November - Short Stories and Poetry, Edgar Allan Poe

I thought I'd start a thread for our November theme: short stories and poetry, with a focus on Edgar Allan Poe.

I listened to an audiobook version of Ghost Stories of an Antiquary by M. R. James, a collection of 8 stories from 1904. I really enjoyed these, as the author mixed the macabre with a little bit of humour in places. There were several haunted-house stories, which I especially like.

Thanks for starting this. I am reading the Valancourt Book of Horror Stories: Volume Two and so far it is a nice little collection of good stories. I got this in my Nocturnal Readers Box.

I'm not sure if it's really horror or not. It may be tagged that way simply due to the author? But, I'm planning to read The Sleeper and the Spindle by Gaiman.

The Sleeper and the Spindle / Neil Gaiman
3.5 stars

There is an entire kingdom asleep next to one where the dark-haired queen (no names are used) will soon be getting married. She feels she and her dwarfs must go save the princess in the sleeping kingdom before her own wedding.

Beautiful illustrations, but very detailed and mostly pencil, so hard to see on my e-reader. I reread it on my PC where the illustrations were larger and easier to see; also couldn’t see on my e-reader, but there were bits of gold in the illustrations, as well. I think, because it’s a short story, I felt like I could read through fairly quickly, but there is some complexity to this one, so I reread the end of it (while on my PC) to get a better idea of what actually happened and the twist at the end. I would recommend reading this one in print, or at least on a larger screen with colour. Quite good, though, and I liked the twist!

>5 LibraryCin: Thanks for the heads-up about getting this in print.

I started reading Strange Weather by Joe Hill, which is a collection of 4 novellas. Each is much longer than a short story but I figure the book can still fit this month's theme.

The first story features a creature who steals memories and there are parallels to Alzheimer's Disease. The second story "Loaded" looks at gun violence. It is an incredibly good story and very scary. I hope the last two stories are just as good.

>6 mathgirl40: I'm planning to read that for next year's Stephen King and Fam month, if I can wait that long. I've heard only good things.

>7 sturlington: I'm looking forward to King and Fam month myself. There are so many options, including King's new collaboration with his other son Owen.

>8 mathgirl40: That's another one on the possibility pile!

>8 mathgirl40: Well, I got Strange Weather for my birthday yesterday, as well as Valancourt Book of Horror Stories Volume 1 (I read Volume 2 for this month's challenge), so those are both now on the to read pile and we'll just see how long I wait until I read them.

>10 sturlington: Happy belated birthday! It's always nice to get books as gifts. :)

>10 sturlington: Ah, we share a birthday! :-) Happy belated!

>11 mathgirl40: Thanks!

>12 LibraryCin: Happy belated to you as well!

>12 LibraryCin: Thank you!

>12 LibraryCin: Birthday greetings to you too!

>15 mathgirl40: Thank you!