Stories of Your Life and Others (2002)
Ted Chiang
This compilation has been enjoying a renaissance in recent years due the success of the film Arrival (2016) which based on on the fourth and titular entry in this amazing collection. Don't infer too much from that however as whilst this is prima facie just another set of sci-fi tales, it is science fiction in the way that Children of Men is, rather than Babylon 5.
A well-balanced mixture of worlds are evoked throughout with a combination of tales that variously mix the Aristotelian concepts of spectacle (opsis), themes (dianoia), character (ethos) and dialogue (lexis), perhaps best expressed practically in that some stories were extremely striking at the time — one even leading me to rebuff an advance at a bar — and a number were not as remarkable at the time yet continue to occupy my idle thoughts.
The opening tale which reworks the Tower of Babel into a construction project probably remains my overall favourite, but the Dark Materials-esque world summoned in Seventy-Two Letters continues to haunt my mind and lips of anyone else who has happened to come across it, perhaps becoming the quite-literal story of my life for a brief period. Indeed it could be said that, gifted as a paperback, whilst the whole collection followed me around across a number of locales, it continues to follow me — figuratively speaking that is — to this day.
Highly recommended to all readers but for those who enjoy discussing books with others it would more than repay any investment.