I'm embarrassed to admit that I've never read a book by E.M. Forrester, certainly been meaning to, at the least one of his more well known--A Passage to India, A Room with a View or Howard's End, but never have, and so was thrilled to run across one of his short stories that I knew I could read in a short stint and get a feel for him as a writer. And what better topic than what I might call a Book on Books even though in this case it would be a short story on books or something to that effect.

This little gem of a writing is a great introduction to the author and the sense of his genius. In a few short pages he combines a story of heaven and of earth just touching on a few immortal authors bringing them to life through an unlearned but open-minded boy's eyes, the same eyes the reader such as myself, who aspires to be more well read with each passing year, sees the great classic, desiring to not just read the books but by doing so come to know the great writers as well.

4.25⭐

The Celestial Omnibus .. what do the readers find here? The readers find the essential Forster themes that figure so prominently in the longer works : the insufficiencies of the embryonic heart, the repressiveness of modern civilization, the possibility of transcendence, and the saving power of love. These themes are underscored by Forster’s investigations of various mythologies and are imbued with his comic genius and liberal humanism. Forster’s dissatisfaction with philistine middle-class values. In this tome he goes on to satirize those smug individuals who fail to recognize spiritual salvation when it presents itself, here in the form of the world’s great literature.

I wish to speak no more. Just grab this tome and find for yourselves.

Was a very good, short read.

“Oh, fence me out if you like! Fence me out as much as you like! But never in. Oh Harcourt, never in.”
– Other Kingdom

My favourites were The Other Side of the Hedge, The Celestial Omnibus and Other Kingdom.

Review of just the title story:

The allegory here is in the beat-'em-over-the-head-with-it school, but I still really enjoyed this tale of a small boy who discovers a carriage that conveys him to the Heaven that all true lovers of literature can find (the return ticket is free). Yes, the story is 100% about the wonders of reading and scathing about both those who disrespect the sense of wonder, and those who treat literature as a didactic tool to be put on a pedestal - and that's just wonderful. Very clever.

Six early tales by Foster, written before he became the preeminent author known today. The stories, first appearing in turn-of-the-century magazines, are basically retold fables reflecting the times they were published. Sometimes awkward in their approach to race and gender mores, but filled with glimpses of Foster's emerging wit and style. An enjoyable read. Dover's presentation is very clean and easy to navigate.

Just a few short stories shouldn't be too time consuming before I toss it to the donate pile.

Is the impossible possible?

I quite enjoyed reading these six short allegorical stories!

More like 3.5

The Celestial Omnibus was intriguing to say the least. I was drawn in to this story and curious to see what would happen to the main character, but as others have stated E. M. Forster does not use many details so I had to reread certain sections to try to figure out where they were or I would be lost for a bit of reading until something clicked. I liked that short story better than The Road to Colonus. The Road was more detailed and I was able to start predicting what might happen next (unlike Omnibus where I had no idea what I would read next), but then the story just seemed to end without a great twist or moral or artistic circle. These short stories were ok, but I think I'll stick to my novels.

Although I read all the stories in this collection in another one of Forster (with other stories), when I saw a 1920 edition of it, I couldn't resist getting it. Some books are just plain sweet to own.