Don't you just love this party? Everything's so fancy, and there's some kind of hot cheese over there.

Kaylee ,'Shindig'


Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.

There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."


Hayden - Oct 01, 2008 10:08:28 am PDT #7622 of 28404
aka "The artist formerly known as Corwood Industries."

I thought about mentioning that about Hayden Carruth. We share initials, a name, and an interest in poetry, so friends used to give me books of his when I was younger. The NYT obit mentions that James Dickey thought he would scatter his little gems among some fairly stiff poetry, which is my take, too (and Dickey knows a few things about the emotional suckerpunch). When Carruth was pedestrian, he was pretty dull, but when he was good, he had that rare ability to knock you out of phase with reality with only a couple of words, the poetic satori.


DavidS - Oct 01, 2008 10:56:18 am PDT #7623 of 28404
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

Did y'all know there was an official Gormenghast website? Which features Peake's handwritten/drawn pages of the manuscript?

Cool.


DavidS - Oct 01, 2008 11:17:36 am PDT #7624 of 28404
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

Good lord! Peake's illustrations for Bleak House are awesomely gothy.

Lady Dedlok

Mr. Grindley

Miss Smallweed.

From the Rime of the Ancient Mariner: Life in Death


Tom Scola - Oct 01, 2008 11:25:47 am PDT #7625 of 28404
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.

Nobel literature head: US too insular to compete

"The U.S. is too isolated, too insular. They don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature," Engdahl said. "That ignorance is restraining."


Barb - Oct 01, 2008 11:35:31 am PDT #7626 of 28404
“Not dead yet!”

There's something about Lady Dedlok that has me thinking "No Capes!"


Strega - Oct 01, 2008 3:40:43 pm PDT #7627 of 28404

Did y'all know there was an official Gormenghast website?

Oooooooooh.

Shiny.


sumi - Oct 01, 2008 5:12:38 pm PDT #7628 of 28404
Art Crawl!!!

Didn't you guys see those illustrations when you read the book?

(I don't own it - but those were the illustrations in the copy of Gormenghast in my local library.)


Strega - Oct 01, 2008 5:46:31 pm PDT #7629 of 28404

No, but I just have cheapo paperbacks. I had seen some of those -- I think they might be in the Art of Gormenghast book I picked up -- but my copies of the novels aren't illustrated.


Strix - Oct 01, 2008 9:38:09 pm PDT #7630 of 28404
A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to flee from zombies. — Ginger

Does anyonw have some suggestions for some really actually creepy horror novels?

They can be modern; that's fine. As the seasons turns, a young girl's fancy turns to horror, and all that. I tried Bentley Little, on the rave reviews, and I was "Eh." I was hoping he'd be like old-school Stephen King, but NSM. Some really disturbing images, but a trite and jacked-off ending (I read "The Academy" -- maybe I was just too close to the subject -- charter schools, and he seems to like analaguous storytelling in the place of an actual story too much for my taste.)

I think one of the most creepifying stories I have ever read is "The House on Haunted Hill." If it's late at night when I'm reading that scene where the knocking happens and...well, if you haven't read it, I won't spoil it. But it creeps me the fuck out!

That's what I'm looking for. Thoughts?


Atropa - Oct 01, 2008 10:05:39 pm PDT #7631 of 28404
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.

Does anyonw have some suggestions for some really actually creepy horror novels?

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill was really good. But for me, the closest I've found to the level of creepy that The Haunting Of Hill House sets the standard for* are some of Caitlin R. Kiernan's novels. Silk, Threshold, and Low Red Moon, specifically.

I haven't found any other really good, creepifying horror novels lately. I'm sure they're out there, but I haven't run across them.

  • I can't read THOHH after dark, or if I'm alone in the house. CAN'T.