Fool that I am, I didn’t realize that this was an abridged version of the Decameron (only 21 out of 100 stories), but it certainly whets my appetite for the full collection. What wonderful stories! Like all Norton Critical Editions, the text is supplemented with copious background material and criticism.

Seamus Heaney’s translation of the story of the mad king Sweeney, cursed by a Christian cleric to be a leaping birdbrain. I wish I had read this before reading “At Swim-Two-Birds” by Flann O’Brien.

Stories based on Shalamov’s 17 years in the gulag, superbly written with a spare, detached style. The translator notes in the introduction that the stories bear some resemblance to Chekhov’s in style and tone, and I agree.

An extraordinarily engaging and clever work of literary criticism—simply brimming with humor and insight, sometimes even poignancy. I love this book.

Fantastical, imaginative, and deadpan. I loved this book.

Literary history of the turn of the century Parisian avant-garde, with Jarry, Rousseau, Satie, etc.

Hilarious.

Lovecraftian New England horror comic about a family up to its ears in trouble because of the late father’s occult activity. The art is unremarkable and the story is so skeletal that it reads like an abridgment. The back story involving the demon Idpa and Pope Boniface intrigued me a bit, though.

I love frame stories, and I loved reading this book.

I love the cover! Having only read his short stories previously, it was nice to read his poetry, some of which is quite good.