The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories Book

Spooktober book #10!

Despite the flaws of some stories - not to mention the author's flaws - I'll always be a fan of Mr. Lovecraft's work. I delight in his creepy, ambiguous style of horror, in the existential dread and vague sense of cosmic menace that permeate his stories, like a thick New England fog.

This collection includes some of H.P.'s most famous stories, "At the Mountain of Madness", "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" and "The Dunwich Horror", but also a few lesser-known yet just as juicy morsels, such as "The White Ship", and even a clever little retelling of a Harry Houdini story. The Joshi-edited Penguin Modern Classic edition is also very well annotated and the introduction is informative, which makes it well worth the detour for fans of the Father of Weird.

I think that driving through Massachusetts (and the American North East in general) in the fall gave me a new appreciation for Lovecraft that I didn't have before I saw the landscapes that inspired him with my own eyes. We drive from Montreal to Boston to visit friends every Thanksgiving, and looking at the rolling hills, the isolated little farm houses, the impenetrable-looking woods (and sometimes the cold, grey beaches) had made my reading of his stories more vivid.

This collection gets 3 stars, because while it still packs a lot of awesomeness, some stories do drag a bit longer than they should, and the creepy factor looses some steam.