I'll be honest, as much as I love writing horror I don't read as much of it as I should. However, since publishing my first true gothic horror series, The Wax Factory series back in 2019, I've been reading some of the absolute classics of horror fiction. I started with Dracula, then The Hound of the Baskervilles(not exactly horror but has slight moments), The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Invisible Man, Carmilla, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and Frankenstein. I feel I have definitely been neglecting myself after reading these classics and I thought I would take a moment to give my thoughts on each book. I, of course, have my reviews for them on Goodreads but wanted to sum my thoughts up briefly on a thread since I'll be finishing up reading them for research,
Dracula- I enjoyed many aspects of this book such as the letter/journal format it was told in but at the same time I also disliked it. Dracula is far more creepy and sinister in the book than he is when Bela Lugosi plays him(not to take anything away from Bela). However, as good as the book was I found the language of the UK unabridged hard to read at times and many scenes are either unnecessary or dragged out. So I enjoyed this to an extent.
The Hound of The Baskervilles- A bit confusing at times but overall a great Sherlock Holmes mystery with dark undertones and hints of horror. Holmes makes this book shine and all the eerie things that happen really make it stand out to where I read kept wondering what would happen next. Surprisingly I got a lot of notes from reading this.
The Invisible Man- I like the detail Wells goes into in explaining what is going on when no one can see the invisible man and how he’s using it to his advantage. There is a lot of cleverness and great word choices that made this book enjoyable.
The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde- Read the unabridged version which at times made this book painful. Oddly enough, half way through I got a chance to read an updated version but by that point I decided to keep reading the current version. All that aside, it was confusing but the parts I did enjoy were the ominous transformation of the doctor to Hyde and how people were baffled as to the how and why.
The Lodger- It’s written in old English and is dreadfully slow but I was patient. It didn’t give me a heck of a lot to take from it but it had its moments. There’s more about the people who take the lodger in than the actual lodger which I could’ve done without. Again, I took what I needed from it.
The Island of Dr. Moreau- I had no idea what the book was about and was surprised to find out the idea of my book is similar to this in a sense. I was also surprised by the amount of notes for research and the gothic inspiration I took from this. A solid read and well-told story.
Carmilla- Didn’t get a whole lot from this even though I was looking for Gothic themes and ideas. This has that but it’s told so subtly and in such a way that you don’t notice it is. The story is interesting but to me gets a bit silly at the end. Decent read.
Frankenstein- There’s a reason I saved this for last. I read this for the experiments section but it gave me notes to take well before, during, and after it. Very gothic, gruesome, and gory, and all exactly what I was looking for. The beginning introduction is unnecessary in my opinion but everything else works and tells the classic tale of a mad scientist creating life in the most diabolical way.
Dracula- I enjoyed many aspects of this book such as the letter/journal format it was told in but at the same time I also disliked it. Dracula is far more creepy and sinister in the book than he is when Bela Lugosi plays him(not to take anything away from Bela). However, as good as the book was I found the language of the UK unabridged hard to read at times and many scenes are either unnecessary or dragged out. So I enjoyed this to an extent.
The Hound of The Baskervilles- A bit confusing at times but overall a great Sherlock Holmes mystery with dark undertones and hints of horror. Holmes makes this book shine and all the eerie things that happen really make it stand out to where I read kept wondering what would happen next. Surprisingly I got a lot of notes from reading this.
The Invisible Man- I like the detail Wells goes into in explaining what is going on when no one can see the invisible man and how he’s using it to his advantage. There is a lot of cleverness and great word choices that made this book enjoyable.
The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde- Read the unabridged version which at times made this book painful. Oddly enough, half way through I got a chance to read an updated version but by that point I decided to keep reading the current version. All that aside, it was confusing but the parts I did enjoy were the ominous transformation of the doctor to Hyde and how people were baffled as to the how and why.
The Lodger- It’s written in old English and is dreadfully slow but I was patient. It didn’t give me a heck of a lot to take from it but it had its moments. There’s more about the people who take the lodger in than the actual lodger which I could’ve done without. Again, I took what I needed from it.
The Island of Dr. Moreau- I had no idea what the book was about and was surprised to find out the idea of my book is similar to this in a sense. I was also surprised by the amount of notes for research and the gothic inspiration I took from this. A solid read and well-told story.
Carmilla- Didn’t get a whole lot from this even though I was looking for Gothic themes and ideas. This has that but it’s told so subtly and in such a way that you don’t notice it is. The story is interesting but to me gets a bit silly at the end. Decent read.
Frankenstein- There’s a reason I saved this for last. I read this for the experiments section but it gave me notes to take well before, during, and after it. Very gothic, gruesome, and gory, and all exactly what I was looking for. The beginning introduction is unnecessary in my opinion but everything else works and tells the classic tale of a mad scientist creating life in the most diabolical way.