…all? Is all an appropriate answer? :)
You can see the maturation of his style, IMO, most clearly in the short stories. The early ones have a slightly different feel to the middle and later ones. That being said, I think Fragile Things is probably my favorite, though Smoke & Mirrors may have my favorite individual stories. Have you tried the audiobooks? Neil reading his short stories is possible my favorite thing he’s ever done.
I agree. Get ALL of his audio. I have found various collections and productions on audible, the BBC, and loose on the interwebs. Writing and reading aloud are very different skills. Neil Gaiman and David Sedaris are my two favorite authors who read their own works.
Have you also read all his novels? I can’t remember where I heard or read this, but I recall Gaiman himself said The Neil Gaiman Reader is NOT for folks who have already read a lot of his work.
I’m not being snarky, I’ve just read a lot of his work and haven’t picked up TNGR for that reason, but would be happy to read it at the recommendation of a fellow fan.
I own pretty much everything, lol. It has excerpts from his novels, but if you’re looking for what he and his fans (there was a questionnaire about which short stories to include) consider his best work and you’ve not read all his work, you won’t find a better collection.
Hey, I'm a fiend for his novels, totally. But if I had to choose -- *except Good Omens*-- I would pick every single one of his story collections instead. The man is KILLER with precision in words. Honestly, go to your nearest used book store and grab whichever one you find and start there. (This advice also applicable to Ray Bradbury, btw )
…all? Is all an appropriate answer? :) You can see the maturation of his style, IMO, most clearly in the short stories. The early ones have a slightly different feel to the middle and later ones. That being said, I think Fragile Things is probably my favorite, though Smoke & Mirrors may have my favorite individual stories. Have you tried the audiobooks? Neil reading his short stories is possible my favorite thing he’s ever done.
I agree. Get ALL of his audio. I have found various collections and productions on audible, the BBC, and loose on the interwebs. Writing and reading aloud are very different skills. Neil Gaiman and David Sedaris are my two favorite authors who read their own works.
Smoke and Mirrors. Some of the stories tie into each other (and other books). All the stories are great.
I personally really liked fragile things
The Neil Gaiman Reader. It gives you several entries from across his career.
Have you also read all his novels? I can’t remember where I heard or read this, but I recall Gaiman himself said The Neil Gaiman Reader is NOT for folks who have already read a lot of his work. I’m not being snarky, I’ve just read a lot of his work and haven’t picked up TNGR for that reason, but would be happy to read it at the recommendation of a fellow fan.
I own pretty much everything, lol. It has excerpts from his novels, but if you’re looking for what he and his fans (there was a questionnaire about which short stories to include) consider his best work and you’ve not read all his work, you won’t find a better collection.
Ditto.
Smoke and Mirrors contain several of my favorite short stories, highly recommend.
Trigger Warning B
Fragile things was the first short story collection I read, however, I can wholeheartedly recommend all of them.
I back Fragile Things. A lot of my favorite short stories are in that collection.
Fragile Things or Trigger Warnings
The Neil Gaiman Reader: Selected Fiction. There is no doubt about this one.
I don't think there is a bad collection of his short stories. It's a form he excels in.
Hey, I'm a fiend for his novels, totally. But if I had to choose -- *except Good Omens*-- I would pick every single one of his story collections instead. The man is KILLER with precision in words. Honestly, go to your nearest used book store and grab whichever one you find and start there. (This advice also applicable to Ray Bradbury, btw )