This is the first volume of Messerli's rather ambitious project to publish 101 volumes comprising the great short stories - given that he has set out to publish about 4 a year and only four volumes have appeared in the last three years, I have a bad feeling that this project is more likely to be abandoned than completed, but I hope he perseveres for a while longer at least because this first volume was a real joy to read.

In this volume, Messerli has collected some well known greats (eg Gogol's Overcoat) together with other tales by writers who were unknown to me, like Pinera whose story "The Face" was oddly compelling.

I look forward to reading volume 2. ( )