Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Jul 20, 2011

Alex rated it:

Deep in Don Quixote, for a while I convinced myself that Cervantes had written the footnotes too, and the Quixote commentators the editor cited were actually made up by Cervantes. He messes with you like that: he plays so many tricks that you end up thinking anything is possible.

Four months later I pick up Borges, and...here he is doing exactly that. Writing essays about imaginary books, with footnotes pointing to other imaginary commenters on the same imaginary books. Layer on la More...

17 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jun 22, 2008

Yulia rated it:

Borges is a literary mathematician but he has no understanding of the human heart. Still, it's impossible not to be curious what his equations create.

6 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 13, 2011

Chris rated it:

There are few other writers whose work has lingered in my mind to the same degree as has Borges. His short stories are a metaphysical perfume whose aroma, so startling and heady upon the first inhalation, arises, unbidden, at certain points of thought or recollection, working its peculiar and powerful transformative and transfigurative memes upon the seemingly stolid principles that order our universe. The Library of Babel wrenches the brain like a sudden stop upon a dreamy hexagonal rollercoast More...

2 comments like (8 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Nathaniel rated it:

My favorite tidbit about Borges is that he has been written into other authors' stories more than just about any other 20th century author. Neil Gaiman's Destiny and his Garden of Forking Paths, Umberto Eco's mad monk Jorge of Burgos, Zampanò from House of Leaves - and those are just the ones I've come across in my own reading. I'm sure the real Borges (should one miraculously manage to find him distinct from all the "false" Borgeses) would be amused to find that he has become an arche More...

2 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jun 09, 2007

L1w0lf rated it:

Borges is a name that's thrown about quite frequently in 'intellectual' circles. I heard his name from a friend who used to constantly claim that Borges was the greatest author never to win the Nobel Prize. I was intrigued and bought this particular book, an English translation from the original Spanish of this Argentinian writer.

First thing I realized was, that the guy who recommended Borges had never really read a word of Borges! Because he never told me what these stories were *re More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 13, 2008

Mara rated it:

I had to return this to the library before I could fully finish it, but it gave me some real "food for thought" as they say, when it comes to writing. Borges breaks every writing rule in the book, "Show don't tell", "Center on your protagonist" "Begin with action, not exposition" and shows that the rules are for neophytes to "tolerable-up" their writing, not for a master whose rare gift transcends any finger-waggling from stuffy rule-makers. Borg More...

4 comments like (7 people liked it)

Oct 25, 2008

Trevor rated it:

When I was at university we had to read this guy. Look, to be honest I didn’t really like him at the time. He seemed pompous and too clever by half. I liked some of his stuff – the story that begins this collection ‘Borges and I’ is marvelous and even that younger version of me could see just how great that was as a piece of writing. I’ll see if I can’t attach it to the end of this.

When I tried to read Labyrinths I became increasingly confused and annoyed. He was talking about en More...

5 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 20, 2008

Mark rated it:

There are no two ways about it, in my mind Jorge Luis Borges is the greatest short story writer to ever live. I have never read any of his longer works, but I have also never read short stories written by anyone else that can hold a candle to Borges' obvious talent with the medium. He can weave the patterns for a momentous revelation in the mind of the reader without them even knowing what her is doing. After reading his better stories you an do nothing but sit and marvel at what has just happen More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Adam rated it:

The absolute bible...a twisting labryinth that changes everytime you read it and slowly infects all you read.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 25, 2010

Mike rated it:

The first time I met the master it was in a dream—for what is youth but nocturnal fancy of old age. His face was covered in stone, like an idol. Neither of us spoke. We may have been in a place where words were forbidden or impossible. In haste, fearful of the dawn, I stripped his features with a cast-iron chisel. They say the barbarian quarries what he occupies in order to supplant the defeated power with his own, and that history (and biography) is created to make secret this recurrent canniba More...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 15, 2010

Nicholas rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 22, 2008

Matt rated it:

This book is the complete fiction writings of Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges. My initial disclaimer is that there is no way to do justice to a work of this magnitude in a single review, just as there is no way to do it justice after only a first reading.

Anyone who has read Borges will recognize common objects that show up continually in his writings such as labyrinths, gauchos, knife fights, war, jaguars, and books (some of which are fabricated).

For those with little More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jul 11, 2008

Krishan rated it:

What to say about these stories? They are all fables of one sort or another. Stores of writers, thinkers, gods, historical figures, prisoners, criminals, duelers, mythological creatures. The stories concise and exacting explorations of mythology, paradox, infinity, theology, philosophy, history.

In each story, Borges takes and idea and refracts and reflects it through a hall of prisms and mirrors. The result tears a rent in the fabric of your mind, opening up new spaces and new idea More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 06, 2007

Audrey rated it:

Borges offers me a place to sit and wonder with myself. I love somewhat exotic and fantastical worlds that are based in sense. This is what he offers.

The other thing that I love about Borges is his totally playful attitude. I don't know if I actually have a visual image of him in my head or not. But when I think of the author, or think of some of his better stories "The Lottery in Babylon." or "The Garden of Forking Paths" among others that other people have ment More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 15, 2011

Jeanmccoy rated it:

Well I used t have all the book from Borges in Spanish, that was, until one of my boxes was lost when moving apartments. To my dismay the box that contain his books were lost. Alas the Aleph and other Stories managed to sneak to another box, but Labyrinths was lost forever and I can only hope it’s somewhere where the book can be read and not in a dumpster. The later faith would be a tragedy, the first an act of a comedic destiny.
I’ve read all of his publications in Spanish, and I am sure More...

0 comments like

Feb 16, 2011

Kristyn rated it:

Published in 1998, Jorge Luis Borges' Collected Fictions brings all of his short works together in one mind-bending, though-provoking volume. Widely regarded as one of the great writers of Latin America, his short stories are as interesting today as they were when first published in French in the 1950's.

Collected Fictions is not a book written for those looking for an easy read. This is not due to Borges' writing style – indeed, his prose is lyrical and flows beautifully, and his desc More...

0 comments like

Mar 17, 2010

Erik rated it:

My great-great grandparents built a cottage in Lake Charter Twp., Michigan during WWI. Father sold the thirty acres in the middle of the eighties. The payments were to be in three parts, over three years. I took this information to the township supervisor and negotiated deal that I'd be allowed use of the property during the interim in exchange for some services. Then, when the final payment was made, I approached the supervisor again, offering to continue working on their behalf if they'd l More...

0 comments like

Jul 23, 2011

Ronald rated it:

This is an enjoyable introduction to the fiction of the man many consider to be the greatest Spanish-language writer of the 20th century. It contains the short stories originally printed in his collections from the 1935 through the early 1980s. Many of his stories are fictional confabulations of news, historical, or mythological items, such that the transition into his imagination is difficult to discern. Borges inserts himself into some of his tales and begins many of them as though relaying a More...

0 comments like

Mar 05, 2010

Dave rated it:

This is a must read. The definitive collection of all of Borges stories (no poetry) from 1935 to 1983. It's all here, his reality-bending "Ficciones (reinventing the short story),"The Aleph" (a metaphysical delight), all the way to his last ruminations on death and consciousness in "Shakespeare's Memory". Gauchos, knife-fights, labyrinths, tigers, miraculous disks, retold legends, infinite libraries, simultaneous dreams...you get the idea. Some stories are mini-epics, ot More...

0 comments like

Feb 01, 2012

Roger rated it:

After reading Borges’ marvelous and amazing collection of his life’s work of fiction, this conclusion comes to mind: whether there is something (a god, a spirit, a force) behind the mystery of human thought. Is there an original cause, a source? A Dreamer who dreams us? Or a merely a dreamer who dreams our dreams? For Borges, his ideas come across as godly in their scope. He is the quintessential artist who can forge out of life a complex maze of ideas that are beyond complete understanding. His More...

0 comments like

Jul 02, 2011

Maria rated it:

I love Borges' ideas. Much of the writing itself is not engaging for me. Borges doesn't approach fiction in the same ways that I do. In fact I almost get the sense that he disdains it at times. He doesn't bring the readers close and deals more often in myths and philosophy than in character driven fiction. However, i have only read the stories from this collection that my teacher chose based on certain themes we were discussing therefore I do not speak about the book in its entirety. Another imp More...

0 comments like

Jul 28, 2009

Doreen rated it:

I liked this book overall, with the exception of the collection titled Garden Of Forking Paths, which was so pretentious that if I hadn't already been familiar with some of his other work, I might have put down the book right there. As it is, this is a great collection for Borges' fans and completists, but for those new to his work, I would strongly recommend getting some familiarity with the gaucho ballad Martin Fierro, because he references it a lot. Otherwise, his work stands strong on its ow More...

0 comments like

Feb 21, 2011

Brandon rated it:

Notes on Borges:

Favorite Stories:
Library of Babel
The Immortal
Funes, the Memorious
The Aleph
Inferno, I, 32
Blue Tigers
Shakespeare's Memory

"Homer composed the *Odyssey*; given infinite time, with infinite circumstances and changes, it is impossible that the *Odyssey should *not* be composed at least once. No one is someone; a single immortal man is all men. Like Cornelius Agrippa, I am god, hero, philosopher, demon, and wo More...

0 comments like

May 29, 2008

Steve rated it:

There is more inspiration in a page of Borges than there is in most novels. Borges is the architect of a world in which strange heresies prevailed, the structures of infinite libraries unfold and strange cultures stand by to infest our reality with their compelling memes. This book will blow the prepared mind unlike no other that I know. Essential.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 27, 2010

Stewart rated it:

This collection of all of Jorge Luis Borges short fiction from the 1930s through the 1980s is an excellent introduction to this celebrated Argentinian author. I don't believe I had read anything by Borges before beginning this book. I read the stories from "A Universal History of Iniquity" (1945), "The Garden of Forking Paths" (1941), and "Artifices" (1944). I will return to the book later this year to read his later works.
Stories that especially struck More...

0 comments like

Sep 01, 2011

David rated it:

I realized that Borges is an important writer and several of these stories live up to his stature. However numerous stories did not please me due to their subject matter: there was always an element of violence that bothered me which I am not a fan of the murder mystery.

Having said this, Borges was one of the early fantasy writers and his themes often amazed me. There were two "true" stories where on separate occassions, he met with either an older or younger version of himse More...

0 comments like

Feb 14, 2011

Zach rated it:

I recall reading an article about the nature of genius. There are two types, claimed the article. The fiery brilliance of youth, like Mozart, and the slow burn of life-long progress, like Pollock. Borges, while certainly exhibiting the intelligence of genius in his early work, didn't reach his full brilliance as a writer until relatively old age. The last two collections of his complete fictions, 'The Book of Sand' and 'Shakespeare's Memory,' are brilliant compared to all things brilliant. More...

0 comments like

Apr 30, 2009

Joe rated it:

To be clear, I didn't read this whole thing. It's a collection. I read maybe 150 pages of it. Normally I don't read translated literature, but my Argentinian coworker insisted I read something by Borges. Reading the translation was considerably less of a commitment than learning Spanish well enough for the original. The writing is highly imaginative and very well done. In translation, and I imagine in Spanish, he strikes a balance between economy of words and excellent descriptiveness. As More...

0 comments like

Feb 27, 2011

Denis rated it:

Well, I feel a little defensive for rating this book only two stars, as in; I didn't like it, because Borges certainly has many followers. Followers that are no doubt way smarter and more appreciate than I.

I must confess I was drawn in for a long while because I was wondering if I just wasn't 'getting' Borge's intentions. Was he being tongue-in-cheek, were these stories his modern and playful take on literary narrative, and therefore not everyone's cup of tea? At the end of most of h More...

6 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 07, 2009

Andrea rated it:

Great collection! I used to have "Labyrinths", and this is far superior. This book contains his first short stories, then all of "Fictions", "Artefices", "the Aleph".... Fictions and Artefices are incredible. Almost every short story is mind-blowing. The Aleph is also very good, still five-star, but a little more subdued. By this time, Borges was already moving on to more realistic scenarios, distancing from the fantastical... The Maker and the rest of th More...

0 comments like

reviews