This is a wonderful collection of weird stories. Themes of alienation prevail and many of the novels consist of chapters that are only loosely connected. The language is sometimes a little dense, particularly in the earlier works. Both the language and the tone are lighter in the more recent stories, which also sketch worlds and situations that are closer to ours.
Overall this is an excellent read!

PART 1

1) DOÑA QUIXOTE AND OTHER CITIZENS. PORTRAIT (1983) (***)
A novella of strange people and stranger places that reminded me of Italo Calvino stories and Raoul Servais films.

2) TAINARON. MAIL FROM ANOTHER CITY (1985) (****)
Beautifully weird, these thirty vignettes (letters from a visitor describing the strange city of Tainaron) gently pull you in, like the city does their author. To be read slowly.

3) GOLD OF OPHIR (1987) (***)
The story of a special house and its strange inhabitants. Some great set pieces and beautiful prose, but the parts are better than the whole.

4) PEREAT MUNDUS: A NOVEL OF SORTS (1998) (*****)
Pereat Mundus is a book of many endings. Most chapters feature iterations of a character named Hakan (they have a name and some character traits in common but are otherwise very different), finding himself involved in the end of something (most often the world). Interspersed between these are chapters about Dr Fakelove who uses pop psychology to help people (one or some of which are Hakan) deal with their psychological problems. The more you read, the harder this is to put down.

5) DATURA, OR A FIGMENT SEEN BY EVERYONE (2001) (****)
An account of the many encounters and adventures (sometimes banal but more often bizarre) of a woman who works as editor for a magazine of pseudo science, occultism and subcultures.
As she is under the influence of the poisonous datura plant, it is never clear to what extent these episodes are real events or hallucinations. The ending felt somewhat forced but on the whole this was very entertaining, certainly the funniest book in the collection.

6) THE PELICAN’S NEW CLOTHES - A story from the city (1976)
A children's book. (****)
Much more straightforward in language and structure, this story still shares its themes of alienation and the search for one's place with the other works in this collection. Quick and fun.

PART 2

THE PARADOX ARCHIVE - Extracts from the novel Umbra (1990) (**)
The premise seemed interesting but the extract wasn't.

THREE FROM MATHEMATICAL CREATURES, OR SHARED DREAMS 1992 (***)
Three sections of a larger set, the first only of stylistic interest, but the other two offered intriguing premises as well.

TO SLEEP, TO DIE - Extracts from the novel Unelmakuolema (Dreamdeath) (2004) (***)
Written in more easily accessible prose than the earlier pieces, these are some interesting extracts from a novel about a future in which assisted suicide is a common way to end one's life.

REALLY EXISTING? Extracts from the novel Mehiläispaviljonki. Kertomus parvista (The Bee Pavilion. A story about swarms, Teos, 2006) (****)
The language is again not as dense as in the earlier works and the world is not as weird but the atmosphere is similarly intriguing. These extracts make me very curious to read the entire story.

FOUR FROM FALSE WINDOW (2009) (****)
Four extracts from another novel consisting of loosely connected vignettes, this time dealing with diverse people and their unusual issues rather than with a strange world.

ME AND MY SHADOW (2012) (***)
The story of a man who trades places with his shadow and leads a flat, voyeuristic and passive life that suits him better.

FINAL APPEARANCE (2014) (***)
An author's final public reading and some of his reflections on his past. ( )