The Aleph by Jorge Luis Borges
In the postface to this collection of short stories, Borges describes most of them as fantastic, which they are (in more ways than one), but not exactly in the way that I remember Fictions (The Garden of Forking Paths in English). Here the underlying theme (if there has to be one, I don't think these were necessarily written to be collected together) is more mystical than marvel. Regardless, most of these are gems, if not all of them. It's hard not to read Borges and think this man had read every book on Earth before even starting to write, yet it's all very accessible whether you get the numerous references or not. From musings on immortality to theological rivalries to the role of labyrinths, this is as marvelous a collection of stories as I've ever read.
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