Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels (1726) ***
The prototypical satirical phantasmagoria was entertaining for its first couple of adventures, but I didn't lament the publisher's edits.
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (1899) ****
The Stygian voyage is uncomfortable on multiple fronts, but never as psychedelic as I hope.
A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard, Winnie-the-Pooh: The Complete Collection of Stories and Poems
When We Were Very Young (1924) ***
More autobiographical sketches from Christopher Robin's upbringing, in and out of imagined imaginings. Pretty adorable for parents, but not really ones to read aloud, except very selectively. Nowadays, I suppose his childhood would be invasively streamed on YouTube.
Faves: Lines and Squares, Halfway Down
Now We Are Six (1927) **
Either the magic wore out or my patience did.
Faves: The Charcoal Burner, Waiting at the Window
M. R. James, A Warning to the Curious (1925) ***
One of his dullest, but the message about not bothering to investigate areas that ridiculous superstition suggests you don't is timeless.
A. M. Burrage, Nobody's House (1927) ***
Tense two-hander with a denouement both obvious and obscure.
Captain Frederick Marryat, The Werewolf (1980) ***
Takes its time, but delivers the grisly goods.
Honoré de Balzac, The Mysterious Mansion (1934) **
There might be a decent gothic yarn somewhere in this flowery tapestry.
W. W. Jacobs, The Monkey's Paw (1902) *****
The cautionary classic has doubtless prevented a few ironic magical backfires over the years, but it's still best to run your wish draft past specialist legal counsel to make sure you're not getting shafted.
Sir Walter Scott, Wandering Willie's Tale (1824) ****
Less raunchy than expected, but the commitment to dialect gave it exotic/cultured flavour.
Guy de Maupassant, The Horla (1925) ****
Suffocating paranoid meltdown, recommended.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, The Haunted and the Haunters (1931) **
Reflective haunted house pick-'n'-mix.
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla (1872) *****
I skipped novellas I'd read more recently (The Turn of the Screw, Jekyll and Hyde), but the coy lesbo vampire classic is always a treat.
