Review: Even Greater Mistakes

Even Greater Mistakes by Charlie Jane Anders
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I would like to thank Tor Books for providing me an advance copy of Even Greater Mistakes by Charlie Jane Anders via NetGalley.  

If you had asked me a couple of years ago if I read short stories, I would have told you no.  If I was going to read, I wanted a meal (300+ pages) not a snack.  My best friend, who also happens to love short stories, kept trying to entice me.  Ultimately, I read Press Start to Play, a collection of short stories about gaming.  I LOVE gaming, and it was a good place to start with short stories.  I enjoyed those stories immensely.  In that collection was Rat Catcher's Yellows by Charlie Jane Anders.  I can't describe for you how that story made me feel other than to say I felt I found someone who could understand me.  I want to play The Divine Right of Cats so badly.  Someone needs to make that game!  I started collecting every short story I could find by Charlie Jane.  I don't read them right away.  I keep them in a folder.  I swear it is not as creepy as it sounds.  When I need a palate cleanser, to feel understood, or a boost of serotonin, I read one.  When times are very dark, I read Rat Catcher's Yellows again.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Even Greater Mistakes.  I knew I would want to read it, but I was so surprised to find it included all of my favorite stories from Charlie Jane, including the aforementioned Rat Catcher's Yellows.  Plus, there were stories I hadn't read yet that I now love so much and led me to find the related stories mentioned in the intros of each chapter.  I found myself pausing between stories because I wanted to draw out the book for as long as possible even though I was eager to read the next one.  

It is amazing to have one book that holds all the things you love together.  A place I can always go to escape the rest of the world.  I treasure this so much I even pre-ordered a hard copy to keep on my book shelf, rare in these days of digital books.  I hope I have convinced you to do the same.  

Bonus points for the inclusion of Clover which I read long before All the Birds in the Sky and loved even more this second time around.

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