Actually, I could not finish it...had just read another one by her and needed to take a break. Good author though ( )

There are some great stories in here- it really does have the full range of stuff, including time travel, futuristic societies, magical realism, stories that are hilarious ("Ado", "At the Rialto", "The Soul Selects Her Own Society"), stories that are sad and poignant ("The Winds of Marble Arch", "Chance"), and stories that are downright disturbing ("All my Darling Daughters"). This book is a thick slab to dive into, but it's a treat. :) ( )

It's a good collection. I will say, in many of her stories she's got at least one character that I desperately want to see get punched in the nose but somehow never do. It is infuriating. ( )

" 'Variety is the soul of pleasure.' And variety is what this comprehensive new collection of Connie Willis is all about. The stories cover the entire spectrum, fr9om sad to sparkling to terrifying, from classics to hard-to-find treasures with everything in between -- orangutans, Egypt, earthworms, roast goose, college professors, mothers-in-law, aliens, secret codes, Secret Santas, tube stations, choir practice, the post office, the green light on Daisy's dock, weddings, divorces, death, and assorted p0lagues, from scarlet fever to 'It's a Wonderful Life'. And a dog.

"Fampous for her 'sure-hand plotting, unforgettable characters, and top-notch writing,' Willis has been called, 'the most relentlessly delightful science fiction writer alive,' and there are numerous examples here. Among them, Willis's most famous stories -- the Hugo- and Nebula-Award-winning Fire Watch and Even the Queen and The Last of the Winnebagos -- along with undiscovered gems like Willis's heartfelt homage to Jack Williamson, Nonstop to Portales. Her magical Christmas stories are here, too, from Newsletter to Just Like the Ones We Used to Know ... which last year [2005] was made into the TV movie, Snow Wonder, starring Mary Tyler Moore.

"We've collected stories from throughout Willis's career, from the early ones like Cash Crop and Daisy, in the Sun, right up to her newest stories, including the wonderful The Winds of Marble Arch. There's literally something for everyone here. If you're a diehard Willis fan, you'll be delighted with hard-to-find treasures like the until-now uncollected, The Soul Selects Her Own Society ... If you've never read Connie Willis, this is your chance to discover A Letter From the Clearys , and, well, Chance. To say nothing of, At the Rialto, the funniest story ever written bout quantum Physicists. And Willis's chilling, All My Darling Daughters.

"And...oh, there are too many great stories here to lest and pleasures galore. So enjoy!"
~~front & back covers

This is a massive book. Bigger than some of the Outlanders. But well worth it, at least in my opinion. But then, in the interests of full disclosure, I'm a diehard Connie Willis fan, and have been ever since I read To Say Nothing of the DogPassage, which I fell upon because I so much love Jerome4 K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat, with the subtitle "To Say Nothing of the Dog." And then there was Passage, which I read years ago but can still recite the plot from memory, and still turn the ending over in my mind ...

These stories are a mixed bag, of course. I didn't care for The Winds of Marble Arch mostly because it's a story that doesn't make sense until you read almost all of it; I dislike that literary device but Ms. Willis uses it more often than I'm happy about. I'm especially fond of Inn one of the best Christmas stories ever, detested The Soul Selects Her Own Society ..., and absolutely howled with laughter at At the Rialto.

Obviously I think most of these stories are well worth reading, and the wonderful thing about collections of short stories is that you can just skip any of them you don't like. ( )

Great little compilation. I especially enjoyed the tale with the subway that still remembers World War II bombing raids. The winds never forget. Creepy. Some repeats from other anthologies. A decent intro to Connie Willis, though nothing beats her Doomsday Book! ( )