance.

Faulkner is the difference between fiction and Literature.  While fiction is meant to entertain, Literature offers itself as a challenge to our cultural and personal beliefs.  If you're looking for something like THE DAVINCI CODE (breathtaking chase sequences with paper-thin characters), this collection is not for you. But if you're bold enough to take a look at an authentic slice of America's past, Faulkner's the real deal.  He's not easy, but what of great value is?
1863628
This is written for a reflective reader, which would most likely be an older reader.  Much narrative consists of the detailed thinking processes and motivations of the certain characters (before and after every choice and/or plot point), which some people may find too slow-paced, although the language is very easy to follow.  One of the main characters is always NOT explained, so there is always some mystery.  How things ultimately work out for the "good guy" (always a multi dimensional character true to the time period) is always a surprise.  You just have to read these stories to understand.  I have never ready anything like them.
4273671
Northwest Smith is one of the true greats of science-fiction characters, he's archetypal. That said, there are some people who will not appreciate these tales as much as I (and a lot of others) do. I wish I could say it would be a good read for everyone, sadly this is not the case.

That being said however, for the right person, these are truly gemstones of fabulous value. The tales are written in a style that is regrettably no longer seen, a pulp-Lovecraftian style that is heavy on detail, nameless horror and sensual description. If you are a fan of Lovecraft you'll probably enjoy this, if you either don't know or don't have strong feelings for HPL, I think that a good number of the stories will still be interesting and fun to read. If you hate Lovecraft, you'd probably be better to get your hands on the paper copy, scan-read a few pages and see if there is still something there that will catch your interest. It's worth the effort.

If there is a major problem however, it is in the repetition of the basic plotlines. Many of the other reviewers have noted that there is a kind of pattern to the stories, and I'm not going to say there isn't. This is probably the thing I like least about the series myself. In a way, this phenomenon is a "nature of the beast" thing, the common problem of the era in which it was written. That's not a cop-out, while the story structures may have some similarities, the description and the "meat" of them are still worthy of delving into. Think of them as variations of a theme. So even with that caveat, I recommend these tales highly and have bought more than one as a gift for some of my friends with similar tastes to my own.
4477965
There's a boat-load of writers and artists on this! Too many cooks in the kitchen usually turn out garbage when it comes to comics, but not this time.  This is a solid story thoughout.  The standout writers on this project are Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker.  The artwork is all fine, but the stylistic shifts can be pretty jarring.  It seems like the artists were more concerned with keeping things consistent in their own titles (this is a blending of several ongoing "Bat-family" titles) and not too concerned about the flow of this collection.  The team of writers manage to hold things together despite this small problem.

This book covers some important changes in the world of Batman, so if you're a true-blue Bat-fan, you should pick this up.

Greg Rucka's "Evolution: New Gotham 1" is excellent (better than this actually), but not required reading before "Officer Down: New Gotham 2".  The two volumes don't really have anything to do with eachother.

For more great Bat-related books check out:

The Long Halloween

Dark Victory

Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood

Gotham Central

Catwoman (just the ones by Ed Brubaker)

Birds of Prey (just the ones by Gail Simone)

Happy Reading!
1939873
Some stories were hard to follow secondary to amateur authors?
1406799
I was not familiar with most of the writers who had contributed to this anthology, having only come across one short story by a single author before.  As promised by the blurb the common theme of all of the stories were people struggling with relationships in exotic / future settings. The settings varied from the post-apopalyptic to utopian futures. The actual stories were excellent with good plots and beleivable characters.

Like most collections the style and quality of the writing varies from author to author and some could have benefited from a bit more work to improve the storytelling. Depending on your personal taste in writing you will probably love some stories and be less enamoured of others.

Overall I thought it was excellent value for money and would recommend it to anyone interested in the dual relationship / science fiction theme as there is sure to be at least one story for you that makes the price worthwhile.
2349251
I love MWW.  You have to read his stories carefully due to the vernacular in which they are written.  He was a real master of his style of writing.
2548425
I picked this up because I admire the editors at the Paris Review (past and present) and I wanted to acquaint myself, and my family with the variety of authors and their writing in the near immediate way that an anthology affords. The book is divided into topics: heartbreak, madness, sex, love, betrayal, etc., and the contributers span living and dead, male and female, young and old writers. In point of fact some pieces are interviews of the author on the topic, some are essays, short stories and other formats by them. Even if you've read their novels, it's interesting to see how they handle a topic in short form. If you have a mental check-list of important writers and want to taste their particular style and craft -- this book is for you. It is especially interesting to examine how pieces can become dated or continue to feel timeless, regardless of the mastery. Take a forkfull of radicchio then a piece of endive, or consume the entire bowel in one sitting. You are sure to enjoy this literary meal.
3125963
Many of you are not strangers to Mike Faloon and might know him from Go Metric!. This is his first book of short stories. I have often times talked about my love of the short story writer that writes the small stories of life and not the bigger than life stories. Mike Faloon is one of those writers who tells the small stories.

Whether it is the uber-fan trying to tell us the difference between progressive rock and arena rock ("Half Armadillo, Half Sherman Tank") or the misfits at boy scout camp who struggle with telling on the bully who brought a gun ("The Revenge of Crothamel's Mules") or the college guy trying to figure out if he was on a date with a girl or she just wants to be his friend ("Gumballs or Gravestones") Faloon masters at telling these small stories.

When you are reading these very short stories of five pages or so you get a feeling that they are told from an auto-biographical perspective. A writer shouldn't be able to create as clear a situation and character in so few pages unless he is talking about himself. Yet clearly the characters can not all be autobiographical, the clarity of the stories in so few pages is a testament to the talent that Mike Faloon possesses as a writer.
1277834
To the one to three star reader, especially those that degraded his writing who obviously don't believe in the Nation Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize, a film for a book and a number of other awards. He is not an easy read which is probably beyond their IQ and or education. But he is a highly regarded by critics, award judges and intelligent readers. So for those of you that appreciate great writing and are willing to put in the effort, the reward is great.
1356428
Reading this novel made me realize that I'm not nearly as good a writer as I'd always thought I was. I make a living writing but McInerney reminded me of how beautiful prose can be. The subject matter - a self-obsessed upper-middle class couple in Manhattan - is not what makes this novel special. It's McInerney's incredible ability to develop  characters on an intimate level, relying almost exclusively on dialogue, that earns him the book review comparisons to Fitzgerald. Most writers take the easy way out, describing characters - how they are. Better writers show how they are through their actions and reactions. The great ones let it flow naturally as conversation that the reader feels they are part of. I feel like I know Russell and Corinne Calloway - even if I don't like them at all.
3325847
I find it hard to judge on two levels.  I am too old for the simplicity of writing and I am personally acquainted with the writer.  I suspect that this is popular with the younger group and may keep them reading mysteries as they get older.
4531241
This isn't a thick book, because there just aren't that many letters between Maxwell and O'Connor.  I only picked it up because, after reading a few of O'Connor's short stories, I immediately decided that I needed to read every word that was ever written by or about this man.  Except for one lousy biography, I didn't regret the time at all.
But this, honestly, isn't a great collection.  The letters start out rather dry, and even as they get more affectionate, you still don't feel like there's any meat there.  They discuss their families, and how much they like them, and how badly they want to see each other - but regarding their opinions on anything else, or an idea of how they went about writing their works, one gets very little: a lot of frustration about writer's block and some comments that are only useful if you're already familiar with Maxwell's novels (I've only read So Long See You Tomorrow, which isn't mentioned in this book) and O'Connor's later New Yorker stories.  And - except for The Ugly Duckling, a story that Maxwell inexplicably didn't like - most of O'Connor best work did not come in this period.  The most moving part of the correspondence, actually, comes when his creativity starts to dry up - and anyone that has read his Collected Stories can feel his genius exhausting itself towards the end.
A lot of it, too, just reads like little notes passed between friends - I imagine they saved their weightier ideas for when they could see each other, or could have long conversations on the phone.  None of them have the literary feel that Chekhov's letters do - those are works of art, as letters often were when it was hard to see people face to face or just pick up the phone.  The letters are often just summaries of events - this story is going well, this one not so well, the kids are fine - that were updates between friends: they're not interesting for an outsider, unless you're curious whether the family lives of happily married writers are as ordinary as ours (yes, they are - all happy families do indeed ressemble each other).
The part of this book still sharp in my memory is the remembrance that Maxwell wrote of O'Connor after he died.  It's just a few pages, but the weight of years of affection and respect are there.  A beautiful piece of writing.  And one meant to be read - which is more than I can say, I'm afraid, for the letters.  Spend your time on their books: you'll get a better sense of what their lives were about.
2466222
Or the style in which these stories are written is less abrasive the second time around. Still, stream of consciousness takes getting used to. Once again, the world building is INTERESTING and thorough, and the romance follows through. But this is no wham bam thank you mam. I don't know if every reader will find the wait worth it.