The Complete Works of H.P. Lovecraft question

Start at the beginning. Find the list, pick the earliest publication and go from there.

This way, you'll get a feel for the author and how his writing changed with the years.

Like everyone says, read anything. There's a sense of dread and forlorn hope that pervades the stories that he captured so eloquently in the bleakness of his storytelling. A previous poster mentioned being bored, but it is the artfulness of his craft that made the stories intense, not hordes of killer zombies and other obvious villains. What I have found 'boring' is the endless copycats or collections of well meaning anthologies, that simply cannot produce the eeriness that came so brilliantly to his pen.

I always recommend the Mountains of Madness.... that'll grab you for sure.

There are so many good stories that it's difficult to point out where exactly you should start. Call of Cthulhu is a good place, I feel. Then you can summon the rest of the stories in the mythos.

Start anywhere - every story is entertaining. This man has mastered the art of telling stories.

I had the incredible (good or evil?) fortune to literally discover HPL at age 14: a stash of books in an attic. I read them in the order in which I found them stacked, which were the old Ballantine editions, in something very close to chronological order. I fell in love with his sad and beautiful "Dreamlands" stories, which ended with "The Strange High House In The Mist". Then, it seemed, the author dropped 16 hits of acid and became a different person and I'm sorry- whatever you may think, feel or experience, no one falls in love per se with Cthulhu. All in all, of course: for me, the Mythos beat the crap out of the Dreamlands. But by then, I was taking lots of funny-looking pills and stamps myself.

I'd start with some of his short stories, like Cool Air and From Beyond (both of which have a SciFi, Twilight Zone-esqe feel and neither of which exist in the "Cthulhu Mythos" which is actually just a loose association of some of his stories that fans created later on.). Once you have a feel for his wordflow, move on to some of his better novellas, like At Mountains of Madness, the Dunwich Horror, etc...

BTW, what got you interested? For me it was the weird art on the cover of the Collected Works of H.P. Lovecraft that was sitting on a table at the library bordering the kids and adults section. He was literally a transition author for me.

My favorite is Horror over Innsmouth. But perhaps you would prefer to start with something in a genre you favor. He ranges from poetic sci fi to staight up sci fi to messed up scientific experiments to the more traditional haunted house. Word to the wise: You are just going to have to ignore some stuff that would offend modern sensibilities on the issue of race relations. I love him--he is The God of horror for me--but he had flaws.

Broknrising wrote: "Ok, so my interest has been piqued - I would like to try on some Lovecraft, but I don't know where to start. Does anyone have any suggestions?"
I would start with getting the collected works for 99 cents and starting from the beginning. "The Shunned House" is a good intro to his style, I think. The other suggestions already stated by others are good too.

Don't get hung up on some sort of ideal chronology. Just dive in. It seems to me that's how one grows close to a writer, by having one's own individual approach, rather than following someone else's idea of how one should read. HPL may not be the most refined writer in several senses of that word, but his viewpoint was unique, and is still refreshingly unworldly. Approach it as you see fit and you'll find different favorites from, say, me, for example.

I just can't seem to read the guy. I keep hearing all this glowing praise of him but every time I pick up one of his books I get bored and quit.

I wish they'd let Guillermo del Toro make his movie of "The Mountains of Madness". If *anybody* can salvage Lovecraft for me, it's he...

I first fell in love with "The Colour Out of Space"

Without a doubt, I recommend The Shadow over Innsmouth, because it synthesizes the Steelio of his stories and part of your mythology, and is bright.

THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE!!!