What are you reading now?

[Kaida46 (deb)]

I just discovered this group. Hi! I remember reading Victoria Holt in Jr. High and loving the atmosphere in the books. I have not read a Victoria Holt novel for years but still like the whole atmosphere of the gothics. Reading 'Melmoth the Wanderer' now. It's old and kindof long but still entertaining!

[Leah M]

Hello everyone, how are u all....just posting on what i'd like to read next, Bram Stoker, The lair of the white worm, and The Lady of the Shroud.... has anyone here read them at all??? and if so ,what did you think of them..

They have always been on my to-do-list, just sitting in my bookcase collecting dust.lol.

[Cobwebs-Iced-Across-SpaceTime]

I would love to read "Lair of the White Worm," as I totally loved Stoker's "Dracula," and that title is so Lovecraftian (despite being 40-50 years earlier). I've just finished both The Thirteen: A Novel and The Dwelling, both of which I consider Modern Gothic; and recently read the anthology "The New Cthulhu" which is of course Lovecraftian-but still Gothic to me.:)
Happily anticipating the July reading of "Wuthering Heights" (reread for me).

[Louise]

I've got Lair od the White Worm sitting unread on my bookshelf as well. Really need to get round to reading it. I suspect that I won't be too impressed with it - but we'll see.

Now reading Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch. 3rd in the Rivers of London/Peter Grant series of Urban Fantasy set in London. Had it on pre-order since forever so am pretty happy it's finally out.

[Louise]

You'd probably want to check out Rivers of London/Midnight Riot (US changed the name of the first book and gave the series terrible covers) and Moon Over Soho first. I'd recommend them though - Moon Over Soho isn't up to the standard set by the first book, but even then it's not bad and things seem back on track again now in book 3 (not that I'm very far in yet).

[Kim]

lol! Any time I'm not reading at least 3 books at the same time my eyes start wandering... does that make me a player? I am also trying to read Hunger Games for another book club. Not sure what I think yet...

[Julie]

Me too. I read two or three books at a time too. If I didn't I would never get through my massive TBR list.

[Denise]

I normally don't read more than one book at a time, but I'm having to take a break from A Game of Thrones in order to read a couple of mysteries by Charlotte Armstrong for a discussion on another site (the moderator got confused because she's in the middle of a move and moved the feature up a month earlier). So right now I'm reading The Unsuspected by Charlotte Armstrong.

[Louise]

I've not read the Hunger Games books yet but to be honest everything I've heard about them leads me to believe I'll have the same opinion if I ever do get round to reading them. So no condemnation here.

[Rebecca]

I'm reading A Tale of Two Cities.

[Rebecca]

I read the Hunger Games trilogy and was pleasantly surprised. I really liked it.

[Lee]

Hi Rebecca - I write Gothic fiction and YA and rarely post. I liked the first two books of the Hunger Game trilogy. The author did a great job in world building, an essential element in YA fiction. At the time The Hunger Games was published, editors of YA fiction were pushing romantic triangles so she included one - it didn't bother me though the book could have worked without one. The third book in the trilogy was so dark that I felt that Collins had run out of steam and couldn't do anything other than go darker. I posted about Twilight in the past, read the first book which I felt worked as a fantasy romance and was better written than what I had heard.

Between edits, I'm presently reading a non-YA, The Crimson Petal and the White,a Victorian with some Gothic elements. It's written in second person wich interested me as a writer. I hae several gothics sitting on my Kindle and hopefully will get to them by the end of the summer.

[Paulina]

I read the Hunger Games trilogy and really liked it. There were some minor things that bugged me, more about the writing specifically. The first book was the best of the three I think. The last one, especially the ending, was just way too bleak. I don't want to get into details because a lot of people here haven't finished. So I'll leave it at that.

[Lee]

Paulina wrote: "I read the Hunger Games trilogy and really liked it. There were some minor things that bugged me, more about the writing specifically. The first book was the best of the three I think. The last one..."

Hi Paulina - Like you I had specific issues with the writing in The Hunger Games trilogy, not so much the darkness but aspects of Collins' writing. Agree about not giving away too much from the triology since a lot of posters haven't completed it. I've found a number of authors like Suzanne Collins and Gaiman create fascinating characters in YA fiction and have found some of the writing first rate.

[Paulina]

Exactly! I don't know if anyone else noticed it, but some of her sentences had some syntactical errors and it just made for a jarring read. Her writing isn't amazing, which is okay as the original plot makes up for it.

[Paulina]

Nancy wrote: "Just finished The Prince of Mists & The Strain.
Still reading I am Sparticus."

I read the Prince of Mists about a month ago! I enjoyed it, but it's not Zafon's best. I thought Midnight Palace was the better of his YA novels.

[Laura]

Recently started Rosamund Lupton's Afterwards. So far its intriguing and I'm looking forward to figuring out the mystery.

[Paulina]

What series? Wasn't Prince a stand-alone?

[Paulina]

I see. You got me excited for a second. I was thinking, "OMG a Zafon series I hadn't heard of! Gold mine!!! Woohoo!" Now I'm a little depressed. Gonna break out my copy of Prisoner of Heaven to cure myself.

[Paulina]

Just finished The Secret History and now I'm getting my fantasy fix with The Way of Shadows. Good so far!

[Louise]

Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow. Novel-length poetry about werewolves in modern LA. Only on page 10, and not a big lover of poetry, but enjoying it so far.

[Cathie]

Starting to read Gone Girl! So far, interesting!

[Denise]

I'm reading The Magician's Nephew, by C.S. Lewis. I'm supposed to be reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe for another group, but when I looked in my all-in-one Chronicles of Narnia, I found that it was second, so I want to start from the beginning. I guess The Lion... was written and published first, and this one was last, but C.S. Lewis indicated that they should be read in chronological order of the Narnia story, rather than published order. This one gives the background (and I believe I'm just about to get to the creation of Narnia itself). I've never read these before, and have wanted to for a long time!

[Louise]

Eh, there's a biiiiiig debate over whether chronilogical order or publication order is the best. I'm still not really sure which is best - The Magician's Nephew, while a good book, is really written more as a prequel than the first book of a series, there's all sorts of little assumptions in it that the reader already knows Narnia, as well as some inconsistencies where the author seems to have changed his mind a little about stuff he's said in previous books. But in chronological order you get a better feeling for the epic scale of the series as a whole.

Hope you enjoy anyway - apart from the dreadful last half of The Last Battle they're all pretty good, even though I don't agree with a lot of his ideas and severely dislike some of his portrayals.

[Denise]

Well, I usually feel that if an author has stated the order in which he/she feels they should be read, I'll follow their wishes. Terry Brooks, for example, prefers that his Shannara novels be read in published order rather than chronological order, and since I read the ones I have in that series as they came out, I was fine with that!

[Tricia]

I just finished a book called Gothic!: Ten Original Dark Tales last week. It's a young adult short story collection. I really liked it. A couple of the stories really stood out.

[Denise]

I'm reading The Girl Who Heard Dragons, a collection of short stories by Anne McCaffrey. Only the first story is set in Pern; the rest are a variety of different themes, most are sci-fi.

[Stephen Hegedus]

Denise, did you hear about Anne McCaffrey's passing?

[Denise]

Yes, Stephen, a sad loss. Back when I heard, I reread the first Dragonrider trilogy. This one, though, has been on my shelf for years and I'm finally getting around to it!

[Paulina]

Why come out of the 19th century!?! That's probably my favourite literary period. I want to have coffee with Charles Dickens!!

[Stephen Hegedus]

I'd want to have tea with the Brontes. Though, that's probably not a very good idea. I heard they weren't very friendly.

[Denise]

Ooh, that would be fun, Stephen! Maybe Charlotte could also invite her friend Elizabeth Gaskell - she might be more friendly.

[Stephen Hegedus]

I've heard she's the friendliest of the group! I took a class of 19th century female writers and my professor said that if she could invite one writer to the class it would be Gaskell since she would probably be the nicest! :)

[Denise]

That sounds like a fun class, Stephen! I'm glad that Gaskell was included - the only thing I read by her in college was her biography of Charlotte Bronte. Was the class only about British authors? Who else was included?

[Stephen Hegedus]

Yes, it was a great class. It was called 19th Century British Female Tradition. We read quite afew British novelists from that century - Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell and George Eliot. The first term was ONLY Jane Austen with the exception of the final two weeks which were devoted to Jane Eyre. The winter term was Charlotte's other novels Shirley and Villette, Emily's Wuthering Heights, Gaskell's Mary Barton, Cranford and North and South and George Eliot's Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss and Middlemarch. It was quite a heavy reading list! The professor only gave us one week for some of them too. I think she should have cut some of the novels out. There wasn't a point in reading all of Austen's novels. Especially considering we weren't reading all of anybody else's - except Emily who died without giving us another classic.

[Denise]

Wow, that's great. But no Anne Bronte? The only ones of those novels I haven't read are Mary Barton and Adam Bede (but I've read at least one other novel each by Gaskell and Eliot). I just read Middlemarch earlier this year - that is a very long one! You're right - if she had left a few of Austen's out, she could have squeezed in at least one by Anne Bronte.

[Paulina]

I love that movie! Maybe only because of Brendan Fraser. Definitely adding that to my reading list.

Stephen, did you like Adam Bede? I felt that the beginning was okay and then the rest of the novel was like trudging through mud. And by "mud" I'm referring to both pace and plot.

[Stephen Hegedus]

I actually didn't read Adam Bede. The professor gave us only a week and it was a week very late in the year when I had a lot of other school work. Needless to say, I didn't get the opportunity to read it - nor any other of Eliot's novels.

The professor should have cut 2 of Austen's novels from the class. That would have given more time for Eliot's. She should have also cut one of Charlotte's - probably Shirley. That would have given a lot more room for Eliot too.

I'm not just suggesting cutting Austen because I don't particularly like her. Haha.

[Denise]

Hmmm, the "original Mummy movie" starred Boris Karloff, not Brendan Fraser! Ah, you youngsters!!! :P

I really do like Brendan Fraser, too, though! I have a set with his first two Mummy movies, and the Scorpion King (which he isn't in). But I think my favorite Fraser movie is Blast from the Past.

[Paulina]

Oops! I ignored the "original" part when you mentioned the movie. Haha! I love Blast from the Past! It's hilarious.

And Stephen, skip Adam Bede. But definitely pick up Silas Marner at some point.

[Julie]

I just finished . This old school gothic mystery. It's very short, but it was a really good story.

[Julie]

I am starting

[Denise]

I've been on an Agatha Christie kick this month (her birth month). I've read The Mysterious Affair at Styles, The A.B.C. Mysteries, Murder at Hazelmoor, The Man in the Brown Suit, and am now on 13 at Dinner. I also read the Getaway Guide to Agatha Christie's England, which was a lot of fun.

[Alyne]

Stephen wrote: "Whether it's a Gothic novel or not, post the novel or book you're reading here :) Also, feel free to comment on a book someone else is reading if you like."

I have a blog called Gothic Faery Tales where sometimes I post and illustrate some of the old stories.
have you all read CLARIMONDE? Its a Vampire story by French author Theophile Gautier. Its one of my favorites.
Anyway, Here's a link to that post. I found some really great images to put with it.

http://gothicfaerytales.com/page/7/

I think some of you might like it a lot!

[Stephanie Carr]

Currently reading Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar - never read it before and already enjoying it :) also making a start on Robinson Crusoe.

[Stephen Hegedus]

I really enjoyed Robinson Crusoe when I read it for school a few years back. It was for my 18th century novel class - it's actually one of the first, I believe.

[Denise]

Denise wrote: "I've been on an Agatha Christie kick this month (her birth month). I've read The Mysterious Affair at Styles, The A.B.C. Mysteries, Murder at Hazelmoor, The Man in the Brown Suit, and am now on 13 at Dinner..."

I also went on to read The Mystery of the Blue Train, and Peril at End House. A satisfying month of Christie!

Now I'm going to read some Henry James - The Aspern Papers, and The Turn of the Screw.

[Louise]

Ooooh, I loved Robinson Crusoe. I read it when I was 10 though and haven't picked it up since so my judgement there might be slightly dodgy.

Currently reading Anna Karenina. It's taking forever but I'm actually really enjoying it. Hoping I'll be done in the next few days though, was meant to be finished by the end of this month but my library didn't have it in until about last week.

@Denise: are you in the Victorians group? I have to find myself a copy of The Aspern Papers but am reading that and The Turn of the Screw (which I do have) with them for October.

[Denise]

Yes, Louise, I am reading the Henry James stories for the Victorians group! Glad to hear you'll be joining us! I have a book called Great Short Works of Henry James that I had for college, and it includes both of those stories. I know I've read The Turn of the Screw before, but I don't remember reading The Aspern Papers.

[Louise]

Ah, I have this edition.



Will probably read Owen Wingrave as well and then library it up for The Aspern Papers. If I ever finish Anna Kerenina that is... only 313 pages to go now...