i'm actually reading Celestial Omnibus and Eternal Moment together in a collected volume ... i had no idea that E.M. Forster wrote stories of fantasy and science fiction, this is not an author i would have associated with the genre. Celestial Omnibus was written in, i believe, 1911 and the stories share themes of man's disconnect from nature, from sincerity and simplicity, and idealizes a classical past. they're charming and excellent.

Middling collection of stories with all but the final one having some magical component. Certainly there is nothing here to rival Forster’s superlative short story The Machine Stops with its prescient themes of internet insularity. The Story of a Panic was probably my favourite.

Was pretty boring i must be honest

I do not generally enjoy short stories as much as novels, but I LOVE these, especially the title story and "The Story of a Panic."

3.5 rounded down. A free read for Kindle from Amazon.

Forster certainly believes in telling the truth. At the end of one of these stories, he writes, "...I have been forced to use the unworthy medium of a narrative, and to delude you by declaring that this is a short story, suitable for reading in the train."

Or at the pool in this case.

And he could have predicted Goodreads! In a story about runners/walkers in a race, a runner sees someone running "for fun" and and doesn't understand. He says, "Every achievement is worthless unless it is a link in the chain of development." That is one reason why I'm reading E. M. Forster--to expand my boundaries, to try a writer I wasn't thrilled with in the past and of course, record it on Goodreads.

As you could figure from the title, most of these stories have an otherworldy mood to them. That's a great device for a writer because then you don't have to explain anything odd that happens.

Very fey. I love E.M. Forster. The title story was my favorite.

Perhaps a little less affected by Forster's life-altering epiphanies of nature as I was in my 20s, but still enjoyable. Makes me want to re-read Room with a View, a book I long ago cherished, to see if it holds up.

How very English. The Celestial Omnibus was the occasion to read this collection. It would resemble The Great Divorce, written by C.S. Lewis, of 1945. The Other Side of the Hedge and arguably The Road from Colonus have magic portals and are a nice bonus, though Derivative of Lewis Carroll. The Story of a Panic does not surpass Arthur Machen, but well worth it. Overall I am well charmed.

Love it! Despite what Lionel Trilling and Pat say. Yes, the stories are very predictable, but the language is so pretty that I didn't mind the mythological heavy-handedness.

I first read the short story "The Celestial Omnibus" in junior high for a class assignment, and thought it was the most beautiful story at the time...it was a good feeling to read it today many years later and still find the magic that so sweetly set my imagination on fire...

I'd previously read a couple of Forster's novels- A Room with a View and A Passage to India, so I assumed this collection of short stories would be similar. Boy, was I wrong. These stories are really quite bizarre and seem to be inspired by Victorian ghost/ supernatural stories. I can't really call them ghost stories, but supernatural elements are at play in several of the stories.

My favorite in the bunch is the title story, The Celestial Omnibus, which tells of a carriage that can take its passengers to heaven and back. Overall it's an interesting read, but don't expect typical Forster.

«El ómnibus celestial» de E. M Forster es una hermosa metáfora de la poesía y su apreciación y una diatriba contra la pedantería. Sólo el que sigue siendo niño, el que lleva dentro la poesía, puede valorarla de verdad. El pedante sabelotodo es arrojado al vacío. «La poesía es espíritu, y todos aquellos que la veneren han de venerarla en espíritu y en verdad»