Wednesday, September 06, 2006

read! little fishies and be afraid of the dark

jennsee, jennsee!

just because i wait to the last minute does not mean i cannot play. carl v. has started something wonderful! i hereby inform you that i am taking on the Readers Imbibing Peril (R.I.P.) Autumn Challenge. click on the image below for full details and see the outpouring of response (oh and check out how cool carl v.'s prizes are - i reeeeelly want one) - it may even inspire you, but beware, there are many things that go bump in the night and few are pleasant:



mysfit's list of misty horrors:
1. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells (current reading - creepy: i woke the other night thinking someone i couldn't see was in my room)
2. Johnny the Homicidal Maniac: Director's Cut by Jhonen Vasquez (not sure if graphic novels count but i always read this around this time of year - gory goodness of doom!)
3. Annotated H.P. Lovecraft, by H.P. Lovecraft - (this is a tough choice. i have many H.P. Lovecraft books, but the guy, S.T. Joshi, that does the annotation is so enthralled by Lovecraft and so despises all those who tried to imitate him or who took up the Cthulhu Mythos as untalented hacks that this book is not only creepy but totally amusing).
4. The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas - (current reading; for some reason this is a hole in my literary experience and it must be remedied - horrifying? doubtful - dark, thrilling tale of revenge? certainly - dripping with je ne sais quoi? absolutely!)
5. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, by Edgar Allen Poe (another hole that must be filled)
6. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson (one of my all-time favorites, i have a beautiful and austere hardcover of this)

i added the sixth just in case the graphic novel doesn't count as literature and besides, i haven't curled up with the infamous Mr. Hyde in a while. thanks carl v., i will certainly enjoy my autumn much better with this list in mind. (oh and i left A Scanner Darkly off because i'm not sure it falls in the category as i've never read it - but it is on my current list of reading as is Man in the High Castle - and after looking at some of the other lists here, i may have to add The Homecoming by Ray Bradbury and illustrated by Dave McKean - yay!) ok enough!!

love,
mysfit

7 little fish:

Blogger mysfit swam up to say...

p.s. carl if any of these do not count, i can add others - i plan to read my little haert out this Sept- Oct. esp. since school is out mid-Sept and i get a few weeks off ;)

1:32 PM  
Blogger Carl V. Anderson swam up to say...

Oh, they all count. I had told someone else that graphic novels do indeed count.

I have that Poe novel (his only novel) but haven't read it yet.

Very good choices all the way around.

So glad you are in the mix!

2:20 PM  
Blogger oldben swam up to say...

i'm so in on this, too. i'll post my list as soon as my library makes it out of the boxes it is currently residing in.

2:41 PM  
Blogger mysfit swam up to say...

hurry oldben, the deadline is tonight (5p.m. i think) ("who knows what evil lurks in oldben's boxes?") teehehe

thank carl v. now all i have to do is tear myself away from the computer... :)

3:10 PM  
Blogger anne swam up to say...

What I really like about this is I'm stealing reading ideas left, right and center. Brilliant.

2:30 AM  
Blogger JP swam up to say...

That's a good list. I have quite a lot else to read before October, but if I could take part I'd go for:

1. Ghost Stories of an antiquary: MR James. The Victorian ghost story in its finest, most quintessential form.

2. The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath: HP Lovecraft. HPL's most relenlessly phantasmagoric and Dunsany-ish story. Kind of a novella, really.

3. High Spirits: Robertson Davies. A collection of ghost stories in the Victorian tradition. Witty and imaginative rather than scary, but they are about ghosts!

4. Vampire Loves: Joann Sfar. It's a bout vampires and werewolves and golems and whatnot - and it's a graphic novel. I've just discovered Sfar and really love his art and storytelling.

5. Frankenstein Unbound by Brian Aldiss. Not sure if this qualifies - the original Frankenstein novel was as much gothic romance as proto-sf, and this is one book I may actually read this month as I've been meaning to read Aldiss' homage for a long time- his similar nod to Stoker, Dracula Unbound was really good.

6:05 AM  
Blogger mysfit swam up to say...

ooo jp - good list - you should totally play!

and anne - like someday i will steal your beautiful foot - red sandal and all ;)

6:18 PM  

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