[.ca] Treasure Chest, the (ISBN 1870352432)

For afficianados of plot:
Hebel wrote an almanac called The Treasure Chest in the early 19th century; these stories are culled from that. They are works of genius: Kafka declared one of his stories "the most wonderful story in the world," and with good reason. Hebel combines fantastic plots -- worthy of Dashiell Hammet -- with deep and melancholy themes (and also light-hearted ones). You'll gasp at some of the cleverness: cleverness of an order to rival Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, but worked out in very short, very entertaining stories. It's a great book.