I like short story compilations. I like being able to pick up a book and read a story on my lunchbreak or by the pool on a nice day and then put it away until I'm between books, waiting for a shipment from Amazon or simply in the mood.

"Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire" (what a title) was my favorite story. Mostly because I'd just finished reading The Castle of Otranto, this is the first Gaiman story that made me LOL. If you've never read a Gothic Novel or Northanger Abbey, at least skim the Wikipedia article before starting this story so you get the joke.

It's not a perfect collection. I thought "A Study in Emerald" was pretty -whatever- maybe because I've never read a Sherlock Holmes novel.

Just a side note: Although I own a paperback copy, in my quest to find things to read while pretending to work in my little cubicle, I discovered that text versions of Gaiman stories are really easy to bit-torrent with file sharing software. Maybe I shouldn't have said that.