I couldn't quite decide how to rate this. There's a rating of my enjoyment of all the stories as a whole (which is closer to a 3) and a rating on Borges' writing (which is closer to a 5). I preface this with the caveat that I did not expect this to be the sort of literature I'd ever read; I'm sure a reader who could fully appreciate Borges' ability to craft some wonderful prose, or better connect with his fondness of writing about Argentinian outlaws, would get more enjoyment.

However, the writing style - the intricate prose (wow, I never thought I'd sound like the literary critics I've always laughed at for their pretentiousness) kept me reading the stories I was less interested in; the realism, the poetry. I wasn't a huge fan of most of them, but I could see what they were going for. The parts of the collection I enjoyed are what I am reviewing this a 4 for, however.

What I think is the absolute masterpiece of this collection is Borges' philosophical, supernatural, magical short stories. The entire collection of A Garden of Forking Paths, The Book of Sand, Blue Tigers, A Weary Man's Utopia, The Disk - have really stuck in my mind. The amount of thinking from so few words is astounding.

So my recommendation is that even if you're not one (like me) for dryer, more traditional, dense literature - at the very least Ficciones is worth a read by everyone.