Litsy

At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels of Terror (H. P. Lovecraft Omnibus, Book 1) | H. P. Lovecraft

"Wonder had gone away, and he had forgotten that all life is only a set of pictures in the brain, among which there is no difference between those born of real things and those born of inward dreamings, and no cause to value the one above the other."
- The Silver Key ?️

Suet624 Great quote! 1mo

Bookwomble @Suet624 There's a rather philosophical start to this story that I like, and which shows that Lovecraft could be more than a pulp writer when he wanted to be. His publisher reported that there were a lot of complaints from his regular readers about this one, but it's become one of his best regarded over time. 4w

Suet624 That‘s so interesting. 4w

31 likes3 comments

MsLeah8417

The Ballad of Black Tom | Victor LaValle

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⭐️⭐️⭐️

14 likes

Bookwomble

At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels of Terror (H. P. Lovecraft Omnibus, Book 1) | H. P. Lovecraft

"Three times Randolph Carter dreamed of the marvellous city, and three times he was snatched away while he paused on the high terrace above it."
- The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath

Included in the anthology I'm reading, this story is more whimsical than "At the Mountains of Madness", though it is linked to Lovecraft's horror stories through its main protagonist, Randolph Carter, and a selection of Cthulhu Mythos gods, notably Nyarlathotep. ⬇️

Bookwomble And while the Cats of Ulthar are cute, they will definitely eat you if you piss them off! 🙀
#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl 1mo

31 likes1 comment

Bookwomble

At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels of Terror (H. P. Lovecraft Omnibus, Book 1) | H. P. Lovecraft

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The title story is one of my favourites of Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos stories. If "The Call of Cthulhu" is his "Lord of the Rings" then this story is his "Silmarillion" - ok, Tolkien is orders of magnitude greater in terms of literature and sheer depth and complexity of conception, but Lovecraft is great in his own area.
There is no dialogue as the story is the first-person statement of polar expedition lead, William Dyer, who may be a great ⬇️

Bookwomble ... geologist, but is surely no psychologist as his stated purpose in giving his account of the mysteries and horrors which lie at the heart of unexplored Antarctica is to discourage a new expedition, whereas it would surely make it all the more likely (and, to be fair, Dyer does express concern about this possibility).
Recounting the findings of the doomed expedition of which he is one of two survivors, and the only one still close to sanity, ⬇️ 1mo

Bookwomble ... he describes the history of earth's pre-human inhabitants from billions of years ago to the relatively recent Pleistocene, encompassing the creation of mundane life as a whim of the alien Elder Things, charting their conflicts with extradimensional beings, their ultimate decline into decadence, and the fall of their civilization. Most of this is presented as his description of ancient carved murals in one of their abandoned (or, is it?) ⬇️ 1mo

Bookwomble ... cities, so this is where the reader either loves or hates being told rather than shown. Me, I 💚 1mo

The_Book_Ninja Excellent review 1mo

Bookwomble @The_Book_Ninja Thank you ☺️ 1mo

35 likes5 comments

Bookwomble

At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels of Terror (H. P. Lovecraft Omnibus, Book 1) | H. P. Lovecraft

"Both on land and under water they used curious tables, chairs and couches like cylindrical frames - for they rested and slept upright with folded down tentacles - and racks for the hinged sets of dotted surfaces forming their books."

Similarly to the Elder Things, I like to know my books are safely shelved and racked before I settle into my sleeping frame and fold down my tentacles for a quick millennium-or-two nap. ???

RaeLovesToRead Hahaha. I'm remembering a YouTube vid I watched once on how to pronounce Lovecraftian words, and the comments section was great... "Oh rh'lyeh?" 1mo

RaeLovesToRead "That's what I'm F'tagn about!" 1mo

Bookwomble @RaeLovesToRead Who knows what the Ph'nglui it all means? 🤷🏻‍♂️ 1mo

34 likes3 comments

Bookwomble

At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels of Terror (H. P. Lovecraft Omnibus, Book 1) | H. P. Lovecraft

My flibbertigibbet brain is struggling to settle, so I'll feed it something I've chewed before, although not previously this edition, which as well as the title novella includes several Dreamland stories which I also like.
Ian Miller's cover art of an Elder Thing is fantastically chaotic & likely to induce the madness that overruns an ill-fated Antarctic expedition.
Lovecraft's aliens evoke the strange body plans of the vastly ancient Ediacaran ⬇️

Bookwomble ... biota, and although fossil examples had been found in the 19th century, I don't think it was widely known until some years after Lovecraft wrote his stories, which is kinda spooky (unless I've got my history wrong - not unlikely).
#ReadingOceania2024 #Antarctic 🇦🇶
@BarbaraBB @Librarybelle 1mo

BarbaraBB I kind of enjoyed this book 🙀 1mo

Librarybelle Sometimes it‘s great to revisit an old favorite, even if it is a different edition! 1mo

Bookwomble @BarbaraBB I kind of love it! 😁 1mo

Bookwomble @Librarybelle Agreed 😊 I already feel settled in with it. 1mo

31 likes5 comments

Jari-chan

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward | H. P. Lovecraft

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Soft pick. Includes everything a true Lovecraftian story needs, but didn't suck me in as much as some of his other stories. It's well thought-through, with different main characters and different layers. There are some scenes that will stay with me, what might isn't a good thing, when it comes to Lovecraft 😉 But it just shows what a talented story writer he is.

34 likes

Lin3han

The Loved Dead | H. P. Lovecraft

Thank you so much @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks for the giveaway gift!! This was so wonderful to come home to today!!

dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 2mo

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Yay!! I‘m happy it arrived! Cute Kitty 😽 2mo

13 likes2 comments

Daisey

At the Mountains of Madness: The Definitive Edition | H.P. Lovecraft

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This was a fantastically creepy story for a frigidly cold weekend listen. The narrator describes a scientific expedition to Antarctica in 1930 that digs into the ice and discovers unbelievable things. Seeing as how it‘s a Lovecraft story, things go badly and are never completely explained, although there‘s a lot of scientific description along the way. I enjoyed it more than I expected.

#audiobook #1001books
#ReadingOceania2024 #Antarctica