The Castle of Otranto, by Horace Walpole

[Deb]

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "I'm still plugging away at Chapter 1. Manfred is now offering himself to Isabella. I laughed out loud a few times at these pages - the writing invokes shades of Jack Vance for me; may..."

Interesting. In what way were you reminded of Jack Vance?

[Deb]

Georgann wrote: "Chapter 3: That Manfred is a two-faced, lying, hypocrite scuzz bucket! Ha ha. I didn't like him! Chapter 5 brought home that until the VERY recent past, women were no more than chattel, used to ben..."

Haha! Georgann, your characterization of Manfred made me laugh! Love the scuzz bucket reference.

[Deb]

Rosemarie wrote: "I've read three chapters so far and there's never a dull moment-lots and lots of drama!
I'm still trying to picture that giant helmet!"

I know. I found the helmet confusing, too. The supernatural element is understated in this book, I think.

[Deb]

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "One thing that has made me chuckle is the use of the term "blockheads" by Manfred in his interactions with his domestic servants. I have always associated that term with the Peanuts comic strip (Ch..."

Who knew? I also associated blockhead with Charlie Brown. Chalk one up for Walpole.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Deb wrote: "Interesting. In what way were you reminded of Jack Vance?"

I'd have to go back to find the exact passages but the stilted dialogue between Manfred and his servants was what had me giggling. It reminded me of the Cugel the Clever stories from Vance's Dying Earth series.

[Deb]

Haha! I love that you were giggling. And thanks for pointing out that Walpole invented the word blockheads. That alone makes the book worth reading!

[Werner]

Deb wrote: "The supernatural element is understated in this book, I think."

My reaction wasn't so much that it was understated (after all, the helmet in the courtyard is big enough to be kind of hard to miss, even if you weren't personally involved in scraping Conrad's remains out from under it!) as undeveloped. An example is the painted figure of Manfred's grandfather Ricardo in the portrait, which suddenly begins to move at a dramatic moment, and then steps out onto the floor...! We're prepared to think that Ricardo's ghost is animating it, and we brace for an eldritch confrontation with Manfred --and then nothing; zilch; nada. The narrative simply abandons the figure, and we're never told why it exited the portrait. (Perhaps just taking its evening walk? Or making a trip to the outhouse?)

[Deb]

Yes, underdeveloped is a better word. That's actually what I meant. Thanks, Werner!

You and Kit have inspired me to write a review on this book. (I had sort of stopped writing reviews to budget my writing time elsewhere.)

[Werner]

Deb, when you post your review, please be sure to link to it here. (I'm eager to read it!)

[Kit]

Deb: no pressure but yes if you do write a review, please post it. Would be interested to know what you thought.

[Georgann]

Werner wrote: "Deb wrote: "The supernatural element is understated in this book, I think."

Trip to the outhouse!!! That's great!

[Deb]

Here's my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I've so enjoyed our lively discussion this month!

[Rosemarie]

I enjoyed reading your review, Deb.

[Deb]

Rosemarie wrote: "I enjoyed reading your review, Deb."

Thank you, Rosemarie! It was great to see your thoughts in the discussions.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Deb wrote: "Here's my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I've so enjoyed our lively discussion this month!"

Nice review Deb! I'm thinking now about changing my GoodReads screen name to "Blockhead." lol

[Georgann]

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "Deb wrote: "Here's my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I've so enjoyed our lively discussion this month!"

Nice review Deb! I'm thinking now about changing my GoodReads scr..."
ha ha RJ!! I just listened to The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer and guess what word stood out to me above all others? Yep, Blockhead. Deb, Great review! I'm so glad you took the time out to write it!

[Werner]

Deb, I'll echo the thoughts of the others here; great review!

[Deb]

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "Deb wrote: "Here's my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I've so enjoyed our lively discussion this month!"

Nice review Deb! I'm thinking now about changing my GoodReads scr..."

Haha! I was just thinking this morning about incorporating blockheads into my daily conversations.

[Deb]

Werner wrote: "Deb, I'll echo the thoughts of the others here; great review!"

Thanks, Werner! We sure have had a lively discussion this month!

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Here's my review of the OG (Original Gothic) novel


The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Not as fun as Deb's review or insightful as Werner's review though.

[Deb]

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "Here's my review of the OG (Original Gothic) novel



RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "Here's my review of the OG (Original Gothic) novel


Werner wrote: "Thanks for the kind words, RJ! (And you wrote a good review, even if you are too modest to say so. :-) )"

Yes, nicely done, RJ! I love the Shakespeare fan-fic comment!

[Werner]

Deb wrote: "I love the Shakespeare fan-fic comment!"

Yes, I think Walpole himself would have agreed with and appreciated that description (once we explained to him what "fan-fic" means)! :-)

[Deb]

Georgann wrote: "RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "Deb wrote: "Here's my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I've so enjoyed our lively discussion this month!"

Nice review Deb! I'm thinking now a..."

I just checked out The Grand Sophy. It looks like a fun read. Did you enjoy it? So funny re blockhead! Maybe we could make that a secret code word or something.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Werner wrote: "Deb wrote: "I love the Shakespeare fan-fic comment!"

Yes, I think Walpole himself would have agreed with and appreciated that description (once we explained to him what "fan-fic" means)! :-)"

Aww thanks guys. Group hug! ;-)

[Deb]

I've been thinking about how some of us had a negative reaction to Walpole's depiction of women, and that got me thinking that most of our October selections (more than 3/4) were written by men. I would love to see a candidate on our 2022 poll from a woman writer, so I put up some suggestions on the common read thread. It would be cool if you all added to the list. I'm curious to see what you would recommend!

[Georgann]

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "Here's my review of the OG (Original Gothic) novel


The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www...." Thoughtful review. Shakespeare fan-fic ha ha! Mine, too, tend to be short (even shorter than yours!) and to the point.

Deb, we listened to The Grand Sophy on CD during a recent trip. My husband and I and our 18YO granddaughter all thought it was fun and silly and made us LOL. The end, although we knew it was coming from the first, gave us pause. RE: Blockhead, perhaps we could! It was used in Charlie Brown, after all! I added just one book to your recommendations. But I could add more if you want!

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Georgann wrote: "Thoughtful review. Shakespeare fan-fic ha ha! Mine, too, tend to be short (even shorter than yours!) and to the point...."

Thank you Georgann. I read something once where a reader - a member of GoodReads I think - denigrated "three sentence reviews." Ever since that time I have challenged myself to keep my reviews to three sentences, although I have to cheat sometimes with semicolons and comma splices. It's actually fun to try to get to the point quickly and I have enjoyed it, although sometimes I can't make it work for whatever reason. I read others' lengthy reviews with envy sometimes, but I find that honestly I just don't have that much to say. Plot summaries are the first thing I threw out; half the time you can get more from the back of the book cover than I would feel comfortable divulging anyway.

[Werner]

RJ wrote: "...half the time you can get more from the back of the book cover than I would feel comfortable divulging anyway."

Yes; I'm not sure why so many publishers feel such a compulsion to divulge half the plot of the book on the back cover! Personally, I like to know some general things about the premise and setting, etc. of a book when I go into it; but I want to experience the story as the author actually unfolds it.

[Georgann]

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "Georgann wrote: "Thoughtful review. Shakespeare fan-fic ha ha! Mine, too, tend to be short (even shorter than yours!) and to the point...."

Thank you Georgann. I read something once where a reader..." Yes, that is the way I feel, too. No one needs another plot summary! I hadn't thought to challenge myself, tho, b/c it is usually not a problem to be short. But I just did a review on a book that I believe was my longest ever! Surprised me! But I didn't want to cut any of it out, even tho others had said it better.

[Deb]

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "Georgann wrote: "Thoughtful review. Shakespeare fan-fic ha ha! Mine, too, tend to be short (even shorter than yours!) and to the point...."

Thank you Georgann. I read something once where a reader..."

RJ, you're a crack-up! The Three Sentence Reviewer, your new moniker.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Deb wrote: "RJ, you're a crack-up! The Three Sentence Reviewer, your new moniker."

RJ - The Three Sentence Reviewing Blockhead

[Georgann]

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "Deb wrote: "RJ, you're a crack-up! The Three Sentence Reviewer, your new moniker."

RJ - The Three Sentence Reviewing Blockhead" LOL!!!

[Deb]

Georgann wrote: "RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "Deb wrote: "RJ, you're a crack-up! The Three Sentence Reviewer, your new moniker."

RJ - The Three Sentence Reviewing Blockhead" LOL!!!"

Haha! Blockhead seems to be our favorite word these days. Such fun!

[Phil (Theophilus)]

I was initially intrigued by this book because it seemed like an earlier verion of Poe's Usher family but the more i tried to read it, the less enjoyable it became due to the nebulous minutiae that drones on indefinitely. Marked as DNF. I dont know that theres enough caffeine to keep me awake to ever want to finish it.

[Rosemarie]

I can relate to that! It may be the first but it's certainly not the best. I found the ending confusing-but also very dramatic.