As is often the case with Fitzgerald, these stories were hit and miss for me. I enjoyed some of the stories, such as "The Lees of Happiness" and "The Camel's Back". Others, such as "Porcelain and Pink", I just did not get. However, it was worth the read, and it was a fine first book for my Kindle. ( )

Summary: A collection of eleven short stories, the most famous of which is “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

For those who only know F. Scott Fitzgerald, this collection of short stories reveals other sides of the mind of Fitzgerald. Personally, I found this collection uneven. Only one seems to be truly profound, “O Russet Witch!,” a reflection on the choice between safe conventionality, and the risky, unconstrained life.

The most famous in the set was “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” Fitzgerald turns a thought exercise about being born old and growing backward into a story.

“The Diamond as Big as the Ritz” is kind of a grown up fantasy in which a school friend is invited to spend a holiday in an off-the-map Shangri-la, complete with an attractive sister, until he learns of the secret of the place, and its sinister impliction.

Two in the collection were amusing. “The Camel’s Back” revolves around a costume party and a camel costume for two. “Porcelain and Pink” is a one act play set in a suds-filled bath-tub.

Then there is the pathetic in “May Day” in which old classmates from Yale meet up, one down on his luck, and full of self-pity. Not an attractive figure, and his friends are no better.

To be honest, the other stories in this collection seemed to me to be caricatures, or just plain strange. The only virtue in some of these stories was that they were short. For those who are Fitzgerald fans, of course you will want to read these. For the rest of us, I felt there were a few good stories and the rest were mere padding. ( )

The more I learn about Fitzgerald the more I am sad that he did not realise his impact during his own lifetime. I guess that those who contribute the most never do. I enjoyed the author's little introductions to each story which give a nice little preface. Every story in this is a gem, even if some of them are repeats from other FSF collations. I am still unable to comprehend how FSF could fathom, in his early twenties, what it was like to be an age he never reached. Overall, brilliant. ( )

Over the last 10 minutes I must have switched between 3 and 4 stars about 20 times - but I did really like most of the short stories.

Fitzgerald has a way of creating the not always endearing but nevertheless interesting characters in his short stories that are sadly missing in his novels (The Great Gatsby excepted). ( )

I really like Fitzgerald's writing, and his short stories were very interesting. The last few were a little repetitive, I thought, concerning as they did sad young couples with young children falling apart, but overall there was a very interesting mix of New York socialite stories, stories with some very strange, almost fantastical events (such as "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and "O Russet Witch"). My favorite of the collection is probably "The Lees of Happiness", which I found very moving and interesting. I'll definitely keep reading Fitzgerald's short stories after this. ( )