Friday, October 30, 2020

Bookshelf Traveling for Halloween

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.

For Halloween, I am sharing two more of my husband's bookshelves. 

The first shelf has more of his books of ghost stories.  Only three ghost story books are visible, but there are others behind the books facing out. Also on this shelf is a volume of Shakespeare's comedies, several books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and two volumes of poetry.


The second shelf is a mixed bag of books, and the ornaments on the shelves fit the Halloween theme. Here there are several Arkham House books by H. P. Lovecraft and several books by Sinclair Lewis. 



Several of the books on this shelf have lovely covers. Here are a couple of them.

Prince Zaleski and Cummings King Monk by M. P. Shiel collects seven supernatural detective stories from the late 19th century and the early 20th century. NancyO discusses the Prince Zaleski stories at the Crime Segments blog.


The Best of John Bellairs is comprised of three young adult fantasy novels featuring Lewis Barnevelt, a ten-year-old boy who lives with his Uncle Jonathan. Each novel in this edition is illustrated by a different artist. 

  • The House with a Clock in Its Walls (1973) - illustrated by Edward Gorey
  • The Figure in the Shadows (1975) - illustrated by Mercer Mayer
  • The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring (1976) - illustrated by Richard Egielski



22 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

Halloween or ghost stories are hard to pull off. I just read two by Muriel Spark. One I just didn't understand. The second was pretty ordinary. Of course, the writing is excellent so I guess we should put too much emphasize on being scared.

Rick Robinson said...

Happy Halloween, Tracy!

Margot Kinberg said...

Those covers are fantastic, Tracy! and I have to say, a good ghost story can be chilling (in a good way). It looks like your husband has a fine collection of them.

TracyK said...

Patti, since my husband has so many ghost story books, I plan to try a few by different authors myself. In the past I have found that they are not scary to me and that I don't really get into the right mood for it.

Glen is planning to buy a book of ghost stories by Muriel Spark.

TracyK said...

Thanks, Rick. Happy Halloween to you, too. I used to celebrate it by joining in on the Reading in Peril events at Stainless Steel Droppings.

TracyK said...

Those are lovely covers, Margot. Glen has lots more ghost stories on the Kindle. He will never run out.

CLM said...

A nice assortment! I remember reading the first John Bellairs long ago but oddly have no recollection of the remainder of the series. It used to be that box-sets and omnibus editions like the one you show were very popular; then bookstores refused to provide the space except at holidays, and except for an HP or Hunger Games set I haven't seen any for years.

Happy Halloween! I bought even more candy today but my neighbor says she doubts anyone will come. She is taking her three to some special parade in a park so they can show off their costumes. I guess that is better than nothing but the candy was usually as important to me as the costume - particularly if I had made a literary costume no one could guess!

TracyK said...

Constance, it seems like I should remember John Bellairs. I guess he was writing when I wasn't reading that kind of book.

You have reminded me of my childhood trick-or-treating. I really only remember it when I was getting close to my teens years and usually just trick-or-treated for UNICEF or something like that. But Halloween was so different back then, at least in my neighborhood. Almost everyone gave out candy, some people did really special treats, but no big deal decorations. In more recent years, my sister would take the younger kids of family and friends to a neighborhood that decorated, then bring them back to my mother's house for a party.

Rick Robinson said...

I miss Reading in Peril. Maybe next year...

TracyK said...

I agree, Rick. I might try it again next year, also.

Cath said...

I have the Victorian ghost story collection and the English, both excellent anthologies. And that's a nice shelf of Lovecraft. Years since I read him and then moved on to Brian Lumley's Cthulhu stories which I liked just as much.

TracyK said...

Cath, I am not surprised you have some overlap with Glen's books, as you both like ghost stories. I have never tried anything by Lovecraft although I am planning to try some stories sometime soon.

Katrina said...

I've read hardly any ghost stories over the years and now I can only remember reading The Turn of the Screw. Maybe I should give some more a go. This has been a strange Hallowe'en, just a few houses nearby bothered to decorate and today the wind has been so wild all those cobwebs, spiders and skeletons must have blown away. We've had no 'guisers' visiting at all. I'll link to this tomorrow, when I get around to doing my own insane travelling.

TracyK said...

I have not read many ghost stories either, Katrina. A few years ago I read a novella by Susan Hill, The Man in the Picture, for Readers Imbibing Peril. It is a ghost story but did not do anything for me at all, which did not encourage me to continue. But I realize that each story is different so I plan to try more of them over time, by various authors, and see what I think.

Yvonne @ Fiction Books Reviews said...

Hi Tracy,

If you were to check out my bookshelves and those of my husband, you would find them to be totally different.

I have very eclectic reading tastes, with the possible exceptions of most fantasy and all science fiction. However all my books will fall within the wider genre of fiction.

My husband, on the other hand, finds fiction a complete waste of time and will only countenance text books or non-fiction as his way of relaxing! he always maintains that you don't learn anything from reading fiction and no matter how many examples I can lay my hands on, he remains unconvinced!

I used to enjoy a good horror story, however I can't recall a good ghost story I might have read, so this is obviously a genre I dust off and brush-up on.

Halloween was pretty much cancelled, here in the UK, and in fact we are heading back into another month long national lockdown from Thursday, along with most other European countries.

Stay Safe :)

Yvonne xx

TracyK said...

Yvonne, my husband does read mysteries but reads much more non-fiction than I do, and he keeps all the books he enjoyed so we have lots of shelves of nonfiction books. I would like to read more nonfiction but I can only read so much, and mysteries and other fiction are my main love.

We haven't done much for Halloween for years, but I do like the decorations, skulls, black cats, and day of the dead ornaments. Regardless of the status of the shutdown of businesses here, which goes up and down, we are pretty much staying at home except for grocery store visits and the occasional necessary appointment.

Prashant C. Trikannad said...

Tracy, book covers and bookshelves are a joy to behold. I derive joy in merely rearranging my modest collection every few weeks.

TracyK said...

That is a great idea, Prashant. That way you always know what you have and where it is.

Clothes in Books said...

Great collections Tracy, and I particularly like all the little objets in front of the travel books.

TracyK said...

Moira, I am fond of all of those ornaments on that shelf. Seems like every Halloween (except this one) we pick up a few.

col2910 said...

Nice copies, but nothing that really grabs me.

TracyK said...

There are a few on these shelves I would not mind trying, Col, but I already have too many books. Maybe someday.