Magic for Beginners

I finsihed Kelly Link's Magic for Beginners last night. While most of the stories are excellent, I wasn't very taken with the title story. It didn't have the same impact as others in the collection (most of which I had read elsewhere). Even those that I had read before I enjoyed reading again, "The Faery Handbang" (IMHO the most "mature" of the stories where her writing shines brightest), "The Hortlak" which is just plain weird excellence (and a new way to view zombies), and "Lull" (which is my favorite, takes the story in a story theme and just goes with it, adding in all her "story teller" voices, and just plain weirdness, excellent). Some new stories I like included "Stone Animals" (although it felt a little long), "Catskin" (a good fairy tale), and "Some Zombie Contingency Plans" (although I was disappointed in the ending). So all in all, worth the money for the ride. While there were three other stories I didn't like as much, there were no stories that I skipped. And as a writer I wish I could get even to the point of those stories I didn't mention. I recommend it, if you haven't read it already (which I am assuming most people have, I'm so behind the times). And my best recommendation, this is a book I'm going to keep and if I know I'm going to see Ms Link, I will definately shoot to have her sign it. Excellent reading, wish I could have devoured it sooner.