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Recommend a good Gothic Horror Novel - 10/11/2008 5:19:54 PM

demoncleaner

Posts: 2160
Joined: 3/10/2005
From: Belfast

Doesn�t really have to be horror or particularly gothic. Just atmospheric with a leaning toward the macabre.

I�ve just finished Anne Rivers Siddons The House Next Door, which was very creepy�up unto a point. I�m hankering toward Shirley Jackson�s The Haunting of Hill House or The Turning of the Screw but don�t really want to since I�ve seen movie versions of both. The same goes for Rebecca but that�s exactly the type of thing I�m after. Something like Wilkie Collins� The Woman in White or An Instance of the Fingerpost. Something for the cold dark Winter nights.

Any suggestions?

Oh, and to paraphrase a certain bus driver I would rather not read something told from the Vampire's point of view.

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RE: Recommend a good Gothic Horror Novel - 10/11/2008 6:11:35 PM

Amelie_Scotland

Posts: 17468
Joined: 13/10/2005
From: Take a guess.

The Turn of the Screw is excellent, I recommend it completely. I am writing an essay on it so I'm bound to be a bit biased.
I would say, as a fan of the genre, that these books are necessary reading:

Dracula - Bram Stoker
Carmilla - Jospeh Sheridan Le Fanu
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner - James Hogg
Gormenghast - Mervyn Peake

Some are a bit hard going but worth it. Hope I was of help.

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RE: Recommend a good Gothic Horror Novel - 10/11/2008 6:44:42 PM

Invader_Ace

Posts: 1523
Joined: 31/7/2008

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Call-Cthulhu-Stories-Penguin-Classics/dp/0141187069/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226342593&sr=1-1

Not a Novel, but definatley a creeper. Colour Out of Space is AMAZING.

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Post #: 3

RE: Recommend a good Gothic Horror Novel - 10/11/2008 7:51:24 PM

demoncleaner

Posts: 2160
Joined: 3/10/2005
From: Belfast

quote:

ORIGINAL: Invader_Ace

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Call-Cthulhu-Stories-Penguin-Classics/dp/0141187069/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226342593&sr=1-1

Not a Novel, but definatley a creeper. Colour Out of Space is AMAZING.

. This is something of a coincidence. I nipped out of work and actually bought that without having seen the replies to this post. *Spooky!* Read Dagon on the bus home and am loving the baroque almost antiquated use of language, reminds me of Manly Wade Wellman, a personal favourite.

Thanks for the suggestions Amelie. I haven't actually read the archetypes like Dracula, Frankenstein and Hyde which is a shame but I'm too inured with growing up watching good and bad knock-offs of the original texts. I've read the Gormenghast books and I'm a big fan. I'll check the others out when I get a chance. I'm looking for that word-of-mouth clincher so all suggestions will be followed up believe me

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RE: Recommend a good Gothic Horror Novel - 10/11/2008 10:03:49 PM

Amelie_Scotland

Posts: 17468
Joined: 13/10/2005
From: Take a guess.

Gormenghast is an amazing gothic series, it took me a long time to get through the series though (I kept looking up so many words in the dictionary) but it was worth it.
I also recommend The Woman In Black by Susan Hill. It's the closest I've come to being scared by a book. The TV version is terrifying too (I think it's on YouTube.)

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RE: Recommend a good Gothic Horror Novel - 10/11/2008 11:28:36 PM

Olaf

Posts: 23363
Joined: 26/2/2007
From: 41�N 93�W

I also recommend The Turning Of The Screw, great book. But...wot, no Twilight?

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RE: Recommend a good Gothic Horror Novel - 11/11/2008 9:32:52 AM

MOTH

Posts: 3171
Joined: 3/10/2005
From: Sittin' on the dock of the bay

Another vote for the creepy and quite disturbing The Turning of the Screw - a quick read, but lasts long in the memory
As with posters above, I'd second
The Woman in Black, Frankenstein, Dracula and Jekyll & Hyde - all excellent and easily read

and give a shout out for
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Phantom of the Opera
The Hunckback of Notre Dame
Most of Edgar Allan Poe's stuff

Most of these are available in Penguin's Classics range, which you can pick up for about �1.50 or �2 each in good bookshops

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RE: Recommend a good Gothic Horror Novel - 17/11/2008 3:52:05 PM

demoncleaner

Posts: 2160
Joined: 3/10/2005
From: Belfast

quote:

ORIGINAL: Invader_Ace

Colour Out of Space is AMAZING.

Agreed! Read it yesterday. The descriptions and atmosphere are startlingly vivid. Lovecraft hasn't creeped me out just yet but his writing is impeccable. I'll definitely be acquiring more of his stuff after I finish this.

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Post #: 8

RE: Recommend a good Gothic Horror Novel - 18/11/2008 2:03:15 AM

Sumintelligentguy

Posts: 3606
Joined: 31/8/2006

quote:

ORIGINAL: Amelie_Scotland

The Turn of the Screw is excellent, I recommend it completely. I am writing an essay on it so I'm bound to be a bit biased.
I would say, as a fan of the genre, that these books are necessary reading:

Dracula - Bram Stoker
Carmilla - Jospeh Sheridan Le Fanu
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner - James Hogg
Gormenghast - Mervyn Peake

Some are a bit hard going but worth it. Hope I was of help.

that's weird i just wrote an essay on The Turn of the Screw too...
it's a good novella, hard to get into initally, but stick with it. So, so ambiguous - really challanges the reader, makes you become more active.

I've just read Jane Eyre. That has a lot of Gothic elements to it. But it's not an out and out gothich novel. But worth reading, even if i thought the ending was abit shit.

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Post #: 9

RE: Recommend a good Gothic Horror Novel - 18/11/2008 7:15:25 AM

Squidward Hark Bugle

Posts: 9386
Joined: 17/10/2007
From: Laurel Canyon

quote:

ORIGINAL: MOTH

Another vote for the creepy and quite disturbing The Turning of the Screw - a quick read, but lasts long in the memory
As with posters above, I'd second
The Woman in Black, Frankenstein, Dracula and Jekyll & Hyde - all excellent and easily read

and give a shout out for
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Phantom of the Opera
The Hunckback of Notre Dame
Most of Edgar Allan Poe's stuff

Most of these are available in Penguin's Classics range, which you can pick up for about �1.50 or �2 each in good bookshops

A major selling point in my opinion. My two favourite books are The Catcher In The Rye and Animal Farm, after all.

I'm going to track down Turn(ing) Of The Screw because it sounds fascinating.

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Post #: 10

RE: Recommend a good Gothic Horror Novel - 18/11/2008 7:58:56 AM

rupert303

Posts: 1737
Joined: 31/7/2008
From: A Big Geek Pie

quote:

ORIGINAL: Squidward Hark Bugle

quote:

ORIGINAL: MOTH

Another vote for the creepy and quite disturbing The Turning of the Screw - a quick read, but lasts long in the memory
As with posters above, I'd second
The Woman in Black, Frankenstein, Dracula and Jekyll & Hyde� - all excellent and easily read

and give a shout out for
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Phantom of the Opera
The Hunckback of Notre Dame
Most of Edgar Allan Poe's stuff

Most of these are available in Penguin's Classics range, which you can pick up for about �1.50 or �2 each�in good bookshops

A major selling point in my opinion. My two favourite books are The Catcher In The Rye and Animal Farm, after all.

I'm going to track down Turn(ing) Of The Screw because it sounds fascinating.

Try and Find 'In the Miso Soup' by Ryu Murakami, Squidward - and anyone one else on the forum - it's a pretty leftfield novel and only 150 pages long.

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Post #: 11

RE: Recommend a good Gothic Horror Novel - 20/11/2008 2:02:58 AM

ilovebeerme

Posts: 4531
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: Magic Beans

It's worth checking out some of China Mieville's stuff. It's not exactly horror/gothic but it is often quite chilling, weird and wonderful.

A short story called The Ballroom in his Looking For Jake compilation had the hair on the back of my neck standing up last night. Really creepy stuff.

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Post #: 12

RE: Recommend a good Gothic Horror Novel - 20/11/2008 9:11:19 AM

demoncleaner

Posts: 2160
Joined: 3/10/2005
From: Belfast

quote:

ORIGINAL: ilovebeerme

It's worth checking out some of China Mieville's stuff. It's not exactly horror/gothic but it is often quite chilling, weird and wonderful.

A short story called The Ballroom in his Looking For Jake compilation had the hair on the back of my neck standing up last night. Really creepy stuff.

Ballroom? Not in these trousers! (Sorry, have to do that joke each time I see it). Sounds intriguing ILBM, I'll check it out.

I'm off all next week and am going to do nothing but catch up on my reading, and my books are lining up like landing aircraft. As well as finishing off Lovecraft's Call of Cthulu (a story a day with two more to go) I'm half way through Sheri S. Tepper's Grass which although science fiction, is pure class. It literally gets better with each page. I have ordered The Turn of the Screw (apologies for propagating that titling error) and Susan Hill's The Woman in Black.

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RE: Recommend a good Gothic Horror Novel - 20/11/2008 9:45:21 AM

ilovebeerme

Posts: 4531
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: Magic Beans

Mieville calls his stuff 'New Weird' and it's influenced by Lovecraft and that bunch but with a bit more sci-fi, but sci-fi more in the steampunk vein. It's really enjoyable stuff. He's not a huge fan of Tolkien because he says he's stifled creativity in fantasy and sci-fi for years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scar - the Scar was really good

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RE: Recommend a good Gothic Horror Novel - 20/11/2008 1:12:05 PM

Lazy wolf eyes

Posts: 4086
Joined: 9/9/2006
From: Royston Vasey

All the novels I was going to recommend have been taken.

Turn of the Screw is well worth a read. It deserves all the praise it gets. I'd also recommend watching the adaptation The Innocents.

Carmilla is a great novel to read if you're looking for something short. If you buy La Fanu's collection In a Glass Darkly, you'll find Carmilla (which inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula) and several other excellent creepy short stories. Carmilla also boasts the very first SPOILER Lesbian vampire END SPOILER.

I'd really recommend Richard Marsh's The Beetle. Genuinely creepy stuff, it outsold Dracula when it was published and with good reason. It's an excellent read! It's pretty erotic too.

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Post #: 15

RE: Recommend a good Gothic Horror Novel - 20/11/2008 3:01:35 PM

LastMemories

Posts: 154
Joined: 22/9/2006
From: Neverwhere

Part of my University course this year is actually Gothic based, so I guess it's my turn to have a say

.

The novels we've studied / are studying include:
The Monk by Matthew Lewis - Which I would highly recommend.
The Italian by Ann Radcliffe - Heavily inspired by Lewis, however incredibly detailed in describing 'the sublime'.
The Lifted Veil by George Eliot - A short story, possibly one to miss.
Armadale by Wilkie Collins - Not yet read.
In a Glass Darkly by Sheridan Le Fanu - Not yet read, although it seems people have already suggested this.
Dracula by Bram Stoke - An obvious choice.
Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter - Not yet read.

Poems:
Christabel by Samuel Taylor Coleridge*
The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe - Also previosuly mentioned along with his other works.

Interesting factoid - Coleridge actually criticised Lewis's The Monk for writing to a set style (what is essentially the Gothic) only then to write Christabel which also includes many of said attributes!
_

On a side note addressed to Lazy wolf eyes:
Would I be correct in assuming your subtitle (STEPHEN!) is Adam and Joe related.

If so: COMING!
If not I've probably just weirded you out, for which I apologise sincerely

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Post #: 16

RE: Recommend a good Gothic Horror Novel - 20/11/2008 3:37:03 PM

Woger

Posts: 3735
Joined: 30/9/2005

I'm reading Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist. It's a vampirw story set in 1980's Sweden. Well worth getting. The film is doing the rounds in independent cinemas now I think and the remake is out next year. Twilight it aint.

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Post #: 17

RE: Recommend a good Gothic Horror Novel - 20/11/2008 3:55:52 PM

Lazy wolf eyes

Posts: 4086
Joined: 9/9/2006
From: Royston Vasey

quote:

ORIGINAL: LastMemories

Part of my University course this year is actually Gothic based, so I guess it's my turn to have a say .

The novels we've studied / are studying include:
The Monk by Matthew Lewis - Which I would highly recommend.
The Italian by Ann Radcliffe - Heavily inspired by Lewis, however incredibly detailed in describing 'the sublime'.
The Lifted Veil by George Eliot - A short story, possibly one to miss.
Armadale by Wilkie Collins - Not yet read.
In a Glass Darkly by Sheridan Le Fanu - Not yet read, although it seems people have already suggested this.
Dracula by Bram Stoke - An obvious choice.
Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter - Not yet read.

Poems:
Christabel by Samuel Taylor Coleridge*
The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe - Also previosuly mentioned along with his other works.

Interesting factoid - Coleridge actually criticised Lewis's The Monk for writing to a set style (what is essentially the Gothic) only then to write Christabel which also includes many of said attributes!
_

On a side note addressed to Lazy wolf eyes:
Would I be correct in assuming your subtitle (STEPHEN!) is Adam and Joe related.

If so: COMING!
If not I've probably just weirded you out, for which I apologise sincerely .

It certainly is!!

I take it you're doing an English Lit degree? I finished mine this year. I also read The Monk (which I thought was extremely gory, didn't expect that!)

I read a couple of other works of Ann Radcliffe but not The Italian. Is it worth reading?

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Post #: 18

RE: Recommend a good Gothic Horror Novel - 20/11/2008 4:16:53 PM

LastMemories

Posts: 154
Joined: 22/9/2006
From: Neverwhere

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lazy wolf eyes

quote:

ORIGINAL: LastMemories

Part of my University course this year is actually Gothic based, so I guess it's my turn to have a say .

The novels we've studied / are studying include:
The Monk by Matthew Lewis - Which I would highly recommend.
The Italian by Ann Radcliffe - Heavily inspired by Lewis, however incredibly detailed in describing 'the sublime'.
The Lifted Veil by George Eliot - A short story, possibly one to miss.
Armadale by Wilkie Collins - Not yet read.
In a Glass Darkly by Sheridan Le Fanu - Not yet read, although it seems people have already suggested this.
Dracula by Bram Stoke - An obvious choice.
Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter - Not yet read.

Poems:
Christabel by Samuel Taylor Coleridge*
The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe - Also previosuly mentioned along with his other works.

Interesting factoid - Coleridge actually criticised Lewis's The Monk for writing to a set style (what is essentially the Gothic) only then to write Christabel which also includes many of said attributes!
_

On a side note addressed to Lazy wolf eyes:
Would I be correct in assuming your subtitle (STEPHEN!) is Adam and Joe related.

If so: COMING!
If not I've probably just weirded you out, for which I apologise sincerely .

It certainly is!!

I take it you're doing an English Lit degree? I finished mine this year. I also read The Monk (which I thought was extremely gory, didn't expect that!)

I read a couple of other works of Ann Radcliffe but not The Italian. Is it worth reading?

Thank goodness!

Yes, I'm doing English Lit. as well - currently in my second year.

I heard Radcliffe's work is vaguely similar so I would expect much of the same from what you've already read. Personally I didn't particularly enjoy it - although it may be worth a read if you've enjoyed her previous works. The story itself is pretty interesting, but unfortunately it gets 'bogged down' by the high levels of description. Usually this isn't a problem for me but the lengthy paragraphs describing numerous mountain passes are some what off putting.

The choice of course, is entirely yours - my attempts to remain neutral seem to have failed spectacularly

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Post #: 19

RE: Recommend a good Gothic Horror Novel - 20/11/2008 4:49:53 PM

Lazy wolf eyes

Posts: 4086
Joined: 9/9/2006
From: Royston Vasey

Oh right. Well one of her stories was relatively short (the name escapes me) but the other was huuuuuuuge and a lot of that was down to description. I'm not sure I can be bothered to read another lengthy one!

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Post #: 20

RE: Recommend a good Gothic Horror Novel - 5/12/2008 4:54:21 PM

demoncleaner

Posts: 2160
Joined: 3/10/2005
From: Belfast

***SPOILERS FOR TURN OF THE SCREW***

Well, I got round to reading this last week and I thought it was very good, but what I found more interesting than the story itself were the accompanying essays about the story. This whole argument among the Freudians and those who think the story�s narrative should be taking literally. Normally when people talk about Freudian subtext it�s kind of wanky but I think there�s an actual case for legitimacy with it here. The first time the narrator sees the male ghost he�s in a tower (cock!) and the female ghost is first seen beside a lake (well, it�s almost pornographic, innit!!!) The editor of the volume points out that Henry James� sister was a spiritualist � which backs up the literalists. But his brother was also a psychologist and James would have been well versed in the semiotics of Freud�s world. The judgment the editor makes is that Turn is an intentioned mix between the two and that is why James is a master.

I actually quite liked the narrator until the argument was presented that she is a cold repressed bitch who represents the suppression of freedom and worse still�knowledge. Whereas the dead are a right bag of laughs (well, not quite, but they do offer progression in the face of the kiddies very retrograde education).

Quite interesting!

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RE: Recommend a good Gothic Horror Novel - 5/12/2008 6:09:03 PM

Amelie_Scotland

Posts: 17468
Joined: 13/10/2005
From: Take a guess.

There are so many different interpretations of TotS that you can't just pick one definite explanation. I like to think that it was written deliberately to confuse the reader. It's a very ambiguous text. It was wonderfully easy to write an essay on.

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Post #: 22

RE: Recommend a good Gothic Horror Novel - 5/12/2008 11:48:38 PM

kathryn2

Posts: 1479
Joined: 24/4/2006

I read Ann Radcliffe's The Italian when I did my English lit degree, but unfortunately the only thing I remember about it now is the servant calling his master 'maestro' all the time, because she mistakenly believed that that it was Italian for 'master'. That and the fact she was the female Monk, and her work was very controversial.

I also read The Turn of The Screw - possibly for the same course as The Yellow Wallpaper, since the one makes me think of the other. The Yellow Wallpaper is well worth a read, by the way - it's not gothic, but it is about a woman losing her mind and has a certain element of creepiness about it!

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Post #: 23