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I've never been much for Horror stories, though I find as I get older I do enjoy greatly tales of the supernatural. I just finished reading M.R. James' collection of Ghost Stories which I enjoyed a great deal. Not all the stories were brilliant, some worked much better than others, but there were some very good ones. There was a particularly haunting dream about Mr. Punch which was more disturbing than Mr. Gaiman's and vengeful child ghosts, monsters in paintings and old haunted Churches and prayer books. But a lovely mid-winter book of ghosts and the supernatural to be read under a blanket in the cold of night.
The Lovecraft I read was the Arkham edition of The Dunwich Horror and Others. Only a few of the stories I'd read before. There were also some very good stories. Though I have to say by the end I did find Lovecraft to be a little repetitive, so many things along the same vein and all the characters seemed to be completely interchangeable, the narrator and the degenerates. I felt this was particularly noticeable as I'd been reading Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone right before starting it and that had two very different narrators relating the events for the first half of the book. I liked the Shadow Out of Time very much, it reminded me of something Wells might write, and I also like the Shadow of Innsmouth as in the end the narrator embraced the horror, rather than having it kill him. And there was some actual action as he had to make his escape from the hotel. Though I have to admit I found the descriptions of the hopping fish monsters to be much more amusing than terrifying! I do enjoy Lovecraft, it just seems that there's really only one thing he does well. It reminded me a bit of the Dali exhibit we went to, after the 4th melting clock you just wanted to see something different. I do want to reread the rest of his books that have been unpacked but think I shall wait a few weeks.
The Lovecraft I read was the Arkham edition of The Dunwich Horror and Others. Only a few of the stories I'd read before. There were also some very good stories. Though I have to say by the end I did find Lovecraft to be a little repetitive, so many things along the same vein and all the characters seemed to be completely interchangeable, the narrator and the degenerates. I felt this was particularly noticeable as I'd been reading Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone right before starting it and that had two very different narrators relating the events for the first half of the book. I liked the Shadow Out of Time very much, it reminded me of something Wells might write, and I also like the Shadow of Innsmouth as in the end the narrator embraced the horror, rather than having it kill him. And there was some actual action as he had to make his escape from the hotel. Though I have to admit I found the descriptions of the hopping fish monsters to be much more amusing than terrifying! I do enjoy Lovecraft, it just seems that there's really only one thing he does well. It reminded me a bit of the Dali exhibit we went to, after the 4th melting clock you just wanted to see something different. I do want to reread the rest of his books that have been unpacked but think I shall wait a few weeks.