I borrowed from the library The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories. Well, yes, because it is this time of the year, autumn I always thought was the perfect season for reading horror stories, even like when it is warm like today. And of course it puts you in a good mood for Halloween.
I am a big fan of those kinds of anthologies of horror stories. I think short stories are often much more efficient than novels to give the reader the feeling of terror. It is simply difficult to maintain suspense and fear after the first shock and many horror novels, even the greatest ones, lack power after a few pages. Ghost stories are quick, sharp, they go straight to the darkest corners of the mind and never leave it. The downside to those anthologies is that they often all have the same texts: Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad by M.R. James is on this one too, for instance. If I had bought the book, I would have the story for the third time! But on the plus side, anthologies make you discover forgotten authors and lovely little gems from the past. So I will read this one eagerly.
Thursday 9 September 2010
More ghost stories
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