The first stories are not precisely my favorites.

However, as I almost reach the middle and the end of the book, there are captivating tales.

These later stories manage to draw me in with their interesting plots and engaging characters.

I find myself more invested in the narrative as I progress through the book.

The author seems to have hit their stride towards the latter part, creating a more immersive reading experience.

Although the beginning might not have been as enticing, the second half more than makes up for it.

It's as if the author saved the best for last, gradually building up to a more exciting and fulfilling conclusion.

Overall, while the start was a bit slow for my taste, the book really picks up towards the end and leaves a lasting impression.

This book is perfect for those who have already had contact with Sylvia's work and want to further deepen their understanding of her mythology.

This collection contains stories and excerpts from Plath's notebooks, where we can notice the enormous autobiographical content of her fiction. Sylvia made a point of jotting down her experiences and everything she saw around her in the hope that something would serve as inspiration for the creation of her stories.

And it is there that we understand the reason why her work is so unique: because Sylvia was unique. As such, her work could not have any other characteristic. She herself felt different from the other people in her life, a fact that led her down the path of loneliness and suicide.

What I loved most about this book was seeing Sylvia's love for the mundane. She wrote about annoying neighbors, problems with the plumbing in the house, vacations at the beach, homesickness, experiences of brotherhood. And yet, it always reached a point where things became deeper, a kind of Plathian spiral.

Fucking Ted Hughes, man.

He writes an introduction to this collection, blabbing about how hard writing was for her and how bad she was at it. What a dick move! He takes his inside knowledge of Plath's ideas and insecurities and uses it to tear apart her work.

I'm no literary scholar. I don't have a fancy, clear understanding of what makes a short story "good" or the purpose behind it. But I've read a lot. He divides the book into two sections, one called the "more successful short stories and prose pieces" and the other "other stories." What a jerk!

There's also a section of her journal writings, which clearly show the agony she went through sharing her work and how much rejection and criticism hurt her. I guess all writers who want to be published have to deal with that. But someone who loved her so much and knew how much writing cost her emotionally (both in the pieces he edited for this book and probably in real life too) could have used some different words to describe her work. Instead of just calling some "more successful" (not even just successful, but better than the crap in the other section). Hughes doesn't even explain what makes the "other" stories less successful. They were published, so they couldn't have been that bad.

The editing in this book really sucks and makes me angry. But the stories themselves have some good parts. There are some evocative scenes. It's interesting to see how the Widow Mangada evolved from a journal piece to a short story. The sorority hazing story was strong, even if it was neatly tied up at the end (I like that, but in Hughes' world, it might be a weakness). The green rock story made me think about the special, secret world of siblings. The Shadow would be good to teach in a World War II class. Her comparison of novel writing and poetry writing was really enlightening. I found the collection worth reading, but I'm not going to keep the book forever.

FUCK EVERYONE.

I had completely forgotten just how much I disliked short stories that are compiled in one book. As I delved into this collection, I found myself yearning for more from several of the short stories. The quality of the stories was really quite varied. Some of them skipped through an array of different concepts at such a rapid pace that my mind had to exert some effort to "reset" in a sense. It was a bit of a challenge to keep up with the constant changes.

However, I did have a soft spot for her notebook and diary entries. There were some truly interesting things that emerged throughout those pages. It was like peeking into a private world. But once again, I simply wasn't fully accustomed to the skips and shifts that occurred after every entry. It made it a bit difficult to maintain a consistent flow of reading.

All in all, this wasn't particularly my favorite style of writing or type of book. Nevertheless, it was semi-enjoyable and manageable. I was able to get through it, and there were moments that did hold my attention. But it didn't quite have that special something that would make it a book I would rave about or recommend wholeheartedly.

My new favorite book is truly a captivating one.
It has a dreamlike quality to it as I read through its pages.
Among all the stories, “Tongues of Stone” stands out as my absolute favorite.
What makes it so fascinating is the way the author weaves stories using the most intricate details from her own life.
It's almost like a biography, but there's this element of mystery where you can't quite tell what's real and what she might have exaggerated.
This blurring of the lines between reality and fiction adds an extra layer of intrigue and keeps me constantly engaged.
I find myself getting lost in the world she has created, eagerly turning the pages to discover what comes next.

Maybe you already know that Sylvia Plath is my favorite author. So I really thought it was great to get an intimate look at her short stories, experiments, and diaries.

Some of the stories I thought were really beautiful, some a bit less so, but that made it really nice to read. Because the years are there, you really follow her process. I think the way Plath looks at the world and writes is very beautiful and recognizable, but still innovative.

Being the nerd I am, I have kept a small summary of the most important events from Plath's life and it is really very clear that these events have been an inspiration for her stories. So a lot comes back from her youth by the ocean, her job in the hospital or the places where she lived with Ted Hughes. Certain characters or scenes occur more often and it is very nice to see how she was thus busy with those stories in her head.

A very intimate book. I have the feeling that I now understand Plath's writing and themes a lot better and understand more how her brain works. I really like to read books that are partly autobiographical and it is also fun to puzzle a bit with the content and look for connections, so that's why I'm very happy with this purchase. I'm sure I will often pick up this book when I maybe finally dare to tackle her poetry one day.

tw: suicide

Sylvia Plath's remarkable talent for creating vivid and powerful imagery is truly undeniable.

However, it can be argued that she was perhaps a more accomplished poet rather than a short story writer.

Nevertheless, within this collection, there are several outstanding pieces.

"Snow Blitz", "Day of Success", and "A Day in June" are among the notable works that showcase her unique writing style and creative vision.

The inclusion of journal extracts is also of great interest as they serve as the source material for the stories they inspired.

These extracts provide valuable insights into Plath's creative process and the evolution of her ideas.

However, it should be noted that the presence of these journal extracts may make this collection more appealing to existing fans of Plath's work rather than newcomers.

Newcomers might find it a bit overwhelming or might not fully appreciate the significance of the journal extracts without prior knowledge of Plath's poetry and writing style.

Overall, this collection offers a fascinating glimpse into the mind of a talented writer and is a must-read for fans of Sylvia Plath.

The experience was okay. There were some good aspects, but also a bit of dullness. It wasn't bad, just rather uninteresting. I guess it could have received a 4 out of 10.

At the beginning, I had high hopes. However, as time went on, I found myself getting bored. The activities seemed repetitive and lacked excitement.

Despite this, there were still some positive points. The people I met were friendly, and the environment was pleasant. But overall, it was a somewhat forgettable experience.

Maybe if there had been more variety or something unexpected, it would have been more enjoyable. As it stands, it was just an average encounter that left me with a feeling of mild dissatisfaction.

This is a compilation of short stories, essays, and notebook entries penned by Sylvia Plath.

As a whole, the collection doesn't quite cohere and appears rather disjointed. However, what it does manage to do is offer glimpses into the evolution of Plath's writing style.

The eponymous story, "Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams," features a narrator who seems like an earlier incarnation of the protagonist in "The Bell Jar."

The works within this collection are a diverse blend of dark, coming-of-age tales, matter-of-fact accounts, and light comedies. Some are less engaging than others, and I might have been less interested in those particular pieces had I not read two biographies about Sylvia Plath.

These biographies truly enhanced my connection to this book. In "Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams," Plath is enigmatically sharing her own apprehensions regarding electric shock therapy. I also recognized that "Rose and Percy B" is about her neighbours during her time living in Devon, England, with Ted Hughes.

Other works in the collection also hold a certain significance that would not have been immediately apparent to me without the context provided by the biographies. What's truly astonishing about Sylvia Plath is the sheer volume of her writing and the remarkable variety she achieved in her short life.

**Collaborative Book-Blogging**

I have a great passion for participating in book blogging activities. However, I often struggle to find enough time to fully commit to them. Just this year, there have been numerous enticing readathons and readalongs dedicated to remarkable authors such as Iris Murdoch, Muriel Spark, Agatha Christie, and Persephone Books. Sadly, until now, I haven't signed up for any of them.

Recently, I came across a post about the upcoming 1977 Club. This event is jointly hosted by Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings and Stuck in a Book from the 16th to the 22nd of April. Participants are required to read books that were published only in that specific year. A helpful list of eligible titles was provided to make the challenge more manageable.

A day or two later, I noticed a photograph on Karen’s blog展示了一堆最初于1977年出版的书籍。其中包括西尔维亚·普拉斯（Sylvia Plath）的短篇小说集《约翰尼·潘克与梦想圣经》（Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams）。这本书在我的书架上已经闲置了很长时间，但在此之前，我并不知道它是在参加这个挑战所需的那一年出版的。既然我有了这本书，那为什么不加入其中享受乐趣呢？于是，我决定参加！

**The Book**

Although Sylvia Plath passed away in 1963 at the tender age of 30, her collection of short stories, pieces of journalism, and extracts from her journal, titled “Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams,” was posthumously published by Faber & Faber in 1977. Her estranged husband, the late Ted Hughes, had complete control over her unpublished work. He selected thirteen stories for the anthology from the manuscripts found among her papers after her death, including those that he claimed “she wished to keep,” as well as “others written during her last two years in England.”

I can no longer remember how or why this book ended up in my possession. It's likely that I picked it up from a second-hand bookshop with the intention of reading it soon after. However, other books undoubtedly came along and distracted me, causing “Johnny Panic” to be set aside for another day.

Finally reading this volume of Plathian ephemera over the course of a weekend was at times a rather strange experience. I discovered that her prose was sharp, sinister, and oddly surprising. Her narrative had a jittery intensity, filled with foreboding and possessing a uniquely mirthless quality. Some stories were stronger than others, but as a whole, the selection offered an interesting insight into her development as a writer.
Now, I wonder why it took me so long to read this collection. I've always admired Plath's poetry, especially “Ariel” with its free-flowing emotion and ambiguous themes. Perhaps I was waiting for the right moment in my life to fully appreciate this particular work. More likely, I was simply overwhelmed by the growing number of unread books in my library, and like Johnny, I panicked.

Dear doctor, I feel very ill. I have a heart in my stomach that palpitates and trembles. Suddenly, the simple daily tasks refuse to proceed, like a stubborn mule. It becomes impossible to look people in the eye: will the abscess burst again? Who knows. The discussions about winds and waters become unbearable.

Sometimes I feel so stupid. But if I were stupid, wouldn't I be happy with one of the men I've met? Or maybe because I'm stupid, I'm not satisfied? Difficult.

Many times I wonder what it is that fascinates me so much about Plath, why she is one of my favorite writers? I don't say poetess, or writer-poetess, because as a poetess I think she has won exactly the reputation that suits her, but as a writer, even of the few prose works she has written, she is not as recognized. So, thinking, I conclude that what fascinates me most about her writing is something that is difficult to explain, but I will try. Without a doubt, she was a person who felt a lot and many things. So, to put all that wealth of experiences and all that you felt into a poem, to "load" it with sounds, images, scents, feelings is something next...poetry is almost always characterized by exaggeration, a metaphorical nature. However, to put so many raw emotions and such a naked soul, a soul that perhaps few can understand, into a book (a "little book"), like the glass bead, in so many short stories like those contained here, implying that you can be so analytical because of the experience itself, for me it is overwhelming and what I love about Plath and the reason why perhaps I prefer her prose to her poetry.

This collection contains many of Plath's stories, by far the best for me being the first and title story of the collection, some of which were fantastic, some mediocre, but none of them leave you indifferent to her writing and the nakedness of her soul.

The great difference for me were the pages from Plath's personal diaries that are included in this volume, as it fully satisfied the desire I always have for people I admire, to be able to "get into their heads, even for a little while".

Sylvia Plath is truly an amazing writer.

Her poems can often be too chilling for some, which is why I find great enjoyment in her prose. Just because she writes in prose doesn't mean her talent is blunted in any way.

Her short stories are fierce, tense, and tightly wrapped up with memorable characters and unpredictable plots.

Among them, my favorite has to be the Johnny Panic story. Of course, it was an ending that I could never forget.

Even many years later, I still sometimes think to myself the last lines of that story and let myself savor the brilliance that is Sylvia Plath's writing.

Her prose has a unique charm that draws readers in and keeps them on the edge of their seats until the very end.

It is a testament to her incredible literary skills and her ability to create vivid and engaging worlds within the pages of her stories.

Sylvia Plath's work will continue to be studied and admired for generations to come.