Book Review: “The Paper Menagerie”

Book thirty six of my 2019 Reading Challenge.

Ken Liu’s The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories

Short stories are always great to read because they’re short and a quick to finish for most readers. They let you get a taste of a story without the commitment of an entire novel. Unfortunately, for me, a book of short stories wasn’t so great. I was excited to read this book and immerse myself in several different worlds but after I finished one story I wasn’t really motivated to pick up the book again for another story. It was like starting a whole new book again, but every day.

I really liked the stories that I did get to read from this collection but I didn’t get to read them all. I borrowed the book from the library and it was actually sent from another library so when I went to renew it (for the second time), it wouldn’t let me because someone else was waiting for it.

I hope that I can possibly pick up the book again and read more in the future as the stories were really engaging and interesting. I enjoyed the fantasy, futuristic story lines and the characters that were developed so quickly but in a tasteful way.

I was really surprised that it was so difficult for me to read and keep going but I think I just learned that short stories are okay in smaller doses for me and not in a full 450 page book.

Stay tuned for my next review: The Photography of Game of Thrones by Michael Kogge