The Gothic Novel Book Club <Hiatus> discussion
Which Gothic novels have you read before?
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Nancy wrote: "Francesca wrote: "Diane Settlefield's The Thirteenth Tale is still my favorite modern Gothic. Her book made quite a splash, everyone literary agent was looking for the next Settlefield then she di..."Hi Nancy,
Kate Mosse's work on is on my Gothic list. Which one of her books do you think I should start with?
i have read a few gothic novels so far.. can you please suggest some good books that i can read.. thanks a lot..
Nancy wrote: "Francesca wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Francesca wrote: "Diane Settlefield's The Thirteenth Tale is still my favorite modern Gothic. Her book made quite a splash, everyone literary agent was looking for ..."Thanks, Nancy. I'll start with that one.
Nancy wrote: "Azil wrote: "i have read a few gothic novels so far.. can you please suggest some good books that i can read.. thanks a lot.."do you want to read from your library? that's the cheapest way to st..."
thanks nancy but i already read some of those that's why i'm looking forward for more suggestions... i'll try mr. james next.. thanks a lot...
I've read many of the classics, including all of Poe's work, Frankenstein (Shelley), Dracula (Stoker), The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Stevenson), Camilla (Le Fanu), and many stories of E.F. Benson, Algernon Blackwood, Clarke Ashton Smith, Ambrose Bierce, and M.R. James. I believe I've read every story and poem written by H.P. Lovecraft as well as many Mythos-related stories by others. Finally, some modern stuff I really liked was Hungry Moon (Ramsey Campbell), Interview with a Vampire (Anne Rice), The Ceremonies (T.E.D. Klein).
my favorites the witching hour and interview with a vampire.
oh and Poe's fall of the house of usher
HI, my family loves gothics and I grew up reading Victoria Holt, Phyllis Whitney and other gothic romance authors. I also have read the classics such as Wuthering Heights, which is one of my favorites. And many books I don't really consider gothics but that have gothic elementa, such as some of Barbara Vine's work. I also enjoy John Harwood. Most anything dark or gothic intrigues me.
I just re-read William Faulkner's gothic short story, A Rose For Emily. It's on-line and is the work of a master storyteller. Fabulous.
Francesca wrote: "I just re-read William Faulkner's gothic short story, A Rose For Emily. It's on-line and is the work of a master storyteller. Fabulous."
Francesca, I read A Rose for Emily years ago and still one of my favorites short-fiction, it's so good! I'll search for it online now and re-read
Francesca, I read A Rose for Emily years ago and still one of my favorites short-fiction, it's so good! I'll search for it online now and re-read
I've just finished reading The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories that appear in some list here of gothic fiction. It's a collection of short stories retelling classic children's tales such Beauty and the Beast, Little red riding hood or Sleepy Beauty (among others) in a very adult point of view. It's certainly very dark and I got really impressed with Carter's writting, very poetical.
Ooooh, I read that one just a few months ago (after having it sitting on my shelf the best part of a year). Really loved the title story and The Lady of the House of Love - how to do a guilty vampire right. Beautiful stuff. Should probably repost/tweak my blog review to Goodreads at some point.
Louise wrote: "Ooooh, I read that one just a few months ago (after having it sitting on my shelf the best part of a year). Really loved the title story and The Lady of the House of Love - how to do a guilty vampi..."
Louise, "The lady in the house of love" is my fav of the collection, besides "In the company of wolves"
Louise, "The lady in the house of love" is my fav of the collection, besides "In the company of wolves"
I was kind of dissapointed with 'In The Company of Wolves' - the little folklore tales at the begining were great and I loved them to bits but the main narrative suffered a bit from predictability because so many people have put almost exactly the same spin on the Red-Riding Hood story since. Not Carter's fault of course, I think she pretty much started/restarted that trend, but after reading a lot of similar versions before hers didn't feel all that subversive.It's still a great story in a great collection though, I just expected a bit more from it, I think. The only one in the collection I was actually a bit non-plussed by was 'The Erl King'.
Would definitely be worth doing a Group Read on if we're allowed to nominate short story collections as well as novels.
Hi Louise, I think short story collections would be great! I'm so happy to meet such a well-read group!
Oh, quite a few!Rebecca, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, The Picture of Dorian Grey, The Monk, Northanger Abbey (Gothic parody), The Mysteries of Udolpho, Frankenstein, Dracula, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde... There's probably more that I haven't thought to list. I really, really love the genre. In fact, I'm intending to do my dissertation on Gothic, Bildungsroman and autobiography next year; I love it that much!
Wow. Haven't thought of Victoria Holt in ages. On the Night of the Seventh Moon--was that one? Don't remember much about it but that I liked it in High School.
Gothic novels with religious themes are my cup of tea. My two favorites would have to be Dracula and The Monk. Even The Hunchback of Notre-Dame might fit the bill with its Gothic cathedral, oppressive atmosphere, corrupt cleric, and overall gloominess. I'm a very outgoing, positive person, but I can't get enough of Gothic literature!
Jacqueline wrote: "I love a spooky, brooding element in a book. It is definitely a selling point. Everyone is discussing the classic gothics (Dracula, du Maurier novels, etc)and they are all wonderful, but there's ..."Drood - fantastic book!
Stephen wrote: "Jacqueline! You must read The Shadow of the Wind! It's a great Gothic book for book lovers :)To be honest, that's something I hope to do in the coming months (probably around September). I plan o..."
Another fantastic book - loved it!
I have read a lot of gothic works through the years and I love the genre. It all started with Wuthering Heights in 10th grade English class, so I am beyond excited to read it again with a group. I am also a huge Poe fan, Shirley Jackson, Hawthorne, Shelley, Stoker, Anne Rice, Stephen King (at times gothic). I love that I have found this group, because now I will be reading even more!
I loved The Thirteenth Tale. People have different opinions on what defines Gothic. I have some of the old Gothics, most of the "horrid" novels mentioned in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, The Monk, etc. I also love the 60's and 70's Gothic novels. Barbara Michaels, Victoria Holt, Dorothy Eden, Mary Stewart. I love anything by Daphne Du Maurier. I think in modern times some of the "Gothic" novels from the 70's would be classified as "romantic suspense". But, they have the old mansion, or castle and and a spooky feel to them. I really miss those. I don't mind a supernatural element in Gothic novels, but some people today put vampire romances in the Gothic genre and I'm not entirely sure I agree with that, except maybe Anne Rice which is still a little bit of a stretch, IMO. ( I love the vampire chronicles,don't get me wrong) I don't about anything recently published that falls into that category, but if any of you have a suggestion, I would appreciate it. Oh, and Shadow of the Wind was also really good!
Denise wrote: "Karen wrote: "Love me some Dark Shadows..."Karen (and any other Dark Shadows fans), I just saw that a new group has been created for a Q&A with Kathryn Leigh Scott! The discussion will be from t..."
Thank you for posting this! I have a great book The Dark Shadows Companion she edited and will check out the discussion link.
Karen wrote: "Denise wrote: "Karen wrote: "Love me some Dark Shadows..."Karen (and any other Dark Shadows fans), I just saw that a new group has been created for a Q&A with Kathryn Leigh Scott! The discussion..."
I have that book, too, and a couple of others, and just got her newest, Return to Collinwood, in which she and others write about the original series, the remake, and the new movie (she and some of the others have cameos in it). Kathryn has been great about answering our questions, so I'm sure you will enjoy the discussion!
John wrote: "I've read many of the classics, including all of Poe's work, Frankenstein (Shelley), Dracula (Stoker), The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Stevenson), Camilla (Le Fanu), and many stories o..."Have a look at my blog GothicFaeryTales.com. I have Clarimonde on there with illustrations. One of the best vampire stories ever! I was able to find perfect images for it.
http://www.gothicfaerytales.com
Tracy wrote: "http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24...Does anyone consider House of Leaves gothic?"
Sounds intriguing,...
Has anyone read The Woman in Black and seen the film? I loved the film maybe even more than the book. It brought the story much closer and the house was fab.
House of Leaves is really good. Gothic? Not sure. It could, I suppose. I would probably place it in the horror genre though. IMO. The Woman in black is in my TBR list. I'll watch the movie after I read the book.
Julie wrote: "House of Leaves is really good. Gothic? Not sure. It could, I suppose. I would probably place it in the horror genre though. IMO. The Woman in black is in my TBR list. I'll watch the movie a..."Woman in Black is a wonderful novela. I haven't seen the film yet, will get it on blu-ray but I enjoyed the book which is a very short read.
An author probably not thought of for Gothic novels is Joyce Carol Oates. In the early '80s she wrote a group of 3: "Mysteries of Winterthurn", "Bellefleur", and "A Bloodmore Romance".My suggestion on the Poe movie is to wait for video, Netflix, etc. It was OK, but Poe has been conscripted into the ranks of the Hollywood action hero, and it's a little difficult to imagine.
Daniel Radcliff would make a really great Poe if they ever do a serious film.
Nancy wrote: "Emily wrote: "Hi everyone as much as I love Rebecca and dracula and all of those I have to say the scarlet letter is one of my favorite books of all times! I think everyone should give it a second ..."The Scarlet Letter is one of the books that we are forced to read in school that I adored. I haven't read it in a couple decades, but I reread it back then (high school/ jr. high) numerous times. I still don't know what constitues something as being "Gothic" as a genre of books anyway, but I'm fairly certain that I wouldn't classify it as such. But I loved it... once I got into the writing style.
Alyne wrote: "Has anyone read The Woman in Black and seen the film? I loved the film maybe even more than the book. It brought the story much closer and the house was fab."Never read the story... I really liked the movie though.
Michelle wrote: "An author probably not thought of for Gothic novels is Joyce Carol Oates. In the early '80s she wrote a group of 3: "Mysteries of Winterthurn", "Bellefleur", and "A Bloodmore Romance".My suggest..."
A Bloodsmoor Romance is a great gothic read, with a very dark, twisted sense of humor. I love how she imitates the Victorian style of writing.
Denise wrote: Karen (and any other Dark Shadows fans), I just saw that a new group has been created for a Q&A with Kathryn Leigh Scott! ..."Thanks again for posting about this--I didn't get to participate as much as I would have liked because of a busy schedule this weekend and dial-up internet. However, I did get to read over some of her responses concerning the special effects--really interesting stuff.
Karen wrote: "Michelle wrote: "An author probably not thought of for Gothic novels is Joyce Carol Oates. In the early '80s she wrote a group of 3: "Mysteries of Winterthurn", "Bellefleur", and "A Bloodmore Roma..."I've heard Joyce Carol Oates mentioned in the Gothic genre before. So, I found a copy of Bellefluer. I didn't really get that one, but I'm still willing to try out the other two you mentioned, if I can find them.
Karen wrote: "Denise wrote: Karen (and any other Dark Shadows fans), I just saw that a new group has been created for a Q&A with Kathryn Leigh Scott! ..."Thanks again for posting about this--I didn't get to p..."
I love Dark Shadows also. I watched it when I was a kid but didn't remember much, so I decided to start at the beginning and watch the whole series. ( It's available on Netflix) Thanks for the info about the Q&A with KLS.
You're welcome, Julie! Today is the last day, but there are plenty of interesting posts to read.I read Bellefleur years ago. I don't remember much about it, but I did like it. Later, I read a book of horror stories by Oates, and thought they were terrible. Kind of too gross for me.
Bram Stoker's Dracula is of course an all time favorite, but anything from Poe to Frankenstein I am a fan of.
ive read many by edgar allen poe and anne rice but not much else but if anyone has annyy recommidations let me know!
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Stephen wrote: "I highly recommend reading Wuthering Heights. We are going to read it for July though, so why don't you just wait until then? :)"Thanks Stephen! And yes i can wait until then ^_^
I saw it and I have to say, as a fan of Poe, it became less about his stories and more about finding the murderer. I was excited to see how they would work in his stories with the murders, but the killer was also leaving Poe and the police clues that lead to him. In the second half of the movie it became soley about catching him, and the Poe references dwindled. On a positive note, Cusack as Poe was great! The depiction of the author was spot on!
I also wanted to ask if anyone has read The Child Thief? It's a dark twist on the Peter Pan story. Excellent!
I saw the Raven and was not too impressed. I felt that they didn't actually incorperate a variety of Poe stories. I feel like an avid Poe reader would not be satisfied but a person who loved thriller or mystery movies might like it (thought the ending wasn't that surprising).
The Gothic Novel Book Club <Hiatus>
Books mentioned in this topic
Der Kinderdieb (other topics)A Bloodsmoor Romance (other topics)
The Dark Shadows Companion (other topics)
Wuthering Heights (other topics)
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Mervyn Peake (other topics)M.R. James (other topics)
J. Sheridan Le Fanu (other topics)
Charles Dickens (other topics)
I did read all of Varney. It was awhile ago but I remember being amazed at how it held my interest. I enjoyed the writing style and cared for the characters. I found touches of humor and felt sympathy for the humans (the main family and the villagers) and for Varney himself.