I read the first two thirds of it on the Eurostar back from Paris (I think I finished "Needful Things" on th...moreI seem to have been reading this forever.
I read the first two thirds of it on the Eurostar back from Paris (I think I finished "Needful Things" on the way there) in June. And then I put it in a pile of books and kind of forgot about it.
I picked it up again this weekend and polished it off. It is a wonderful idea. Snippets of stories and writing set in Paris. As many of you know, I'm not Paris's biggest fan but this still sums up Paris beautifully as only the great writers can. It has reminded me of many books I need to revisit or visit for the first time.
There is one on London as well in the same series which I have added to my ever expanding Amazon Wishlist. (less)
Ghost stories were ludicrously popular during the Victorian period -- a time of huge transition, an age shaped more than any other by change, mostly i...moreGhost stories were ludicrously popular during the Victorian period -- a time of huge transition, an age shaped more than any other by change, mostly industrial, but with the final consequences of these changes remaining unclear. With this shadow of change falling across life in general culminating, no doubt, in anxiety, the ghost story not only gave the Victorian reader an outlet for this anxiety but the ghosts themselves anchored a stable past in an unstable present.
Having said all this I was quite disappointed with this anthology. Some of the stories are brilliant; those by Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Jerome K Jerome, RLStevenson and Conan Doyle stand out particularly of course (although Kipling's offering is poor in the extreme); but most of them are formulaic, haunted house stories, which perhaps in the context of the time, read once a week in a magazine or so forth, were entertaining but when read one after another are a little tiresome.
My favourite was that by Elizabeth Gaskell. However, I'm not entirely sure if this is because it's any better than the others or because it was the first one and therefore still maintained an element of surprise! (less)
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