I read this one five months ago. It was a good one. I really enjoyed Irving's writing style; very easy to read and a nice mix of writings in this collection. Almost all of his short stories were solid. And it was nice to actually read Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle after being familiar with those tales my entire life. One pleasant surprise was "Philip of Pokanoket" which is about one of my alleged ancestors (according to the Family Tree pedigree chart he is my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandpa and son of Massasoit, the Chief who welcomed the Pilgrims and held the first Thanksgiving). Other ones that come to mind as I scan the Table of Contents five months later are The Spectre Bridegroom, The Stout Gentleman, and Dolph Heyliger. One thing that I really enjoyed is how one story would lead into another, as well as how some stories would have multiple storytellers relating the tale. There were some stories that went several layers deep with multiple narrators along the way. I believe it was from his Tales of a Traveler series of stories that were all very good. I think my least favorite was his longer A History of New York that is considered some of his better work, but I just didn't connect with it much. Lots of his stories paint a pretty cool picture of the Hudson Valley area of New York during the late 1700's era or thereabouts. I think in a previous post several years ago I mentioned Nathaniel Hawthorne and James Fenimore Cooper as the first great American writers, but I hadn't read anything from Irving and did not mention him. He obviously should be included in that statement.
Quote:
"[A] sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use." From Rip Van Winkle.
"[I]t is certain that the integrity and good faith of Massasoit have never been impeached." Had to throw this one in here because of the ancestory factor, from Philip of Pokanoket.
