What are you currently reading?

[val]

Florestan

Sounds interesting.

It is. But I don't know if there are French, German or English translations. I have the Portuguese translation.

[Elgarian]

For pleasure:

Dave - are these genuinely ghost stories, or are they really horror stories? (If they're genuinely spooky and atmospheric, I'd be interested in it; if they're mainly horrible with blood and chopping and stuff, I wouldn't.)

[MN Dave]

Dave - are these genuinely ghost stories, or are they really horror stories? (If they're genuinely spooky and atmospheric, I'd be interested in it; if they're mainly horrible with blood and chopping and stuff, I wouldn't.)

I've just begun, but it looks like they are going for spooky houses, not bloody gore (the stories begin with 19th century works). I'll see if I can come up with a TOC later.

There is in fact a Mammoth Book of Modern Ghost Stories which I haven't checked out yet.

[DavidW]

I also wanted a good ghost story, I ended up with (after consulting the interblarg) The Green Man by Kingsley Amis.  I found it on a list where everything else on the list I had read and enjoyed.

[MN Dave]

I've just begun, but it looks like they are going for spooky houses, not bloody gore (the stories begin with 19th century works). I'll see if I can come up with a TOC later.

There is in fact a Mammoth Book of Modern Ghost Stories which I haven't checked out yet.

http://openlibrary.org/b/OL21037361M/mammoth_book_of_haunted_house_stories

[Elgarian]

http://openlibrary.org/b/OL21037361M/mammoth_book_of_haunted_house_stories

Aha! That's excellent! It contains Bulwer Lytton's 'The Haunted and the Haunters', which surely is a contender for the 'best ghost story ever written' award. That's a good sign.

(Have you always been a fan of Atkinson Grimshaw, or did you choose your current avatar to suit the spooky book you're reading?)

[MN Dave]

Aha! That's excellent! It contains Bulwer Lytton's 'The Haunted and the Haunters', which surely is a contender for the 'best ghost story ever written' award. That's a good sign.

And maybe the first haunted house story? I finished it last night. A little over the top, but good. I'm always surprised at how much gets rehashed later by other authors; how old some of the ideas are...

[MN Dave]

(Have you always been a fan of Atkinson Grimshaw, or did you choose your current avatar to suit the spooky book you're reading?)

I'm a fan of this image. I found it in the GMG image library. No idea who it was. 

[Elgarian]

I'm a fan of this image. I found it in the GMG image library. No idea who it was.  

Ah, I see! Grimshaw specialised in paintings very like this one - autumnal tree-lined roads past an old house, usually with a solitary walker. It was a bit of a formula production line for him, but even so they're hugely effective - I know many tree-lined roads, just like this one.

http://www.illusionsgallery.com/Grimshaw.html

[MN Dave]

Ah, I see! Grimshaw specialised in paintings very like this one - autumnal tree-lined roads past an old house, usually with a solitary walker. It was a bit of a formula production line for him, but even so they're hugely effective - I know many tree-lined roads, just like this one.

http://www.illusionsgallery.com/Grimshaw.html

Thanks for giving me his name. I love his stuff and now use one for my desktop.

[Brian]

Bulwer Lytton

It was a dark and stormy night!! 

[Elgarian]

And maybe the first haunted house story? I finished it last night. A little over the top, but good. I'm always surprised at how much gets rehashed later by other authors; how old some of the ideas are...

I must have first read it maybe forty years ago, but certain images always stayed with me as part of the 'settling into the haunted house before anything actually happens' routine - the copy of Macaulay's essays, for some reason, being one. (If I were ever to spend a night in a haunted house, I'd make sure I had a copy of Macaulay's essays with me.)

[Harpo]

Just started this in the afternoon (there are some advantages to being home from work with a cold!).  I liked Gilead very much.  Robinson is an incredible prose stylist.

I just started this, too. So far, so good. Robinson was a year ahead of me in college, but I didn't know her. I always like to see fellow alumnae make good. 

[secondwind]

I just started this, too. So far, so good. Robinson was a year ahead of me in college, but I didn't know her. I always like to see fellow alumnae make good. 

What college, Harpo?  I'm closing in on the end of the book--maybe a day or two.  Let me know when you've finished it.  I'd be interested in your thoughts about it. 

[Harpo]

What college, Harpo?  I'm closing in on the end of the book--maybe a day or two.  Let me know when you've finished it.  I'd be interested in your thoughts about it. 

Brown in Providence RI, in the 60s.

[Elgarian]

I've dipped but not actually read it yet, bought today for £2 at a book fair. I'm not (at present) particularly interested in Gerald Moore in his own right (though that may change), but rather, in his experiences with other performers such as Sammons, Beecham, Schwartzkopf, Ferrier - and most of all the cellist I love to love, Beatrice Harrison. There's a tale he tells of Beatrice, her sister Margaret, and her mother, taking him to stay with Delius. Apparently Delius's house was extremely cold, and on his first night there Moore took himself off to bed very early. But he wasn't able to sleep because he was so cold:

"I wondered how I was to endure three more nights of it and envied the Harrisons who, I imagined, were in much better case. At least I thought they were at that moment, but I was wrong. The three of them had put up at the local hotel. Accommodation here was limited and the three ladies were shown into one room and they all had to get into one bed. ... When I came down for coffee in the morning, Mrs. Harrison - who had slept in her boots and overcoat because of the dampness of the sheets - was talking to Mrs Delius, and my heart leapt within me when I heard her say, ' ... so, as the result of this surprising telegram we shall all have to leave for Paris this evening.' "

[Bogey]

The chapter on Bach was worth alone the price of the book.

[Novi]

Love the title!

[Daidalos]

This is what I've been reading. Quite a fascinating book, and surprisingly a page turner.

[CD]

Due to the fact that Bertrand Russell's "Problems of Philosophy" is sitting on the floor still open to the same page as a week ago, I've decided to read something I actually feel like reading.