Tuesday 25 August 2009

RIP 4

I can't believe how quickly the RIP challenge has come round again. Doesn't seem like five minutes since I did the last one. And *yet* I also seem to have been anticipating it for weeks now. Pulling books out and adding them to the pile. Getting all excited along with Deslily. I sometimes wonder if I have ever properly grown up... Anyway, was thrilled to read on Susan's blog last night that Carl had put up the post for the R.I.P 4 challenge and even though it was very late I rushed over there like a mad thing to check out the details. As usual there's a gorgeous banner:



And as usual there are enough options to suit all requirements, from diehard spooky readers like myself, to those who just want to try one book to see if they like it. I've chosen to do:



Which is to: Read Four books of any length, from any subgenre of scary stories that you choose.

I have started a pool of books to read from and these are they:

The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield
Lonely Werewolf Girl - Martin Millar
We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson
Blood Sinister - Celia Rees (YA)
The Lair of the White Worm - Bram Stoker
Iron Kissed - Patricia Briggs
The Five Jars - M.R. James (novella)
Mister B. Gone - Clive Barker
Stolen - Kelley Armstrong
Whispers in the Sand - Barbara Erskine
Endless Night - Agatha Christie
Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror - Chris Priestley
The Man in the Mirror - Susan Hill
Tales of Terror from the Black Ship - Chris Priestley

This is in no way complete though and I'm certain I'll be adding to it, or taking away, as I go along and also as I read other people's reviews.

I also plan to do something I really got a kick out of last year and that's:



A few short story books I plan to read from are:

The Ghost Now Standing on Platform One - ed. Richard Peyton
Collected Ghost Stories - M.R. James
The Bishop of Hell and other stories - Marjorie Bowen
The Collected Ghost Stories - E.F. Benson
Dark Alchemy - ed. Jack Dann & Gardner Dozois

Plus sundry others as there are certain authors such as Edith Wharton whose stories I would like to seek out and reread.

I have my grandaughter here staying until Saturday, so not a lot of time to read, but as soon as she goes home I'll be making a start - possibly with some short stories on Sunday. So excited about this - and thanks to Carl for hosting it once again.

17 comments:

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

I just came across your blog today. I am so excied to see the post about the RIP challange. thanks

Carl V. Anderson said...

Every year I see M.R. James on someone's reading list and every year I swear I am going to read his work and I never do. No more! I had my wife find this same book in her university library system and it is on its way to me!!!

It is very hard to believe that the time for this has come again.

Glad you love the banner, I was so thrilled when Jennifer Gordon gave me permission to slightly alter and use her work this year. It turned out better than I thought it would.

Great to have you in again this year and I appreciate your excitement.

Susan said...

Oh Cath, it is so exciting, isn't it? It's too late for me to post about it tonight (it's midnight and I have to get up at 5:30, so this is the last post I'm reading tonight!) so I'll do it tomorrow.....I am reading The Thirteenth Tale also - or hoping to get to it, since so many bloggers loved it the past few years. I'll email you about it. I don't have a final list ready...

And I agree - fabulous poster by Carl!

DesLily said...

of course you know I am most excited that you are going to read the thirteenth tale.. i just hope you like it. There have beens some that are disappointed from it, but not many. This is the first book that caught my "gothic mystery" inner being that I didn't know was there! We will discuss the book more I am sure! (I hope to reread it this year...again)

Heather said...

The Thirteenth Tale is a fantastic book for the RIP challenge. I loved that book so much!!! You have a great list here, good luck and have fun!

Ana S. said...

Dark Alchemy is such an excellent collection! I loved every story on it, and that doesn't happen very often. Happy reading, Cath!

Amanda said...

Oh my goodness - you're the first person I've seen doing Lair of the White Worm. My husband read that last summer - didn't like it very much - and still talks about it all the time. How funny! I hope you like it better than he did!

Becky said...

I loved The Thirteenth Tale!

I'm curious to see what you think of The Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker. I've only read Dracula, and always wondered if I needed to read any of his other books.

Cath said...

Diane: welcome to my blog. The whole RIP thing is very exciting. :-) I'll check out your blog in a moment.

Carl: I'm pretty certain you won't be sorry about trying M.R. James. The atmosphere he created in his stories is pretty much unique.

The banner seems to be very popular all round! Good choice.

You're so welcome.

Susan: I'll check your blog in a moment to see if your post is up. Having my grandaughter here means I'm behind with all the posts but we're having a lovely time with her. We saw Aliens in the Attic today. :-)

I'm determined to get to The Thirteenth Tale this year. Deslily is going to chivvy me along. lol

Pat, I don't think there's a lot of danger that I won't like The Thirteenth Tale. It sounds like just my kind of thing.

Heather: a *lot* of people seem to love The Thirteenth Tale and I'm so curious to know why.

Thank you, I hope you enjoy the challenge too.

Nymeth: I'm not sure why I bought Dark Alchemy... maybe I saw your review? Regardless, I thought the list of authors sounded amazing and can't wait to read some of the stories.

Amanda: I'm determined not to give up with Bram Stoker. I've read Dracula, which I loved, and The Jewel of Seven Stars which I found really hard going and not that satisfying. Also a few short stories which were pretty good. I'm *hoping* I like The Lair of the White Worm. We'll see.

Becky: I too liked Dracula a lot but am not so sure about his other books. Some people seem to love them, others not. I really want to like them so we'll see how this one goes.

Kailana said...

Yay for both Iron Kissed and Stolen!

Cath said...

Kailana: I just *had* to include a Patricia Briggs. :-)

Jeane said...

That is a great list of books. I've never really been into reading scary stuff, but The Thirteenth Tale is a good one! I just gave you a blog award!

Cath said...

Jeane: I'm really looking forward to reading The Thirteenth Tale as so many people seem to have loved it.

Will go and check out my blog award in a moment.

Carl V. Anderson said...

I must say, I myself wasn't that impressed with Lair of the White Worm. But then again I did like Jewel of the Seven Stars. It was much more Stephen King-ish at the end, in my opinion. While none of his stories, including some excellent short stories, are as satisfying as Dracula, I am a big fan of The Mystery of the Sea. It has just the right amount of suspense, romance, and mystery to make it a book I pick up to reread every so often.

Cath said...

Carl: I do actually have The Mystery of the Sea so perhaps I'll read that instead of The Lair of the White Worm. Or maybe I'll try to read both. I'm really in the mood for old fashioned tales of the supernatural.

Jodie Robson said...

Oh, I've got to find the E.F. Benson stories...!

Cath said...

GeraniumCat: The Collected Ghost Stories is a pretty comprehensive collection of EFB's ghost tales. But if you like his other works too I found a nice anthology in a charity shop recently entitled, Desirable Residences. The title story is a Mapp and Lucia story and other sections are headed, 'crank stories', 'society stories', 'cruel stories', 'spook stories' and so on. I was really pleased with the find.