sevenspiders -
Helpful Score: 3
If you're a Poe fan at all, you owe it to yourself to check out this wonderful collection. To commemorate Poe's 200th birthday its a collection of some of his best stories and poems, with essays and commentary by a number of Edgar Award Winning mystery and horror authors.
I picked it up thinking, well I'll just skip the essays and reread my favorite stories, but surprisingly, the essays were great. They were engaging, insightful and fun to read. You can see how your favorite modern thriller writers were influenced by Poe. Or, if so inclined, you can laugh at their shortcomings next to the undisputed master.
A handful of the essays seem forced (the ones written in verse, and Sue Grafton who seems to be fishing for something good to say) but on the whole the essays are short and sweet (if you consider stories of childhood nighmares sweet). And the book has amazing illustrations; creepy black-and-white, stark, like Edward Gorey without the whimsy.
And of course, there's Poe.
The book includes a variety of his tales, William Wilson, Tell-Tale Heart, Cask of Amontillado, Masque of the Red Death, Murders in the Rue Morgue, and others, as well as "The Raven" and "The Bells". And as Poe is undeniably the master, these gems alone would be worth the price of the book.
I picked it up thinking, well I'll just skip the essays and reread my favorite stories, but surprisingly, the essays were great. They were engaging, insightful and fun to read. You can see how your favorite modern thriller writers were influenced by Poe. Or, if so inclined, you can laugh at their shortcomings next to the undisputed master.
A handful of the essays seem forced (the ones written in verse, and Sue Grafton who seems to be fishing for something good to say) but on the whole the essays are short and sweet (if you consider stories of childhood nighmares sweet). And the book has amazing illustrations; creepy black-and-white, stark, like Edward Gorey without the whimsy.
And of course, there's Poe.
The book includes a variety of his tales, William Wilson, Tell-Tale Heart, Cask of Amontillado, Masque of the Red Death, Murders in the Rue Morgue, and others, as well as "The Raven" and "The Bells". And as Poe is undeniably the master, these gems alone would be worth the price of the book.
