Read A Book: The Original Horror Novels

[David T. Cole]

READING?! Ok but I don't like it.

[aradia22]

I've read Frankenstein on more than one occasion and I got through some of Dracula (I keep finding myself losing interest or getting busy when I pick it up) but I am a complete wuss when it comes to horror and I don't watch anything else on Showtime so I can't say that I trust the brand. Do you think all the jump scares and gore might be too much for someone who is a reader and who always knew the creature as a sensitive Romantic with a capital "R" and not someone who can sit through anything worse than Pretty Little Liars when it comes to jump scares? For the record, I don't mind blood or death or surgeries. It's just in certain contexts and when it is more fetishized (Nip/Tuck) that it bothers me.

[ganesh]

I read Frankenstein in high school. I have read Dorian Gray like maybe 10 years ago. I actually don't read horror, but I like watching it on tv. Same thing with Dickens. I can't get through two pages of it, but if there's a miniseries, it's appointment tv for me. Except Christmas Carol. I can't stand it. 

[Pippin]

I would recommend Stephen KIng's "Danse Macabre" which is an easy-to-read analysis of the horror genre.  He talks about horror novels, (as well as radio, film & TV) and analyzes Frankenstein, Dracula and Jekyll & Hyde as archetypical novels that serve as foundations for the mythical horror archetypes:  Frankenstein (The Thing with no Name); Dracula (The Vampire) and Jekyll & Hyde (The Werewolf).

 

It's an entertaining and informative read, even though it was written a good 30+ years ago.

[Snookums]

I've read Dracula many times, Frankenstein once, and just finished Dorian Grey. The latter is very well written and taps, maybe accidentally (and the more truthfully for it) into the genuine dread of aging and irrelevance that is within everyone. Dorian makes his sinister bargain without even realizing it at the time, when he's a Prelapsarian Innocent who's been tempted into doubt and fear of something he's never had any experience of (aging) and is basically stuck there without realizing the implications of truly being frozen in time.

[LadyChaos]

Read Frankenstein years ago, tried to Bram Stoker's Dracula several times, but its hard to get through bc it comes across like reading someone's journal. I have Dorian Gray on my list of things to read.

[Epeolatrix]

I liked the Literary Classics Collection edition ebook of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" from Amazon because it has a lot of helpful annotations and additional information. I'm in a Gothic Book Club and this was one of our recent picks. Also, Titan Books is rereleasing some of the classics related to the show under the title "The Penny Dreadful Collection", but they don't seem to differ from any other versions.

Edited June 14, 2016 by Violet Impulse
To add info.