Jorge Luis Borges

I believe it was a recent Dean Koontz novel that I was reading which mentioned Mr. Borges, so I made note to check out the dude.

Sources said Borges "is the most important Spanish-language writer since Cervantes." So, jeesh, who could overlook that? And I bought the Deluxe Edition of his collected fictions because it was described as: "A marvelous new collection of stories by one of the most remarkable writers of our century." So, again, jeesh! Pretty lofty words for ol' JLB.

I'm about five short stories into it, and I've got to say I'm impressed. I can't really put a finger on why, but he's just different. For instance, I've done a lot of reading on Billy the Kid and seen the television shows and bios, but Borges' four-page essay "The Disinterested Killer Bill Harrigan" encapsulated the life of Billy the Kid better than all the rest combined. And in four pages! So, yeah, the guy is good.

I'm looking forward to reading the other 96 short stories in the collection.