Anyone read H.P Lovecraft?

Unfortuantely most of my literary knowledge is rooted in more modern writers,though I've read a poem or two of Poe's,but mostly his more well know works, such as "The Raven". Though,honestly I'm always looking for more decent horror so any suggestions would be awesome.Wetall_basic

If you like Lovecraft then you would like most of Richard Matheson's books. He wrote I am legend, A stir of echoes and tons of good short stories that include Duel and Nightmare at 20,000 feet.

[QUOTE="Wetall_basic"]Unfortuantely most of my literary knowledge is rooted in more modern writers,though I've read a poem or two of Poe's,but mostly his more well know works, such as "The Raven". Though,honestly I'm always looking for more decent horror so any suggestions would be awesome.Film-Guy

If you like Lovecraft then you would like most of Richard Matheson's books. He wrote I am legend, A stir of echoes and tons of good short stories that include Duel and Nightmare at 20,000 feet.

[QUOTE="Film-Guy"]

[QUOTE="Wetall_basic"]Unfortuantely most of my literary knowledge is rooted in more modern writers,though I've read a poem or two of Poe's,but mostly his more well know works, such as "The Raven". Though,honestly I'm always looking for more decent horror so any suggestions would be awesome.Wetall_basic

If you like Lovecraft then you would like most of Richard Matheson's books. He wrote I am legend, A stir of echoes and tons of good short stories that include Duel and Nightmare at 20,000 feet.

Day of the Triffids freaked me out when i first read it, haven't done so in ages though. Good reminder, you should check out a book called Swan Song too.

I've been a fan of Lovecraft for years. While he is, indeed, a great author, I would hardly call him one of the best. Poe, who greatly influenced Lovecraft's work, is my favorite horror author.

Hopefully del Toro can do wonders with At the Mountains of Madness. With the work he did on Pan's Labyrinth, Cronos, and The Devil's Backbone he might be able to capture the atmosphere of Lovecraft's work. Unfortunately, most other films based on his work (except Re-Animator) failed because of the atmosphere. Lovecraft is hard to craft into a good film because everything in his stories is "indescribable."

Anyways, while it may not be award-winning or have the ability to change your life, I encourage you to read some of his stories. "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" has always been my favorite.

Also, I wouldn't suggest Lovecraft's work to anyone that didn't do well in high school English, as some of it can be hard to grasp.

I've been a fan of Lovecraft for years. While he is, indeed, a great author, I would hardly call him one of the best. Poe, who greatly influenced Lovecraft's work, is my favorite horror author.

Hopefully del Toro can do wonders with At the Mountains of Madness. With the work he did on Pan's Labyrinth, Cronos, and The Devil's Backbone he might be able to capture the atmosphere of Lovecraft's work. Unfortunately, most other films based on his work (except Re-Animator) failed because of the atmosphere. Lovecraft is hard to craft into a good film because everything in his stories is "indescribable."

Anyways, while it may not be award-winning or have the ability to change your life, I encourage you to read some of his stories. "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" has always been my favorite.

Also, I wouldn't suggest Lovecraft's work to anyone that didn't do well in high school English, as some of it can be hard to grasp.

Canvas_Of_Flesh

I still don't know hwo to pronounce the word Cthulhu.

I have to take issue with the TC. I enjoy H.P. Lovecraft and find him very evocative and imaginative. I do not, however, find him to be a good writer. Techniquewise, he's amazingly stilted. In high school, I did my senior English term paper on the techniques Lovecraft used in The Call of Cthulhu to describe his aggressively atheistic worldview, and doing a critical analysis of his writing made it pretty painfullly clear that he was carried more by compelling ideas than expressing them well. One of the books I used as a reference stated this pretty explicitly, either in the intro to one of the essays or in the summary saying "Lovecraft was not a good writer." Again, I say this as someone who enjoys his work, but his characterization, dialogue and pathologically rational protagonists, as well as his love of esoteric language all work against him.xaos

I don't think he was a great writer literary wise, but he is a great storyteller. That to me is more important, you can be a master of words and literature, but if you can't tell a story well then I will not be as interested. Thats why I think writers like Stephen King and Richard Matheson are favorites of mine.

i've never actually read any of his books, but i've read about them, mostly about the Chtulu mythos. What are a few books you'd recommend? dante_123456

Since he writes mostly short stories i would recommend the short story collections like The Call of Cthulhu and other weird tales. At the mountains of madness is published in single book form too.