Saturday, October 24, 2020

Bookshelf Traveling: Ghost Stories

I am participating in the Bookshelf Traveling For Insane Times meme. It was originated by Judith at Reader in the Wilderness, but Katrina at Pining for the West is now gathering the blogposts.

Since Halloween is coming soon, this time I am sharing a shelf of my husband's ghost story books. 

He has several books by Robert Aickman on this shelf, plus books by Robert Westall, J. Sheridan Le Fanu, and M. R. James. Also on this shelf are collections edited by Roald Dahl, Dashiell Hammett, and Sir Horace Walpole. His favorites are the Robert Aickman stories and Ghost Stories of an Antiquary by M.R. James.







18 comments:

Cath said...

Fab, fab, fab, Tracy. So envious of those wonderful ghostly tales. I have a collection myself but they're spread around the house a bit. When I read Sayers' complete Peter Wimsey short stories I was quite surprised to find that a handful were of the supernatural variety and 'really' really good. Great shelf!

pattinase (abbott) said...

Love seeing those older books. Feels like going into one of my favorite bookstores.

Margot Kinberg said...

There's nothing like a good spooky short story, Tracy! And your husband has a nice collection of them. I've read a few by some of these authors, but not enough of them. It's nice to take a break from novels now and then and read short stories.

Rick Robinson said...

Now you're into an area that I avoid: ghost, vampire, zombie, horror. I will occasionally watch or read a science fiction frightening alien story, but that's it for scary. So no, I'd sail right past this shelf.

TracyK said...

Cath, I thought you would like this shelf. Next week I hope to do two more shelves that are a mixture but include more ghost story books.

That is interesting about Dorothy Sayers' short stories. I have not read many of those.

TracyK said...

Patti, a lot of these books probably were purchased from used stores that we have visited over the last 40 years.

TracyK said...

Ghost stories are not really my thing, Margot. I don't like scary stories, but some of the ones I have tried are more about atmosphere than tension.

TracyK said...

Rick, I don't like horror at all and don't particularly like ghost stories, but I plan to try some for our Short Story Wednesdays. I have watched zombie films, and I enjoyed World War Z (and the film).

Katrina said...

Ghost stories aren't really my cup of tea but I do like suspense, I really like the cover of Green Tea and I think I have an older version of the Sayers book - unread. I should read it for Halloween.

TracyK said...

I am not a big fan of ghost stories either, Katrina. I do love the cover on Green Tea. I was surprised, that short story book edited by Sayers was the 15th impression in 1951, the original printing was in 1928.

Prashant C. Trikannad said...

Tracy, I like the cover of the Dorothy L. Sayers anthology and I can imagine the ghost stories inside.

CLM said...

What fabulous covers! I must admit that I am not much of a ghost story fan, except for a book called The Ghosts by Antonia Barber and Tryst by Elswyth Thane and The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope. Hmm, maybe I do like ghost stories!

There was one that was very popular in my third-grade class called The Thing at the Foot of the Bed by Maria Leach. Does this cover seem familiar? https://www.biblio.com/book/thing-foot-bed-leach-maria/d/1357834636?aid=frg&utm_source=google&utm_medium=product&utm_campaign=feed-details&currency_id=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw59n8BRD2ARIsAAmgPmL4knHCubsFT9Y0TM0FYokmONEvebEm6ZVWzVKPFdLQus3Y_dHhh5kaAg9iEALw_wcB

TracyK said...

Constance, I have never been a fan of ghost stories either but who knows, maybe I will find that I like them more now. I am sure that there is a lot of variation depending on the author and style of writing.

The Thing at the Foot of the Bed does look very good but the cover does not seem familiar to me.

TracyK said...

Prashant, I looked at the table of contents and some of the stories do look very interesting. But the print is very tiny so I don't think I will try them.

Clothes in Books said...

Those books have the perfect look for ghost stories! The last thing you want is a shiny new paperback, you want a book that could be part of a ghost story.
When I did a couple of Fright Night posts in October, one of the commenters recommended Robert Aickman, so I need to try him,

TracyK said...

Robert Aickman and M.R. James are the two ghost story authors he talks about the most, Moira. I plan to try stories by both of them but don't really know what to expect.

col2910 said...

Some attractive covers for the books Tracy, but I'll concentrate on what I have already, thanks.

TracyK said...

I know, Col, you and I have plenty of books. I will try some of Glen's ghost stories just because I have never given them a chance before.