Not my favorite by Forster, but worthwhile if you are already a fan.

A wonderful pastoral collection. I've known for a while that he was really into the outdoors, but this was an excellent collection of stories about nature and the desire to connect to it or be a part of it.
Really, it was close to magical realism, between the release of dryad and the creation of a faun. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

It is Forster's defence for poetry.

2010 bookcrossing review:

I've only started reading this today and I've read the first two stories of six, but I've enjoyed them so much that I feel the need to write already!

The first story is called The Story of a Panic, and is set in Italy at a hotel where several Brits are staying. This is of course many decades ago. The narrator is this guy with his young family, and he is such a horrible character, arrogant, narrow minded an full of his own self-worth. Get a feeling of him from these:

"I should always insist on prompt and cheerful obediance, if I had a son" (p7) - whilst bitching about this supposedly badly behaved, waste of a space boy (and goodness, this guy should meet the yobs of today, because there really is nothing wrong with the child)

"I always make a point of behaving pleasantly to Italians, however little they may deserve it;" (p22) and he carries on throughout about how Italians are inferior to Englishmen "and a leap like that would never have killed an Englishman" (p 38)

Basically, the brits go out to the woods one day on a picnic. They're idly chattering, about how Pan doesn't exist anymore etc, whilst the "horrid boy" Eustace is whittling a whistle from a bit of wood. He then plays it, a horrid high pitched noise and everyone goes into a panic mode and runs off. They eventually recompose themselves and go back to the picnic site, to find the boy lying on his back, surrounded by little goat hoof marks. Back at the hotel he goes a bit nuts and has to be out in nature, claiming he will die if locked in his room.

Then there's The Other Side of the Hedge - which is a kind of surreal tale of the rat race, and getting out of it and appreciating what life is supposed to be like.

There is something very soothing about Forester's writing in this short story collection. Each one contemplates the friction between civilization and nature, sophistication and innocence in the context of such social divisions a class, race, and sex, without providing judgment or answers. There is no hitting one over the head with the message except in the gentlest ways. The fantasy elements give these stories a dream-like quality, leaving the reader to contemplate the roads we have taken and those yet to come. All of this may sound rather vague, but these stories are something that must be read and felt to be truly understood.

Although Forster was one of my earlier favorites, this collection of short stories is sadly very rough. Despite being written over the first decade of the 20th Century, during the same period during which he gave us Where Angels Fear to Tread, The Longest Journey and A Room with a View, these stories seem juvenile and quite lacking in polish. At times, the language was so in need of an editor that it was unclear what was going on. All the stories include elements of fantasy, but are not convincing in their depictions - they're a bit twee, really. It's striking, though, considering that Forster is often considered a humanist, with characters filled with longing seek out the contact of other humans, that these stories have a similar longing but instead have characters reaching out for something not actually there. And whereas you still see much of Forster's ability to depict the pompous English gentleman, these stories fail to make it clear that he's not inhabiting those characters, rather than satirizing them.

For me, Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill and Rewards and Fairies, both from the same time period, are much more successful.

The Celestial Omnibus is practically 'Midnight in Paris' in book form. Aside from adding that the stories are refreshing and entertaining, if sometimes a little odd and mysterious in their meaning--the reader is definitely expected to do some interpretation--all I can say is that they are very E. M. Forster. Many muddles--much muddling?--and plenty of the Englishman at home, abroad, and in some dimension in between.

The Story of a Panic - 3
The Other Side of the Hedge - 5
The Celestial Omnibus - 4
Other Kingdom - 5
The Curate's Friend - 4
The Road from Colonus - 3

The Celestial Omnibus and Other Stories was a small volume first published by E. M. Forster in 1911. The spotlighted story, The Celestial Omnibus, is, in many lists, considered to be one of the best stories ever written. It was said, that Forster felt books, and stories for that matter, must be read in the proper way. They must be absorbed "not as ends, but as means - as signposts, not destinations."

I must completely agree that the stories in this volume, must have been "signposts," because more than once I turned the page to continue a story only to find that it had ended. Consequently, these were stories that were not easily digested, requiring some reflection. I found myself, in some cases, thinking about the real meaning or intention of the story, or what really happened. For example, the story The Other Side of the Hedge is an obvious allegory, but one around which I couldn't wrap my mind. In fact, when I looked this story up on the web, there are a number of commentaries and interpretations. One of the commentaries starts out by saying, "The Other Side of the Hedge serves as a metaphor for life, death and afterlife. Within the story, Forster has hidden many references – both religious and philosophical – to the world as an average reader would perceive it...." Consequently, the reader who undertakes this volume, must understand that it may be a series of stories that are not easily construed, and they are not simply read for entertainment. They are stories that require some study and pondering.

In addition, these stories, although it isn't necessary, are better understood with some knowledge of classical literature, and when I say classical, I don't mean Dickens, I mean Greek and Roman. I consider myself a complete novice in this area, and, thus, I was either ignoring the classical references, or looking them up on my Kindle. For the story, The Celestial Omnibus, a familiarity of some British writers, essayists, or bards may also be helpful.

In any case, I remember hearing that the current comprehension level of this type of literature is significantly dropping among mainstream readers, which is sad. These are amazing stories, and I only rated them four stars, because, for me, they were a bit cryptic, which is my fault and not the author's. But that is because they are not meant to be general drugstore pulp fiction. They are meant to say something that requires reflection. They are meant to be something that, if remembered, makes the reader a better person than what he/she was before beginning the story.

Average, but even mediocre Forster is worth reading.

I'm pretty picky with short story collections, and this one didn't really draw me in. The stories and writing were fine, but there was nothing that I loved.

Received from Netgalley.

Even though I enjoyed the story, I don't think I can give it a fair review. But I'll still try.

The story is beautifully told and it had me entranced. However, from the few allusions I caught, I realised that the story is chock-full of them and that I'm missing the majority of them. Since I am not enough of a literature connoisseur, I don't think I can do this story justice: how can I give a complete review if I don't know half of the literary texts referenced in this short story? If I didn't even catch the allusions, how do I know I really understood the story and the symbolisms that are surely peppered throughout the text?

Which is why I don't think I can give a proper review. But I plan to revisit this piece of literary fiction one day- when I am a well-weathered reader ( if I can call it that) and can give a better, well-rounded review.

I did not like Forster’s writing but really enjoyed the stories and themes, they are things I often think about.