Nothing that Edward Gorey wrote was a waste of time. Despite a few odd balls and a couple of missteps, this collection is right on the money and well worth owning and reading, over and over and over again.... just not when alone, by candle light.

Deliciously dark and strange. The Utter Zoo ("The Boggerslosh conceals itself / in back of bottles on a shelf...") is my favorite. ( )

A collection of Edward Gorey's smaller works, this book of surreal and dark stories and absurd alphabet collections is amusing, befuddling, and shocking. The Utter Zoo, for example, features imaginary creatures arranged in order from A to Z, and the taglines are bizarre and occasionally morbid. The Epiplectic Bicycle, on the other hand, is a surreal story about two siblings who find a bike and encounter adventure of the most unusual sort. They meet a crocodile and kill it by kicking it in the nose, and they see a bird who mutters warnings. In the end, they ride back home and find an obelisk erected in their memory, 173 years ago. My two favorites were The Awdrey-Gore Legacy and The Broken Spoke. The first one purports to be pages found with the body of a famous mystery writer, who had disappeared for many years, only to be found murdered in a fountain. The pages contain character sketches, maps, plot points, and other paraphernalia for a mystery. However, the papers are noted to be missing pages, and the information is obtuse and, appropriately, mysterious. The Broken Spoke, on the other hand, is a collection of illustrations showing the importance of the bicycle. However, some pictures are mundane (regular people and their bikes), some are impossible (cave drawings of hunters on bicycles), and some are spooky (a demon riding a shadowy bicycle in the night sky).

The illustrations are distinctly Gorey's style. Very detailed with lots of lines, and a copious use of black and shadow. Most of them are completely in black and white. The characters are very British in their restrained emotions and often blank faces. The tone of the drawings match the somber tones of the stories. Several pieces, however, prove that Gorey does have a broader artistic range, such as The Broken Spoke. His pictures throughout are curiously appealing and upsetting, with the domestic and the supernatural intermingled.

For those with a dark sense of humor, this book is a wealth of little gems. Similarly, those interested in obscure arcana will appreciate both Gorey's art and stories. Everything suggests complicated and dark depths beneath the surface. I have a streak of black humor in me, and I like Gorey. I would have rated this higher, except that one of the stories was too dark for me: The Loathsome Couple, a tale of two morally empty people who together find their life calling of murdering children. I don't find the concept of butchering children funny, ever, even if I saw his intentions with the tale. The story dampened my enthusiasm for the book. Other than this, the collection entertained me for a couple of hours. I do enjoy finding unique writers and original books, and Edward Gorey solidly fills both categories. ( )

This is the second collection of Gorey's books. It isn't quite as interesting as the original Amphigorey, but there is still a lot here to enjoy. If you are a Gorey fan, this is a must-have. Imagine how hard and expensive it would be to collect all of these books individually. ( )

Just read this again while visiting my parents. My favorite from this collection is "The Epileptic Bicycle." ( )