The Gothic Novel Book Club <Hiatus> discussion

For the month o February, we will be reading some contemporary or modern gothic texts. Please feel free to nominate any Gothic novel text published after 1950.

Paulina and I have chosen two and I would love it if the members chose two others.

I have chosen:

The Shadow of the Wind
Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals from its war wounds, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer's son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julian Carax. But when he sets out to find the author's other works, he makes a shocking discovery; someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax's books in existence. Soon Daniel's seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona's darkest secrets - an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.

Paulina has chosen:

The Book Thief

It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery....

Narrated by Death, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a young foster girl living outside of Munich in Nazi Germany. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist – books. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever they are to be found.

With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, Liesel learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids, as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.

This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.

Please choose two more Gothic novels published after 1950 for nomination! Our voting period will start after one week - Jan 25th. Nominations will end on the 24th.

The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl

Following his phenomenal debut novel, The Dante Club, Matthew Pearl has once again crossed pitch-perfect literary history with innovative mystery to create a beautifully detailed, ingeniously plotted tale of suspense. Pearl’s groundbreaking research–featuring documented material never published before–opens a new window on the truth behind Poe’s demise, literary history’s most persistent enigma. The resulting novel is a publishing event that, through sublime craftsmanship, subtle wit, and devious twists, does honor to Poe himself.

Ooooh. Not sure I can think of anything to nominate off the top of my head - not sure I want to either, been meaning to read The Book Thief for years!

I think some people consider The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson, to be Gothic - what do you think?

I'd agree on The Haunting of Hill House-how much more Gothic could a novel be?:)

Then I nominate The Haunting of Hill House! (thanks, Mallory!)

"The classic supernatural thriller by an author who helped define the genre

First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting"; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers-and soon it will choose one of them to make its own."

The only thing I disagree with in that description is that Theodora is the doctor's assistant - she is another subject of the experiment, along with Eleanor.

This is one of my two favorite novels (along with Wuthering Heights)!

The Shadow of the Wind sounds awesome! I hadn't heard of that one.

I have read The book Thief,and ahhh it's such a wonderful ,wonderful book i loved it.
I am going to nominate to read The Haunting Of Hill House,it sounds soo good.

I'll throw a few titles out for people to consider...

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton(2008;)time period is after the first world war, an English Family with secrets, a poet who committed suiside or did he? Described as reminiscent of du Maurier's Rebecca...

River Rising by Jessica North (1975) mystery romance and a brooding family estate high above the St. Lawrence River, family secrets,a great auntie, and guilt from beyond the grave....

The Scent of Lilacs by Carolyn Wilson (1966): a new bride in her husbands opressive family mansion,an odd family living in it, a husbands indifference,ghostly footsteps and a sickening lilac smell...supposed to be inspired by the author's time living in the real live haunted Allen House in Montecello,Arkansas when it was divided up into apartments. I read A Haunted Love Story by the current owners of the Allen House who have restored it to it's former glory and met the ghosts. Pretty heartwrenching story.

Just giving more suggestions. Hill House is excellent and I also have been wanting to read The Book Thief, too.