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LifeLynx posted:Love the almost unanimous consensus that House of Leaves is really good, but overcooked. With a good editor it would have been House of Leaf. Or House of Leave? I never figured that one out.
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Feb 23, 2024 20:41
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Pushing my luck here, but I don't really think you need to trim House of Leaves any, and some of the Truant stuff was the most affecting to me. That's not to say that some of it couldn't be done better, but (and this is my personal opinion and preference of course), the way I see it, metafiction is a genre and a category of art where certain aspects (such as length, repetition etc.) are so intrinsic to the work that you'd be left with something that's not the work if you changed it. Whether it would be better or worse doesn't really factor in because it's no longer the work. House of Leaves wouldn't be House of Leaves if you didn't hear the sizzle of pasta water boiling over and covering the entire stovetop, and you better not turn that heat down, that starchy water is the juice. Edit: I'm also immediately realizing I look a lot like I don't think you should be allowed to critique the book, which is not the case, it's more fuckin... epistemological? idk
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Feb 23, 2024 21:10
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I think the Truant layer was necessary, but was also just so much less…interesting than everything else.
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Feb 23, 2024 21:29
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Truant layer yes, but as for the actual contents of it, debatable. It could use a rather drastic slimming down. Anyway, at least a part of House of Leaves is a pretty good book.
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Feb 24, 2024 00:23
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DurianGray posted:Lol yeah the blog sections are almost too successful at capturing that extremely grating mid-aughts style of blogging. It's a pretty good style parody, but that ended up just throwing me out of the story -- it made no sense as a blogging style for a twenty-something in the near future, particularly one doing media criticism. It felt more like Tremblay just wanting to do the riff than sensible character development. I ended up DNF'ing Head Full of Ghosts, because I felt like the character work wasn't adequate for the story Tremblay was trying to tell, especially given how consciously it was a Shirley Jackson homage. I may have said this before in this thread, but I'll say it again: if you want me to remind me of Shirley Jackson in the middle of your novel, you had better be loving sharp.
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Feb 24, 2024 03:27
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Leaves's pretty good but it can't be insanely incredible masterwork. It's worth having a copy or at least worth reading imo. I remember hating truant's insane mom's letters and skipping them. The actual record and the house itself I remember being pretty great and in order for it to work you need the rest of it in some kinda way.
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Feb 24, 2024 03:50
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Bilirubin posted:With a good editor it would have been House of Leaf. Or House of Leave? Leave house
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Feb 24, 2024 08:30
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Bilirubin posted:With a good editor it would have been House of Leaf. Or House of Leave? I left after about 40 pages.
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Feb 24, 2024 10:06
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Bilirubin posted:With a good editor it would have been House of Leaf. Or House of Leave? Leaf, I guess? The book is the house; the leaves are pages, as in 'leafing through a book.' Or so I've always assumed.
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Feb 24, 2024 11:30
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The house has 'leaves' like a table can have leaves that let it extend beyond what appears to be it's original dimensions
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Feb 25, 2024 08:18
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If you like Haunting of Hill House, but thought "this needs more loving and bleeding", I would recommend Richard Matheson's Hell House. The premises are very similar, but the supernatural elements are just way harder and more explicit in every sense of the word. If what you liked about Haunting is the quiet restraint and psychological drama, then probably skip it though.
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Feb 25, 2024 10:05
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House of Leaves I got about 1/3 of the way through. Actually I had a PDF of it and once it got to the parts where you really need a physical copy of the book, I tapped out. Truant was extremely annoying and once I got a physical copy I never want to re-read the first third to get back into it. But it should be said this book came out a while ago, before horror became mainstream and blew up, and before experimenting with new forms of narrative, it really tossed out the rulebook and made some great, innovative strides. One day I will finish it. I am in the middle of The Obsecration by Matthew Bartlett. I really love his lyrical prose, juxtaposed with the grotesque imagery. And the mythology he has created. This is his first "novel" and we'll see if it sticks the landing but so far I am pretty enthralled.
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Feb 25, 2024 16:09
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von Metternich posted:If you like Haunting of Hill House, but thought "this needs more loving and bleeding", I would recommend Richard Matheson's Hell House. The premises are very similar, but the supernatural elements are just way harder and more explicit in every sense of the word. If what you liked about Haunting is the quiet restraint and psychological drama, then probably skip it though. I didn't suggest Hell House because it's so very much not what the OP was asking for. Great book though, and as with several of his other works Matheson adapted it for the screen as The Legend of Hell House. Seriously stacked cast, too - Roddy McDowall, Pamela Franklin, Gayle Hunnicutt and Clive Revill.
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Feb 26, 2024 10:26
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Yeah I couldn't get into The Resurrectionist but I just demolished Gone to See the River Man in a day. Really enjoyed it. Edit: Moving through the sequel at a pretty good pace too and my only real problem with them is I sure wish we had less narrators with less generic first names. Abby and Lori about drove me up a loving wall keeping them straight. UwUnabomber fucked around with this message at 08:24 on Mar 6, 2024 |
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Mar 6, 2024 08:21
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I've been pushing through This Wretched Valley and should finish it this weekend. Can't put my finger on why but it's just not really grabbing me. Feels like all the elements are there but I'm still just kinda meh over it. The author does come up with some creative and evocative similies from time to time but ultimately I'll be glad when I'm done with the book
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Mar 6, 2024 15:56
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StrixNebulosa posted:Joshi is out, Klinger is tentatively in. Thank you. Late to this discussion and I’m only a lurker in this thread but fwiw this is why I got a copy of Klinger. Yeah I’m not getting a lot of out the annotations because of long familiarity with HPL but I wanted a decent hardback collection that I could thumb through while drinking coffee or scotch or something. Well, that and I was passing through Providence and I wanted a souvenir (I didn’t even realize Klinger had signed my copy until I got home). The annotations aren’t super revealing like I said but I do like the photos and illustrations and Moore’s forward. Also its got a pretty dust jacket 
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Mar 6, 2024 19:01
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I’m reading Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe and I’m about 150 pages in and Ligotti really kind of has a thing about sex workers in a lot of these stories, eh? I don’t know if they’re just a sympathetic and easily victimized class of people or if it’s something else but it’s definitely there.
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Mar 8, 2024 22:03
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tuyop posted:I’m reading Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe and I’m about 150 pages in and Ligotti really kind of has a thing about sex workers in a lot of these stories, eh? That goth story was weird as all hell
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Mar 9, 2024 01:21
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Negative Space hosed me up good and proper. Anybody got any recommendations for bleak, existential horror like that and Blindsight?
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Mar 10, 2024 10:37
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I made it a New Years goal to read a bunch more then I have previously and I am sticking to it a lot more than I thought I would. And it's mostly been Horror stuff- Nos4a2 by Joe Hill - Like Father, like Son... Hill does have some semblance of his dad's mind, but he wasn't fully there with this one. Even then, the underlying premise gives me chills still and an enjoyable read despite it's length. Brother by Ania Ahlborn - This was one I was researching strongly before I made the New Years goal and it lived up to the seemingly high expectation. Reb is such a hatable character and it was done with such ease. Roller Coaster of emotions with a brutal (sad) ending The Bird Eater by Ania Ahlborn - I read this one before Brother and Im glad... Ahlborn still had kinks to work out. Still enjoyable, but not on the level of Brother The Troop by Nick Cutter - I finished this one pretty quick. Isolation and body horror is a pretty solid combination Dracula by Bram Stoker - Felt like I had to read this out of obligation. I'm glad I read it, but wasn't a big fan of the style until the last quarter or so Once they go on the actual quest to hunt Dracula after the coffin was shipped back to Transylvania The Ruins by Scott Smith - Not sure how everyone else felt about the movie but I thought it was alright... but the book is much, much better. Penpal - by Dathan Auerbach - I think this got a lot of hype and it was pretty well deserved. The feeling of the walls crumbling down on the narrator during the last chapter still gets to me. Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie - While skimming some of the pages of this thread, there were questions about whats a good "found footage" esque book... this would get my vote. Come with Me by Ronald Malfi - Just finished this one and out of the books Ive read so far, this was my favorite. Such a great, tense story with a wonderful build along the way. I have Intercepts next to go and have a couple more books on hold at the library (libraries are great) TUS fucked around with this message at 00:07 on Mar 11, 2024 |
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Mar 10, 2024 22:17
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TUS posted:I made it a New Years goal to read a bunch more then I have previously and I am sticking to it a lot more than I thought I would. And it's mostly been Horror stuff- This is a good list. I realized in like December that while I love horror movies, I haven’t read very many horror books! Like one or two a year, if that. Do people share short fiction here too?
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Mar 10, 2024 23:57
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tuyop posted:This is a good list. I realized in like December that while I love horror movies, I haven’t read very many horror books! Like one or two a year, if that. Do people share short fiction here too? Yeah! I was talking about one of Lovecraft's short stories in here earlier and no one shooed me out. What've you read lately?
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Mar 11, 2024 00:33
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Stephen King's short story collections have some real bangers.
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Mar 11, 2024 00:42
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I mostly read short story collections but I have trouble recommending specific books because I’ve constantly got 2-3 checked out on the kindle store at once and jump between them randomly. This makes it basically impossible to remember which I liked more than others. I shouldn’t keep doing this but then I scroll Amazon and check out two more collections that sound interesting
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Mar 11, 2024 00:50
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Just checked and I currently have checked out Atomic horrors by Tim Curran Found: an anthology of found footage horror stories Dont look: 30 tales of terror Suburban monsters by christopher hawkins The bone mother by david demchuck Counting bodies like sheep The throne of bones by brian mcnaughton I have a problem
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Mar 11, 2024 01:02
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This story, Meat by Evelyna Ekoko-Kay in Trad magazine really spoke to me. It’s about a plague that turns people into a sort of vampire. I don’t know how to content warning (or if it’s necessary) but I’ll try. CW: pets there is animal suffering and death, violence the vampires are violent, there is blood and gore, food meat, raw meat, and eating meat is described graphically, disease covid-19 is mentioned in this story and public health and pandemic mitigation measures feature heavily in relation to the vampire plague.
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Mar 11, 2024 03:56
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Just finished North American Lake Monsters and I'm struck by in how every single story the real monster or ghost is male failure, inadequacy, and neglect: - The absence of the waitress's abusive husband is filled by Alex, a sort of parasite who exists by co-opting the identities of other men. He didn't make the skins he wears, he just chanced upon them. - The construction worker is haunted by his failure to defend his colleagues from the werewolves, and, later, to avenge them. - The doctor's hesitance and sentiment towards the dog, contrasted with the gruff pragmatism of his colleagues, nearly wipes the whole expedition, and is karmically punished by a shoggoth infecting his charge. - The aspirant neo-Nazi is groomed into nearly committing a hate crime by bigger Nazis with bigger dicks. - The father in the angel story is haunted by his own negligence, becomes impotent, and is cuckolded by a guy who beats the poo poo out of him. - The absence of the kid's abusive father is filled by the vampire. - The abusive ex-con infected by the lake monster is cuckolded, and haunted by his disconnection with his daughter. - The homeless father is literally haunted by his disconnection from his daughter. - The Good Husband fails to react to save his wife, fails to accept her zombification, fails to protect his daughter from it all. They're all good stories but taken one after another they really did feel like the author working through some poo poo.
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Mar 12, 2024 01:38
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Yeah both that and Wounds are both incredible bummers that you can tell are written from places of pain. But they're so good!
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Mar 12, 2024 01:58
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Wounds at least varies the themes a little bit (although the eponymous story is definitely still along those lines). I loved both but if that isn't resonating with you it's definitely going to stand out
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Mar 12, 2024 02:00
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I disliked NALM for the plot summary reasons listed (after hearing so much acclaim), sad men ruining their own lives isn't all that scary, but maybe that's because I can get that at home Much later on I read Wounds and loved it, and was very surprised I was to find it was the same author. Here's hoping he worked out whatever NALM was borne from
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Mar 12, 2024 04:24
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Wachter posted:Just finished North American Lake Monsters and I'm struck by in how every single story the real monster or ghost is male failure, inadequacy, and neglect: This makes me want to re-read it.  drat, I loved this book
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Mar 12, 2024 05:06
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I'm 100% reading Wounds soon. I'll take well-written horror that retreads similar themes over garbage every time. I want to read some Laird Barron too. I've only read one short story in that Jeff Vandermeer Weird anthology. Is there a good place to start? Imago Sequence?
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Mar 12, 2024 09:56
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Wachter posted:I'm 100% reading Wounds soon. I'll take well-written horror that retreads similar themes over garbage every time. Yeah, that’s a good one. Procession of the Black Sloth is one of my favorite short stories ever written.
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Mar 12, 2024 17:25
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C2C - 2.0 posted:Yeah, that’s a good one. Procession of the Black Sloth is one of my favorite short stories ever written. hah I was just going to say this one is super divisive--I remember it coming up a couple of times in this thread or the Cosmic Horror thread, and a few people absolutely hated it. I wasn't crazy about it but it's been a few years and I kinda want to re-read it. Occultation is also a good option for Barron. His other collections are fine but not as generally strong as those two, IMO. Also anybody looking for horror short story collections owe it to themselves to read some Brian Evenson, Robert Aickman, and Shirley Jackson. They all have at least a couple of really good collections but Windeye for Evenson, Dark Entries for Aickman, and The Lottery and Other Stories for Jackson are all very solid options. The Jackson collection is absolutely worth reading IMO even if you've read The Lottery a billion times, and that story is worth reading even if you know the plot--Jackson's prose is so good it's still a pretty chilling read.
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Mar 12, 2024 18:28
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Wachter posted:Just finished North American Lake Monsters and I'm struck by in how every single story the real monster or ghost is male failure, inadequacy, and neglect: I agree with this analysis for the most part. I think The Way Station is the best of the lot but I read it as the man is haunted by the city itself. kind of a horrific "you can never go home" story. But toxic masculinity is the subject of the book.
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Mar 12, 2024 19:25
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Giragast posted:I disliked NALM for the plot summary reasons listed (after hearing so much acclaim), sad men ruining their own lives isn't all that scary, but maybe that's because I can get that at home Haven't read Wounds but reading NALM felt like horror bojack horseman where it tried to be both horror and serious drama and ended up being bad at both. Like at least when Hereditary does the It's About Trauma thing it also remembers to actually be scary.
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Mar 12, 2024 20:35
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C2C - 2.0 posted:Yeah, that’s a good one. Procession of the Black Sloth is one of my favorite short stories ever written. Laird Barron is great because he does Lovecraftian cosmic horror alongside historical/covert ops stuff. Some of his stories are frankly terrible/meandering but they are run through with this gripping cosmology that works. I like that short story quoted above because it absolutely reminds me of the fever dreams I had with jetlag on business trips and some of the hallucinations I got up to with too much travel/caffeine/alcohol. I think he can be summed up by a quote I'm paraphrasing about "Nobody told me the CIA was so full of satanists" which is a great summation of some of the themes he works into his short-stories. https://lairdbarronmappingproject.com/ this was pretty good for keeping different stories together since it all vaguely weaves together. ( I went on a bender and read all his work on a bad insomnia flare a few months ago) I still think his short stories are the best but the Croning is good as a chaser once you get to know the universe more.
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Mar 12, 2024 20:47
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oh god oh gently caress posted:Haven't read Wounds but reading NALM felt like horror bojack horseman where it tried to be both horror and serious drama and ended up being bad at both. Like at least when Hereditary does the It's About Trauma thing it also remembers to actually be scary. Agreed, I mentioned a while back how much NALM didn't hit for me at all but Wounds was an absolute banger. Laird Barron feels like the JD Salinger of horror. Take that as you will.
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Mar 13, 2024 00:31
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Ravus Ursus posted:
He should have written one good book that everyone took the wrong things from, then put all his other manuscripts in a locked vault and not let anyone read them ever?
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Mar 13, 2024 10:16
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I would really like something in the vein of Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury and Hell House by Richard Matheson. Not that the two are overly similar, but both are favorites of mine and I have a hard time finding something that hits those highs. Lovely prose, macabre ideas, inventive imagery, serious tone but still fun. The last horror book that really knocked my socks off was Blatty's The Exorcist. Any suggestions for me, friends? I've read Shirley Jackson and Stephen King.
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Mar 14, 2024 14:34
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