Devon Book Club discussion

We have chosen our first themed week of the year - (Victorian) Gothic. Victorian was the request but I think we can widen to include Gothic from any period.

Our Gothic week will begin on Monday 22nd January. So, this is a call for your favourite Gothic novels and, if you are a writer of Gothic, please let me know of anything that you'd like featured in the week.

Today, I kick off our Gothic Themed week. I am inviting writers of Gothic to tell us about your work and those of you who love reading Gothic to share your favourite titles and tell is what you love about the genre.

If you use Twitter/X we will be having a focused discussion from 8PM tomorrow - just drop by using the # #devonbookhour in your post.

I've been getting lots of recommendations already - here are a few of the less well known ones:

Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Tales is a collection of short stories
Melmoth the Wanderer is by Irish Writer, Charles Maturin
Mexican Gothic is by Silvio Moreno-Garcia
Palace of Shadows by Ray Celestin

Anyone read them? I haven't.

I have Mexican gothic on my tbr pile courtesy of the Shelterbox book club.
I love Laura Purcell and this genre. Sadly I have never got to grips with Twitter.

Sue wrote: "I have Mexican gothic on my tbr pile courtesy of the Shelterbox book club.
I love Laura Purcell and this genre. Sadly I have never got to grips with Twitter."

Hi Sue - well, that's why we operate here, on Twitter and on Facebok. Gives peopel a choice. They all do different things. Twitter is fabulous for wide and rapid reach but not for longer conversations

Mexican Gothic looks like a great book, though I've not read it either. Perhaps this theme week will prompt us to do so.

I'm also a member of Shelterbox Book Club - such a wide range of books they send us and gerat to contribute to the charity too.

Does Alisdair Gray's 'Poor things' count as gothic? I think I've read it before (eons ago) but plan to reread as it's being televised... ?

DrMama wrote: "Does Alisdair Gray's 'Poor things' count as gothic? I think I've read it before (eons ago) but plan to reread as it's being televised... ?"

I don't know - not read it - what's it about?

Comment from Janet Still by direct message which says "Gothic can be fun and engaging as long as the author is also telling a brilliant story and not leaning solely on the Gothic theme."

I agree with that - do you all?

Had a very busy Gothic themed evening in our Twitter community yesterday. I'll post a few times to share the books recommended in batches.
I'd love to know if you've read them and to hear about any other recommendations you might have. Here's the first group
Lady Audley's Secret
The Fascination
The Whispering Muse

Where the Dead Wait

The Birdcage
The Book Collector

It's about a weird, experimental surgeon, who is rather of the Dr Frankenstein ilk. He carries out breeding and scientific creating, in order to produce weirdly-crossed and other-worldly animals, plus beings which resemble humans... but are not always in his control... or altogether ... there. The book is written in... the spirit of an early 20th(?) century Edinburgh 'Sherlock Holmes' type-character ... but without SH's far-seeingness. I read it when it first came out, and have forgotten most of it, but a snip of a forthcoming film/series preview led me to search all my shelves!

DrMama wrote: "It's about a weird, experimental surgeon, who is rather of the Dr Frankenstein ilk. He carries out breeding and scientific creating, in order to produce weirdly-crossed and other-worldly animals, p..."

Sounds very weird but kinda fun

Continuing with our Gothic theme, here is another group of recommendations from our community:
The Last House on Needless Street
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
The Monk
The Somnambulist
The Somnambulist
The Haunting Season: Ghostly Tales for Long Winter Nights
The Clockwork Girl
The Face in the Glass and Other Gothic Tales
Rebecca
A fabulous list - who's read any of them?

I had so many recommendations for our Gothic themed week that I've had to share them in groups - here is the next:

The Winter Spirits: Ghostly Tales for Frosty Nights
Drood
The Lost Ones
Too Near the Dead
The Whispering Muse
The Small Hand
The Leviathan
The Bleeding

I'm sure I missed some of the recommendations but I'm equally sure you can fill in the gaps for us

Ian wrote: "Continuing with our Gothic theme, here is another group of recommendations from our community:
The Last House on Needless Street
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
[boo..."
I've read 'Rebecca' umpteen times - it was a favourite of mine in my early teens - along with others by Du Maurier.
NB: I'm finding some of the criticism on here (well, other threads) a bit odd... as if novels/books should only ever be 'nice'! I can't think of anything worse. I want works which challenge my perceptions and take me into other lives, regions, periods, mind-scapes... The more difficult, far-reaching, odd and mind-widening, the better!

DrMama wrote: "Ian wrote: "Continuing with our Gothic theme, here is another group of recommendations from our community:
The Last House on Needless Street
[book:We Have Always Lived in the Castle..."

I'm totally with you there - unless, of course, someone just wants a pleasant, cosy kind of novel in which case I guess nice works.