What do you think?
Rate this book
The Fall of the House of Usher
A deluxe anthology of works by Edgar Allan Poe that inspired Netflix’s The Fall of the House of Usher, curated by series creator Mike Flanagan
There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart—an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime. What was it—I paused to think—what was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the House of Usher?
Slip behind the bleak walls and vacant windows of Netflix’s reimagining of the mansion of doom in this anthology of works by Edgar Allan Poe that inspired the limited series The Fall of the House of Usher. From well-loved classics like “The Raven” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” to lesser-known gems such as “Tamerlane” and “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” these collected tales have withstood the test of time, haunting readers for nearly two hundred years.
With a foreword by series creator and horror maverick Mike Flanagan, this anthology is the perfect viewer’s companion to Netflix’s The Fall of the House of Usher.
There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart—an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime. What was it—I paused to think—what was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the House of Usher?
Slip behind the bleak walls and vacant windows of Netflix’s reimagining of the mansion of doom in this anthology of works by Edgar Allan Poe that inspired the limited series The Fall of the House of Usher. From well-loved classics like “The Raven” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” to lesser-known gems such as “Tamerlane” and “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” these collected tales have withstood the test of time, haunting readers for nearly two hundred years.
With a foreword by series creator and horror maverick Mike Flanagan, this anthology is the perfect viewer’s companion to Netflix’s The Fall of the House of Usher.
325 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 12, 2023
92 people are currently reading
230 people want to read
About the author
Edgar Allan Poe
9,882 books28.6k followersThe name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. His works have been in print since 1827 and include such literary classics as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher. This versatile writer’s oeuvre includes short stories, poetry, a novel, a textbook, a book of scientific theory, and hundreds of essays and book reviews. He is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the modern detective story and an innovator in the science fiction genre, but he made his living as America’s first great literary critic and theoretician. Poe’s reputation today rests primarily on his tales of terror as well as on his haunting lyric poetry.
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
November 5, 2025
I enjoyed some of the poems and stories in this collection. Poe isn’t my favorite but I was entertained while reading “murders on rue morgue”, “pit and the pendulum” , “the raven” and “Berenice”. I got the macabre tone and haunting, gothic atmosphere; but I hated that it was difficult to understand his writing style and vocab. It honestly took me out of the stories and it took the fun out of reading horror stories. Nevertheless, I’m glad that I finally allowed myself to read some of Poe’s works for the spooky season.
Read
September 11, 2024I'm not giving this a star rating. Did I enjoy reading this? No, not particularly. Poe, for the most part, just doesn't do it for me, but I wanted to really put a decent collection under my belt to make up for the fact that I never really did the assigned reading in high school.
I did appreciate just how important and influential a writer Poe has been and can understand how incredible his works were, especially given when they were written.
I'm glad I read it, but I won't be reading any Poe again, no, nevermore ;D
I did appreciate just how important and influential a writer Poe has been and can understand how incredible his works were, especially given when they were written.
I'm glad I read it, but I won't be reading any Poe again, no, nevermore ;D
September 18, 2023
I'm always a fan of Poe. I'm not a fan of the whole Netflix series stamps being plastered across book covers. Got this book as a supplement to the new Mike Flanagan series coming out next month, mostly as a refresher, but will be referencing it while hunting easter eggs in the show. Flanagan wrote a forward for this book that made me excited to see where he is going to take the show. The compendium of stories in this book are the ones that inspired the series.
May 27, 2024
The Fall of the House of Usher: And Other Stories That Inspired the Netflix Series, Edgar Allan Poe, Mike Flanagan (Foreword)
Always love a collection of Poe stories. ****
In the Foreword by Mike Flanagan, “What would this man [Poe] have thought about our world today?” (p.viii), “A story of American madness.” (p.ix)
• The Fall of the House of Usher
Reanimated corpses and/or premature burial are Poe staples.
‘Mad Trist’ book by Sir Launcelot Canning is purely made up by Poe.
“.. and the deep and the dank tarn at my feet closed sullenly and silently over the fragments of the ‘House of Usher’.”
• Never Bet the Devil Your Head
Tongue-in-cheek dark humour, play on words. Silly but funny and entertaining.
“.. Mr Dammit lay particularly still, and I concluded that his feelings had been hurt .. I hurried up to him and found that he had received what might be termed a serious injury. The truth is, he had been deprived of his head …”
• Landor’s Cottage
Vivid description of a valley, mostly landscape and no story.
• The Spectacles
Rom-com. If only he’d gone to Spec Savers!
“He begged me not to be impatient—to moderate my transports—to read soothing books—to drink nothing stronger than Hock—and to bring the consolations of philosophy to my aid. The fool! if he could not come himself, why, in the name of every thing rational, could he not have enclosed me a letter of presentation?”
• The Murders in the Rue Morgue
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
Prototype Sherlock, ghastly, completely rubbish in its plausibility.
• Spirits of the Dead
Beautiful! "Thy soul shall find itself alone / 'Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone; ... The breeze, the breath of God, is still, / And the mist upon the hill / .. How it hangs upon the trees, / A mystery of mysteries!"
• Some Words with a Mummy
Satirical, Egyptology, assumptions of Western civilization and knowledge, scientific and industrial. Oh the unmistakeable parody, for the Egyptian mummy’s name is “Allamistakeo”
“I cannot say that I was alarmed at the phenomenon, because "alarmed" is, in my case, not exactly the word. It is possible, however, that, but for the Brown Stout, I might have been a little nervous. As for the rest of the company, they really made no attempt at concealing the downright fright which possessed them. Doctor Ponnonner was a man to be pitied. Mr. Gliddon, by some peculiar process, rendered himself invisible. Mr. Silk Buckingham, I fancy, will scarcely be so bold as to deny that he made his way, upon all fours, under the table.”
“A light supper of course. I am exceedingly fond of Welsh rabbit. More than a pound at once, however, may not at all times be advisable. Still, there can be no material objection to two. And really between two and three, there is merely a single unit of difference. I ventured, perhaps, upon four. My wife will have it five; -- but, clearly, she has confounded two very distinct affairs.”
"Why, it is the general custom in Egypt to deprive a corpse, before embalmment, of its bowels and brains; the race of the Scarabaei alone did not coincide with the custom. Had I not been a Scarabeus, therefore, I should have been without bowels and brains; and without either it is inconvenient to live."
• Tamerlane
I admit that the head-space I was in meant that I retained nothing from reading it. Maybe it is better than that, but I missed it.
“O! craving heart, for the lost flowers / And sunshine of my summer hours!”
• The Masque of the Red Death
Delicious tale of justice!
“There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion.”
“Even with the utterly lost, to whom life and death are equally jests, there are matters of which no jest can be made.”
“There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion, even by the utterly lost, to whom life and death are equally jests, there are matters of which no jest can be made.”
“There was much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust.”
“And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.”
• The Doomed City (The City in the Sea)
Gothic indeed. "A City in the Sea" - "Lo! Death has reared himself a throne
In a strange city lying alone..."
• Annabel Lee
Beautiful, angelic, fateful poem.
“It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me…..”
• Berenice
Spooky! “There came a light tap at the library door – and, pale as a tenant of the tomb …”
• The Pit and the Pendulum
Brilliantly devised classic nightmare scenario – an echo of hell’s torment and hopelessly abandoned loneliness.
“...the agony of my soul found vent in one loud, long and final scream of despair.”
“I call to mind flatness and dampness; and then all is madness - the madness of a memory which busies itself among forbidden things.”
“In death - no! even in the grave all is not lost. Else there is no immortality for man. Arousing from the most profound slumbers, we break the gossamer web of some dream. Yet in a second afterward, (so frail may that web have been) we remember not that we have dreamed.”
“In the deepest slumber-no! In delirium-no! In a swoon-no! In death-no! even in the grave all is not lost.”
“And then there stole into my fancy, like a rich musical note, the thought of what sweet rest there must be in the grave.”
“I could have clasped the red walls to my bosom as a garment of eternal peace. "Death," I said, "any death but that of the pit!" Fool! might I have not known that into the pit it was the object of the burning iron to urge me?”
• The Man that was Used Up
The narrator is searching for renown former soldier ...
"I fairly shouted with terror, and made off, at a tangent, into the farthest extremity of the room."
I love Poe's evocative prose.
• The Premature Burial
Common theme. Even though I KNEW it was fiction Poe is so skilfully convincing that I had to Google it. “Scarcely in truth, is a graveyard ever encroached upon..”
• Metzengerstein
An angry Joffrey-like Heathcliff-like Absalom-like heir who obsesses over a phantom-like black stallion.
Dark and spooky!
• William Wilson
You and I, identical? or one and the same? Do I look like you, or do you look like me?
The doppelgänger conundrum.
".. I passed with the stride of a giant, into more than the enormities of an Elagabalus."*
"All is grey shadow - a weak and irregular remembrance - an indistinct regathering of feeble pleasures and phantasmagoric pains."
How is this for a brilliant paragraph?!
"There was that in the manner of the stranger, and in the tremulous shake of his uplifted finger, as he held it between my eyes and the light, which filled me with unqualified amazement — but it was not this which had so violently moved me. It was the pregnancy of solemn admonition in the singular, low, hissing utterance; and, above all, it was the character, the tone, the key, of those few, simple, and familiar, yet whispered, syllables, which came with a thousand thronging memories of by-gone days, and struck upon my soul with the shock of a galvanic battery. Ere I could recover the use of my senses he was gone."
Did you catch that? "... struck upon my soul with the shock of a galvanic battery.." (4 stars).
* "Elagabalus" = God of the Mountain. The deity's Latin name, "Elagabalus", is a Latinized version of the Arabic, and is a manifestation of Ba'al.
• The Cask of Amontillado
Slow-burning suspenseful foreboding tale of revenge, albeit ghastly morbid!
“A million candles have burned themselves out. Still I read on. (Montresor)”
“Yes," I said, "for the love of God!”……..
“I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation.” …
“The wine sparkled in his eyes”….
• The Tell-Tale Heart
Poe sure had a thing about ‘the eye’ and its unrelenting pursuit of a man’s conscience… especially just after midnight!!
Some quotes:
“And this I did for seven long nights – every night just at midnight.
A watch's minute hand moves more quickly than did mine.
[N]ow, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton.
It was a low, dull, quick sound – much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton.
It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed.”
• Morella
Almost a poem! Definitely same author as The Black Cat and The Raven.
Morbid and foreboding this husbands obsessive love for his deceased wife manifests itself in a family horror. Brilliant Poe!
• The Black Cat
Tenacious feline with supernatural sensitivities of revenge!
“Yet mad I am not...and very surely do I not dream.” …
“The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body; and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame.” …
“I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity.”…
• Lenore
“Ah, broken is the golden bowl! the spirit flown forever!.. / … Avaunt! tonight my heart is light. No dirge will i upraise, / But waft the angel on her flight with a paean of the old days!..."
• The Raven
Unrivalled perfection!!
Always love a collection of Poe stories. ****
In the Foreword by Mike Flanagan, “What would this man [Poe] have thought about our world today?” (p.viii), “A story of American madness.” (p.ix)
• The Fall of the House of Usher
Reanimated corpses and/or premature burial are Poe staples.
‘Mad Trist’ book by Sir Launcelot Canning is purely made up by Poe.
“.. and the deep and the dank tarn at my feet closed sullenly and silently over the fragments of the ‘House of Usher’.”
• Never Bet the Devil Your Head
Tongue-in-cheek dark humour, play on words. Silly but funny and entertaining.
“.. Mr Dammit lay particularly still, and I concluded that his feelings had been hurt .. I hurried up to him and found that he had received what might be termed a serious injury. The truth is, he had been deprived of his head …”
• Landor’s Cottage
Vivid description of a valley, mostly landscape and no story.
• The Spectacles
Rom-com. If only he’d gone to Spec Savers!
“He begged me not to be impatient—to moderate my transports—to read soothing books—to drink nothing stronger than Hock—and to bring the consolations of philosophy to my aid. The fool! if he could not come himself, why, in the name of every thing rational, could he not have enclosed me a letter of presentation?”
• The Murders in the Rue Morgue
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
Prototype Sherlock, ghastly, completely rubbish in its plausibility.
• Spirits of the Dead
Beautiful! "Thy soul shall find itself alone / 'Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone; ... The breeze, the breath of God, is still, / And the mist upon the hill / .. How it hangs upon the trees, / A mystery of mysteries!"
• Some Words with a Mummy
Satirical, Egyptology, assumptions of Western civilization and knowledge, scientific and industrial. Oh the unmistakeable parody, for the Egyptian mummy’s name is “Allamistakeo”
“I cannot say that I was alarmed at the phenomenon, because "alarmed" is, in my case, not exactly the word. It is possible, however, that, but for the Brown Stout, I might have been a little nervous. As for the rest of the company, they really made no attempt at concealing the downright fright which possessed them. Doctor Ponnonner was a man to be pitied. Mr. Gliddon, by some peculiar process, rendered himself invisible. Mr. Silk Buckingham, I fancy, will scarcely be so bold as to deny that he made his way, upon all fours, under the table.”
“A light supper of course. I am exceedingly fond of Welsh rabbit. More than a pound at once, however, may not at all times be advisable. Still, there can be no material objection to two. And really between two and three, there is merely a single unit of difference. I ventured, perhaps, upon four. My wife will have it five; -- but, clearly, she has confounded two very distinct affairs.”
"Why, it is the general custom in Egypt to deprive a corpse, before embalmment, of its bowels and brains; the race of the Scarabaei alone did not coincide with the custom. Had I not been a Scarabeus, therefore, I should have been without bowels and brains; and without either it is inconvenient to live."
• Tamerlane
I admit that the head-space I was in meant that I retained nothing from reading it. Maybe it is better than that, but I missed it.
“O! craving heart, for the lost flowers / And sunshine of my summer hours!”
• The Masque of the Red Death
Delicious tale of justice!
“There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion.”
“Even with the utterly lost, to whom life and death are equally jests, there are matters of which no jest can be made.”
“There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion, even by the utterly lost, to whom life and death are equally jests, there are matters of which no jest can be made.”
“There was much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust.”
“And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.”
• The Doomed City (The City in the Sea)
Gothic indeed. "A City in the Sea" - "Lo! Death has reared himself a throne
In a strange city lying alone..."
• Annabel Lee
Beautiful, angelic, fateful poem.
“It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me…..”
• Berenice
Spooky! “There came a light tap at the library door – and, pale as a tenant of the tomb …”
• The Pit and the Pendulum
Brilliantly devised classic nightmare scenario – an echo of hell’s torment and hopelessly abandoned loneliness.
“...the agony of my soul found vent in one loud, long and final scream of despair.”
“I call to mind flatness and dampness; and then all is madness - the madness of a memory which busies itself among forbidden things.”
“In death - no! even in the grave all is not lost. Else there is no immortality for man. Arousing from the most profound slumbers, we break the gossamer web of some dream. Yet in a second afterward, (so frail may that web have been) we remember not that we have dreamed.”
“In the deepest slumber-no! In delirium-no! In a swoon-no! In death-no! even in the grave all is not lost.”
“And then there stole into my fancy, like a rich musical note, the thought of what sweet rest there must be in the grave.”
“I could have clasped the red walls to my bosom as a garment of eternal peace. "Death," I said, "any death but that of the pit!" Fool! might I have not known that into the pit it was the object of the burning iron to urge me?”
• The Man that was Used Up
The narrator is searching for renown former soldier ...
"I fairly shouted with terror, and made off, at a tangent, into the farthest extremity of the room."
I love Poe's evocative prose.
• The Premature Burial
Common theme. Even though I KNEW it was fiction Poe is so skilfully convincing that I had to Google it. “Scarcely in truth, is a graveyard ever encroached upon..”
• Metzengerstein
An angry Joffrey-like Heathcliff-like Absalom-like heir who obsesses over a phantom-like black stallion.
Dark and spooky!
• William Wilson
You and I, identical? or one and the same? Do I look like you, or do you look like me?
The doppelgänger conundrum.
".. I passed with the stride of a giant, into more than the enormities of an Elagabalus."*
"All is grey shadow - a weak and irregular remembrance - an indistinct regathering of feeble pleasures and phantasmagoric pains."
How is this for a brilliant paragraph?!
"There was that in the manner of the stranger, and in the tremulous shake of his uplifted finger, as he held it between my eyes and the light, which filled me with unqualified amazement — but it was not this which had so violently moved me. It was the pregnancy of solemn admonition in the singular, low, hissing utterance; and, above all, it was the character, the tone, the key, of those few, simple, and familiar, yet whispered, syllables, which came with a thousand thronging memories of by-gone days, and struck upon my soul with the shock of a galvanic battery. Ere I could recover the use of my senses he was gone."
Did you catch that? "... struck upon my soul with the shock of a galvanic battery.." (4 stars).
* "Elagabalus" = God of the Mountain. The deity's Latin name, "Elagabalus", is a Latinized version of the Arabic, and is a manifestation of Ba'al.
• The Cask of Amontillado
Slow-burning suspenseful foreboding tale of revenge, albeit ghastly morbid!
“A million candles have burned themselves out. Still I read on. (Montresor)”
“Yes," I said, "for the love of God!”……..
“I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation.” …
“The wine sparkled in his eyes”….
• The Tell-Tale Heart
Poe sure had a thing about ‘the eye’ and its unrelenting pursuit of a man’s conscience… especially just after midnight!!
Some quotes:
“And this I did for seven long nights – every night just at midnight.
A watch's minute hand moves more quickly than did mine.
[N]ow, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton.
It was a low, dull, quick sound – much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton.
It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed.”
• Morella
Almost a poem! Definitely same author as The Black Cat and The Raven.
Morbid and foreboding this husbands obsessive love for his deceased wife manifests itself in a family horror. Brilliant Poe!
• The Black Cat
Tenacious feline with supernatural sensitivities of revenge!
“Yet mad I am not...and very surely do I not dream.” …
“The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body; and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame.” …
“I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity.”…
• Lenore
“Ah, broken is the golden bowl! the spirit flown forever!.. / … Avaunt! tonight my heart is light. No dirge will i upraise, / But waft the angel on her flight with a paean of the old days!..."
• The Raven
Unrivalled perfection!!
May 14, 2025
Some of my all time favourites-
Landor’s Cottage
The Spectacles
Tell Tale Heart
Morella
The Black Cat
The Raven
Landor’s Cottage
The Spectacles
Tell Tale Heart
Morella
The Black Cat
The Raven
November 6, 2023
I am obsessed with the Mike Flanagan universe of shows and films. He has become one of my favorite horror writers/directors and his current project, The Fall of the House of Usher, was dropping on Netflix soon. This time around I wanted to freshen up with the material he was remixing: the work of the master of the macabre himself, Edgar Allan Poe!
Of course, I know who Poe is and studied some of his classics in high school. I still remember decades later his works, goes to show the lasting impact. Excitement rose to revisit some of his best and also in hoping to discover new favorites.
What a blast yet morose experience. The further I went, now as an adult, the themes of death and illness resonated more. Especially with new knowledge of Poe the man and his life. I wish I would have spread this endeavor out more and not have read so much in a short period of time. My mood was shifting and I could sense sadness overcoming. I powered through though. It did ruin my reading mood after. So just a caution for those wanting to dive in.
A lot of my favorites stood the test of time and in revisiting I was like, how did they let us read this in school, silly hindsight of it all is that it's just as scary as an adult. Especially how much closer to the grave we are now and how we can still fear such things as death.
(Old favs: The Pit and the Pendulum, The Cask of Amontillado, The Tell-tale Heart, The Black Cat, to name a few)
As for new stuff I haven't read before, a few stories became new perspectives and genre shift to enjoy from Poe. I was flabbergasted with "The Murder in the Rue Morgue". It was a detective thriller that predated Sherlock. I was like a kid, in my mind I'm like, this is awesome! "The Spectacles" was another surprising one. It had a bit of humor mixed with a fun lesson.
Sprinkled in this collection are also Edgar's poems. I still love Annabel Lee, Lenore, and The Raven. Real nice to go down memory lane and I was shocked I still remembered random lines. Funny how some words stick when your young and still use to this day as reference. NEVERMORE! 🤣🐦⬛
Overall, so much fun and nostalgic. It was super cool to do this. The show came out great and respected Poe's legacy. Having everything fresh in my mind made me giddy in picking up the allusions to Edgar's characters and stories on the show, binged it all almost in a day. Recommend doing this with most of Mike Flanagan's work that he is influenced by or remixes. He really respects the source material, brandishing it with his own flair and modern appeal.
Of course, I know who Poe is and studied some of his classics in high school. I still remember decades later his works, goes to show the lasting impact. Excitement rose to revisit some of his best and also in hoping to discover new favorites.
What a blast yet morose experience. The further I went, now as an adult, the themes of death and illness resonated more. Especially with new knowledge of Poe the man and his life. I wish I would have spread this endeavor out more and not have read so much in a short period of time. My mood was shifting and I could sense sadness overcoming. I powered through though. It did ruin my reading mood after. So just a caution for those wanting to dive in.
A lot of my favorites stood the test of time and in revisiting I was like, how did they let us read this in school, silly hindsight of it all is that it's just as scary as an adult. Especially how much closer to the grave we are now and how we can still fear such things as death.
(Old favs: The Pit and the Pendulum, The Cask of Amontillado, The Tell-tale Heart, The Black Cat, to name a few)
As for new stuff I haven't read before, a few stories became new perspectives and genre shift to enjoy from Poe. I was flabbergasted with "The Murder in the Rue Morgue". It was a detective thriller that predated Sherlock. I was like a kid, in my mind I'm like, this is awesome! "The Spectacles" was another surprising one. It had a bit of humor mixed with a fun lesson.
Sprinkled in this collection are also Edgar's poems. I still love Annabel Lee, Lenore, and The Raven. Real nice to go down memory lane and I was shocked I still remembered random lines. Funny how some words stick when your young and still use to this day as reference. NEVERMORE! 🤣🐦⬛
Overall, so much fun and nostalgic. It was super cool to do this. The show came out great and respected Poe's legacy. Having everything fresh in my mind made me giddy in picking up the allusions to Edgar's characters and stories on the show, binged it all almost in a day. Recommend doing this with most of Mike Flanagan's work that he is influenced by or remixes. He really respects the source material, brandishing it with his own flair and modern appeal.
November 4, 2023
3.5/5, rounded up! (and my first time rounding up a review)
I’ve wanted to get around to some of Poe’s works for awhile, so a curated collection with a forward by Mike Flanagan was a perfect motivator. Poe’s stories aren’t my favorite, but I still do recognize their significance in the horror genre and how influential they are in American literature in general. Also, this collection was insanely cool to read while starting up Flanagan’s new Netflix series, which definitely added to my personal enjoyment
I’ve wanted to get around to some of Poe’s works for awhile, so a curated collection with a forward by Mike Flanagan was a perfect motivator. Poe’s stories aren’t my favorite, but I still do recognize their significance in the horror genre and how influential they are in American literature in general. Also, this collection was insanely cool to read while starting up Flanagan’s new Netflix series, which definitely added to my personal enjoyment
January 22, 2025
Fantastic collection of Poe stories and a great intro to all of the genres he wrote in. Can't wait to watch the stories and see how the different elements are integrated.
One note:
Should have included publishing dates for the pieces. They're not in chronological order and I used an external sources to look up when they were written.
Didn't ruin the stories for me, but it's nice to see when a piece was written in his career.
One note:
Should have included publishing dates for the pieces. They're not in chronological order and I used an external sources to look up when they were written.
Didn't ruin the stories for me, but it's nice to see when a piece was written in his career.
December 22, 2023
My goal was to read this before watching the show on Netflix and now that we are here, I can't wait!!! I read Poe in high school, but hadn't looked into his work outside of what was required of me. I was not suprised to find that all of his work is dark, haunting, and great. Very excited to see what Mike Flanagan does with Poe's words!!
February 4, 2025
The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Stories That Inspired the Netflix Series offers a collection of eerie and thought-provoking tales by Edgar Allen Poe. While the language can be challenging, and the pace slows at times, the book is a unique read that captures Poe's dark perspective on life, making it a valuable addition to any literary collection.
January 17, 2024
The highlight here is Flanagan’s choices. Seeing lesser know works get some page time is great. Figuring out how they played into the Netflix series is also fun.
March 5, 2024
Mike Flanagan is an absolute genius
March 16, 2024
I read everything but the black cat only because of personal reasons to the violence on animals.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 2, 2024
invented the term freak i fear (highlights are: annabel lee, the pit and the pendulum, and the raven of course)
December 14, 2024
learned that “ejaculate” has more than one meaning x_x
December 31, 2024
Some stories were slower to read than others. Over all enjoyed this book.
November 8, 2025
Love the Tell-Tale Heart!
November 25, 2024
Ranked*:
01.The Raven
02.Berenice
03.The Premature Burial
04.Annabel Lee
05.The Pit and the Pendulum
06.The Murders in the Rue Morgue
07.The Spectacles
08.Spirits of the Dead
09.The Tell-Tale Heart
10.Never Bet the Devil Your Head
11.The Man That Was Used Up
12.Some Words with a Mummy
13.The Masque of the Red Death
14.The Black Cat
15.The Fall of the House of Usher
16.William Wilson
17.Landor's Cottage
18.Tamerlane
19.The City in the Sea
20.The Cask of Amontillado
21.Metzengerstein
22.Morella
23.Lenore
*keep in mind I've never read these before and I think if I were to again, they could change. Loved noticing details that made it to Mike Flanagan's adaptation. Also, Poe could be very witty and funny, imo. Some stories had me laughing because of just how clever they could be. Some did disturb me, tho. There was a bit of everything, it seems
Ranked as: Boo! yAAAH!
01.The Raven
02.Berenice
03.The Premature Burial
04.Annabel Lee
05.The Pit and the Pendulum
06.The Murders in the Rue Morgue
07.The Spectacles
08.Spirits of the Dead
09.The Tell-Tale Heart
10.Never Bet the Devil Your Head
11.The Man That Was Used Up
12.Some Words with a Mummy
13.The Masque of the Red Death
14.The Black Cat
15.The Fall of the House of Usher
16.William Wilson
17.Landor's Cottage
18.Tamerlane
19.The City in the Sea
20.The Cask of Amontillado
21.Metzengerstein
22.Morella
23.Lenore
*keep in mind I've never read these before and I think if I were to again, they could change. Loved noticing details that made it to Mike Flanagan's adaptation. Also, Poe could be very witty and funny, imo. Some stories had me laughing because of just how clever they could be. Some did disturb me, tho. There was a bit of everything, it seems
Ranked as: Boo! yAAAH!
April 28, 2024
I picked up this particular collection after watching the show, but Poe's works have long been must-reads.
September 24, 2023
I already have multiple copies of Poe’s works, but a Mike Flanagan foreword made this a must-purchase and read. I cannot wait to reread the foreword and the collection after I watch the Netflix series on 10/12.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews