December Group Read #1- The Willows

[Lena]

Your welcome Paul! Glad to ring the indie author bell.

[Perry]

I'm re-reading The Willows for the first time in decades and enjoying it again. I like how Blackwood makes the river and then the willows actual characters, and benevolent... at first. The language is slow and meandering, just like the river itself.

For fun, I looked up this section of the Danube on Google Maps to see if it still looks the way he described it a hundred years ago. Much has changed, with a deep channel maintained for shipping, but notice all the offshoots of the river that remain in places like creepy vines or tentacles. Decide for yourself.

[aPriL does feral sometimes]

I'm very much into old stuff, so I loved this short story.

[Tami]

This is my first group read and I'm looking forward to getting started on this over the weekend :)

[Joel]

I finished it the first day, but since there are a lot of readers who maybe haven't started it yet, I will avoid discussing the story itself for a few more days. But I will say that I thought this was five-star stuff, and immediately downloaded the Blackwood mega-pack which is 1300 pages worth of his novels and stories. Will pick my way through that over the next couple of months.

[aPriL does feral sometimes]

Joel wrote: "I finished it the first day, but since there are a lot of readers who maybe haven't started it yet, I will avoid discussing the story itself for a few more days. But I will say that I thought this ..."

Agreed! Five star for me too!

[Jen from Quebec :0)]

This. Is. Awesome.

Since 2017 is coming up, I have been looking for groups to join and reading challenges to participate in- and I found this one for December! Horror is my JAM, and it is great that my 1st group read is a free one! Downloading now, will start ASAP. I am super happy to have found you folks!

-Jen from Quebec :0)

[Tania]

Well...ok....my very first group read. Perhaps I read supwerficially; perhaps this just wasn't my taste at all. Never caught the underlying meaning - not that I was looking. Was bored throughout and very glad it wasn't longer.

[Lena]

38% in. This just sounds like he made the mistake of getting high while camping.

[Quantum]

Lena wrote: "38% in. This just sounds like he made the mistake of getting high while camping."

lol. your comment highlights the major component of its style: (view spoiler)[ it is completely psychological. (hide spoiler)]

note: the last sentence is really excellent.

[Jen from Quebec :0)]

Just finished the harrowing The Light of the Fireflies and am ready to begin "The Willows"! Super glad to have found this group. :0)

[Lena]

82% in. That moment when your friend tells you they have psychic powers...

[Quantum]

Lena wrote: "82% in. That moment when your friend tells you they have psychic powers...
"

which part was that? let's see (view spoiler)[when the Swede says that he can hear the "otherworldly humming" too (hide spoiler)]?

[Lena]

(view spoiler)["All my life," he said, "I have been strangely, vividly conscious of another region—not far removed from our own world in one sense, yet wholly different in kind—where great things go on unceasingly, where immense and terrible personalities hurry by, intent on vast purposes compared to which earthly affairs, the rise and fall of nations, the destinies of empires, the fate of armies and continents, are all as dust in the balance; vast purposes, I mean, that deal directly with the soul, and not indirectly with more expressions of the soul—" (hide spoiler)]

[Lena]

For anyone unfamiliar with Mean Girls that's the scene where Karen tells Cady she has ESPN (she's not referring to the network).

[aPriL does feral sometimes]

I was curious about this 1907 story introducing (view spoiler)[ another dimension, so I looked up what ideas were known then. I found in Wikipedia:

"In 1884, Edwin A. Abbott wrote the seminal novel exploring this concept called Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. It describes a world of two dimensions inhabited by living squares, triangles, and circles, called Flatland, as well as Pointland (0 dimensions), Lineland (1 dimension), and Spaceland (three dimensions) and finally posits the possibilities of even greater dimensions. Isaac Asimov, in his foreword to the Signet Classics 1984 edition, described Flatland as "The best introduction one can find into the manner of perceiving dimensions."

In 1895, The Time Machine by H. G. Wells used time as an additional "dimension" in this sense, taking the four-dimensional model of classical physics and interpreting time as a space-like dimension in which humans could travel with the right equipment. Wells also used the concept of parallel universes as a consequence of time as the fourth dimension in stories like The Wonderful Visit and Men Like Gods, an idea proposed by the astronomer Simon Newcomb, who talked about both time and parallel universes; "Add a fourth dimension to space, and there is room for an indefinite number of universes, all alongside of each other, as there is for an indefinite number of sheets of paper when we pile them upon each other"."

I have read Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions and I liked it.

; )

(hide spoiler)]

[Quantum]

aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "I was curious about this 1907 story introducing another dimension, so I looked up what ideas were known then. I found in Wikipedia:

"In 1884, Edwin A. Abbott wrote the seminal novel exploring thi..."

excellent research. i added Flatland to my long-list. totally didn't know that The Time Machine was published in 1895! contemporaneous with The Willows.

[Marie]

I finished the book, but I guess I missed something that some of you found thrilling in this book. It took me some time to get into the story and then there were some intense moments, but nothing to the point of scaring me. Maybe I am just use to the modern day writing style and more of the scary, creepy, spine chilling books that are out there today.

[Latasha]

I hope to get to this today.

[Tami]

A damn fine psychological horror. I liked the macabre setting surrounded by evil intent. Pretty brill for a short story :)

[Latasha]

I liked it! I didn't remember most of it so it was reading (I listened) to it for the first time! I love following the character s from a little unease to (view spoiler)[ sacrifices , or tries at least. do you think something was really there or was it their paranoia? (hide spoiler)]

[aPriL does feral sometimes]

I think there was something there!

[Quantum]

Latasha- maybe it comes across better on audio, especially with a great reader. Maybe all creepy stories with this writing style are scarier on audio. I believe hay A Christmas Carol would do better as well.

[Jen from Quebec :0)]

It certainly has a "Heart of Darkness" vibe at points, no?

[Quantum]

Jennifer Lynn wrote: "It certainly has a "Heart of Darkness" vibe at points, no?"

i hadn't thought of that, but yes it does. being out in the untamed wild.

[Latasha]

I was thinking the great god pan, which he also wrote. I haven't read heart of darkness.

[Latasha]

Alex G wrote: "Latasha- maybe it comes across better on audio, especially with a great reader. Maybe all creepy stories with this writing style are scarier on audio. I believe hay A Christmas Carol would do bette..."

yeah, although it is public domain, I bought it from audible cause I liked the narrator. I think she was Irish? either way, he was excellent.

[Latasha]

John wrote: "Latasha wrote: "I liked it! I didn't remember most of it so it was reading (I listened) to it for the first time! I love following the character s from a little unease to [spoilers removed]"
I thin..."

I think so too.

[Monica]

I started and I'm 10 % in. I think I like it, very poetic.

[Holly]

The Great God Pan was written by Arthur Machen........ another great classic!

[Latasha]

Holly wrote: "The Great God Pan was written by Arthur Machen........ another great classic!"

oops! I see what I did.

[Joel]

Yeah, this reminded me a lot of the Machen I have read. And Lovecraft too, of course. Lovecraft is one of my horror touchstones, so I look forward to checking out more of Blackwood's stuff. Sometimes it's fun to read the sillier, more juvenile horror like Richard Laymon, but subtle, other-wordly and psychological horror like this story is the stuff that is truly unsettling when written as well as The Willows is.

[Latasha]

Anytime you want to read more older stuff, I'll read them with you. Any of them. I love that stuff!

[Joel]

Latasha wrote: "Anytime you want to read more older stuff, I'll read them with you. Any of them. I love that stuff!"

Sounds good to me! It'd be great to have more group reads for the classics and/or less remembered older works. I was surprised this won the poll to be honest.

[Kimberly]

Joel wrote: "Latasha wrote: "Anytime you want to read more older stuff, I'll read them with you. Any of them. I love that stuff!"

Sounds good to me! It'd be great to have more group reads for the classics and/..."

I'm with Latasha on this one--I'd love to join in on any of the horror "classics"--I was brought up on Lovecraft, James, Benson, Poe, etc... And yes, I see a lot of "Lovecraftian" style of horror in this one. :)

[Latasha]

I was too Joel.

[Sean]

I do like the idea in book 3 that speaking and naming our fears can make them manifest. My mother is New Age and is always saying, "what you focus upon, you increase." This tends to make me more scared because I worry that when I worry I could literally cause my fears to become reality.

This is just a superstition, btw. I'm not sitting around quaking in fear. Still, interesting idea.

[Kelly B]

I loved this short story. Very atmospheric and haunting.

I liked how the setting was so creepy: the isolated island, the flooding river, no civilization nearby, the willows.

[Kelly B]

Latasha wrote: "I liked it! I didn't remember most of it so it was reading (I listened) to it for the first time! I love following the character s from a little unease to [spoilers removed]"

I thought: (view spoiler)[ There was something there. That part where the narrator can see (or imagines he sees) shapes moving about in the willows, reaching towards the sky....brilliant! I admit, I got creeped out while reading this story, and jumped about a mile when the phone rang! (hide spoiler)]

[Kelly B]

Latasha wrote: "Anytime you want to read more older stuff, I'll read them with you. Any of them. I love that stuff!"

I love that old stuff, too! Sometimes more than the newer stuff.

[Kelly B]

Sean wrote: "I do like the idea in book 3 that speaking and naming our fears can make them manifest. My mother is New Age and is always saying, "what you focus upon, you increase." This tends to make me more sc..."

It's such a frightening concept! If you feel you shouldn't be thinking about something, it makes it harder not to dwell on it.

In The Willows, I couldn't imagine (view spoiler)[ falling asleep that second night, knowing what was going on, and trying to avoid thinking about it. I'm an insomniac under normal conditions; if I was on that island I literally wouldn't have slept a wink the entire time I was on the island. (hide spoiler)]

[Perry]

Finished my re-read of The Willows and I did enjoy it. It was nice to see where so many of the themes and concepts of the Cthulhu Mythos originated. That said, I must admit, it seemed less intense this time around. But that's probably just because I'd read it before.
I think the story will be more impressive for someone who has experienced being off in the woods, far from any sign of human habitation. The woods just have a feel of their own when you are inside them.

[Sarah]

Good read, reminded me of Arthur Machen's tales. (view spoiler)[Finding out they are in a place between this dimension and another is awfully creepy. (hide spoiler)]

[Tyler]

I've started it, i'm 35% in and at first it was...meh but it's starting to get interesting and it is, I guess the word is poetic. Atmospheric. It'll be quick read, that 35% didn't take long. :)

[Quantum]

John wrote: "Latasha wrote: "Anytime you want to read more older stuff, I'll read them with you. Any of them. I love that stuff!"
I'll read Lovecraft any time, but most other older horror doesn't float my boat."

Neither does (view spoiler)[a canoe w/a hole in it when you're stuck on an island b/w dimensions (hide spoiler)]

[Lena]

Ok, that ended better than I thought it would and it had creepier moments though mostly I just found it funny. It called for gif, it called through dimensions for gifs! ;)
Review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Barb]

I was struggling getting through the beginning but then got the audiobook and really enjoyed it. The author does a great job setting the scene & making things creepy. It definitely has a Lovecraftian feel but, to me, seemed less dated, more accessible, & easier to read than a lot of Lovecraft.

[Barb]

I've got to say too, I got a chuckle reading the final line. Not that it didn't work but reading that line alone without hearing the rest of the story might make one scratch their head!

[Kelly B]

Lena wrote: "Ok, that ended better than I thought it would and it had creepier moments though mostly I just found it funny. It called for gif, it called through dimensions for gifs! ;)
Review:https://www.goodre..."

Great review, Lena! I liked all the gifs:-).

[Jennifer]

I'm not sure how to do spoiler tags so I'll keep my review vague.

I found it quite hard to get into at first, with the very detailed description of the river. You have to get into the language at first, and once I found the flow then I was well away.

I was intrigued by the surroundings so, like Perry did, had a look on Google maps to see what the area looks like.

I really enjoyed this book, 4 out of 5. I become more invested in a book that can give me a sense of dread, something that I can feel and believe in. Books like this affect me more than a book about a guy with an axe, although they can be just as good.

I've downloaded a few more of his books and look forward to reading them.