#1590

Also, too, we bonded over Shirley Jackson.

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#1591

re. your last paragraph…

I think Arthur Machen does this a bit, tbf he usually has the good grace to get it out the way at the beginning or stick it at the end.

I’m going to finish my current book then start up the Victorian horror again. I’ve got an Algernon blackwood collection which I got for Xmas last year and read half of it so I’ll do that first I think. The 2 stories I read were really top drawer stuff.

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#1592

Got on the hype train

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#1593

Planning to reread We Have Always Lived In The Castle after this too!

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#1594

I remember finding Machen’s tendency to do that sort of funny, and it just made the White People - which is hauntingly enigmatic and downright bizarre from start to finish - all the more thrillingly pleasant a surprise

Should note I rlly liked the other stories too

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#1595

Have been meaning to delve into the world of Iris Murdoch for a while now. Where would you recommend I should start?

#1596

I read this in a day last weekend. Loved it.

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#1597

Maybe my fav signature I’ve seen too

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#1598

Looks less like it’s signed and more like you’ve borrowed her actual copy :grinning:

3 Likes
#1599

Love that book. Always think I should read more Buchan but never get round to it

#1600

Finally finished book #1 on Thursday. Was slow going to start with but I loved escaping into the old decaying goth castle. Having a break before book #2 cos this one took me so long, but I really enjoyed it. The very, very long fight between Swelter & Flay :heart_eyes:

Big thanks to @dots for the rec all those months ago

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#1601

tbh I’m fairly new to her myself but I started with A Severed Head

I get the feeling she is fairly consistent so I’m sure there are other places to start

But A Severed Head is psychologically acute, devilish, intriguing and amusing

#1602

@ghosthalo the latest podcast with giorgio de maria- twenty days of turin, after you linked the incoherent burbling of the statues to far right internet, was sure you were gonna link to the recent protect r statues business. hopefully will read the book one day

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#1603

How did you find it?

#1604

The Sea, The Sea remains an all-time favourite.

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#1605

Oh hell yeah, new Delillo.

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#1606

this sounds very similar to the new Jonathan Lethem book

The Arrest isn’t post-apocalypse. It isn’t a dystopia. It isn’t a utopia. It’s just what happens when much of what we take for granted—cars, guns, computers, and airplanes, for starters—quits working. . . .

#1607

This was very good. Olive Kitteridge is such a great character. Reminds me a bit of Larry David in Curb, in terms of her honesty.

Then read A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines. Loved it, made me a bit sad. Felt like I should have read it as a teenager.

Then a Dr Who book by Sophie Aldred and a couple of others that was pretty crap. And just finished Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. Readable enough to get to the end, but didn’t get on with it as much as others have… Thought the dialogue was mostly dreadful.

Going to read Mort by Terry Pratchett next. Was one of my favourites as a young person, so will be interested to see if it stands up. Then I think I’m going to read Pine by Francine Toon, as it’s supposed to be a bit spooky, and that seems appropriate for the season.

#1608

Was at a loss so started reading House of Leaves because it was free on Kindle for some reason. Fucking loving it so far - just my kind of thing. Lots of learned references without going into any of it so I can just enjoy the music of the words, great conceit, accessible chunks of text, conversational style. Made me think of books where the author is trying to make art dangerous and alive, which, if it’s a genre, is one of my favourites, even though I am an adult and know that’s fucking nonsense really! Lots of Borges in this category. There’s The Ninth Gate, Name of the Rose, feel like something Bolano has done, or his general approach might fall under it too. Quite a few Ballard short stories as well. Burroughs I guess was obsessed with animating his texts. Sure there’s some gothic novels that frame themselves as dangerous ‘real’ documents that have certain powers. I’m knackered so can’t remember things clearly, but can anyone else think of novels etc that would fit into this type of category? Oh, there’s also a book that tells you you’ll be cursed if you read it but I can’t recall what it is now!

2 Likes
#1609

Haven’t had much time to properly read it, and I’m not finding it completely consuming from the off, but I’m loving how meticulously it’s creating the world, and characterising the aliens, without it being inaccessible or really obtuse.

1 Like