"Of course the first thing I looked for was the fire watch stone. And of course it wasn't there yet."
When @CSeydel mentioned To Say Nothing of the Dog a few days ago, it inspired me to look back at the Oxford time travel series, and I found this book of short stories as part of the series I hadn't read yet.
#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl
so-soI love Connie Willis's novels, but this collection of short stories was a mixed bag. I did enjoy very much the title story, “Fire Watch“, featuring her Oxford time travellers.
This is my #1985 entry for the #192025 challenge. @Librarybelle
#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks
panAm not usually a big short story fan. I find that if I lose focus for even a short time, I can never really get back into the story because it‘s too short. I‘ve missed too much. So, as usual, I didn‘t follow more than half the stories. A few were ok, but overall, I wasn‘t a fan. Something I did like was that she had a short introduction to each story. I liked many of those better than the stories!
so-soIt's always hard to rate a book of short stories... a couple of these I absolutely loved, a few more I liked, a couple were meh, and one left me feeling ill. So I'm giving it a 3.5 stars. The titular story is set in the Oxford Time Travel world and deserved 5 stars, but I'm going with my average for the whole book.
pickThird book I've read by Willis. Her speech at the Hugo Awards three (?) years ago was also a thing of beauty.
Her writing has such a characteristic empathy for people. Her characters want to be good people and help others. Yet such tragedy.
pickNot a very enthusiastic pick because I really didn‘t like some of the stories (loved a few of them). 3 out of 5 stars.
Fire Watch | 
