Scan barcode
A review by sucreslibrary
Collected Ghost Stories by M.R. James
slow-paced
4.0
I had never read any of M.R. James stories before picking this up, so it was really fun to be thrown into such a well-researched edition of not only his stories, but also his life. this collection includes a timeline of James' entire life, as well as a very lengthy 'Explanatory Notes' section that explains various elements that pop up in his stories, usually something to do with British or religious history but also sometimes just defining specific terms. it did make this read a bit longer than I expected it to be, as some stories have over 20 "explanatory notes", so I found myself often flipping back and forth between the story and the notes section. I took to placing my bookmark in the "notes" section while I read so I could reference things easier. even if many of the stories were a 3.5 to me, the thoroughness of this volume easily bumps it to 4 stars. (out of the 33 stories, 21 were a 3.5 or higher, with only four rating a 2, which is a pretty great turnout!)
as for the stories themselves, reading such a big collection of them back-to-back makes it easy to pick up on certain themes. I could see that being overwhelming or boring for a lot of people, but I really enjoyed James' "voice" and so seeing the same central themes and tropes was entertaining. I didn't expect to laugh as much as I did while reading these (James' distaste for golf felt palpable in several of the stories, and I appreciated him sparing us from long descriptions of it). I also found it interesting how a lot of the stories central scares were often not from the perspective of the narrator, and were usually told to them instead of us experiencing them as they happen (there are exceptions to this, and some of my favorites were the exceptions, so take that as you will).
the way the ghouls and monsters are described really took me by surprise - there's a lot of variety, and I could see them so clearly in my head that I wished I was a better artist just so I could sketch them out! I think I wasn't expecting such detail when it came to their appearances, and to be as creeped out as I was (something about the way he describes how a lot of them move could really make my skin crawl!). I'm looking forward to watching some live action adaptations I've seen recommended, especially since a lot of them seem to be of my favorite stories.
speaking of, my favorites were 'The Mezzotint', 'The Ash-Tree', 'Number 13', 'Casting the Runes', 'A Warning to the Curious', and 'Wailing Well'. I can easily see myself referring back to these in the future, especially during these spooky and colder months.
as far as the stories that I wasn't a fan of, I think most of them were bogged down in a lot of history that I'm not well-versed in and also don't care as much about. there's a lot of academics in these tales, and while we are often spared some of the most boring topics, James still has some he quite likes to focus on. I probably would have liked these stories even less if I didn't have the context from the "notes" in the back! I really can't stress enough how much those helped contextualize and add flavor to a lot of these tales. if you're going to pick up his work, I highly recommend this specific edition.
as for the stories themselves, reading such a big collection of them back-to-back makes it easy to pick up on certain themes. I could see that being overwhelming or boring for a lot of people, but I really enjoyed James' "voice" and so seeing the same central themes and tropes was entertaining. I didn't expect to laugh as much as I did while reading these (James' distaste for golf felt palpable in several of the stories, and I appreciated him sparing us from long descriptions of it). I also found it interesting how a lot of the stories central scares were often not from the perspective of the narrator, and were usually told to them instead of us experiencing them as they happen (there are exceptions to this, and some of my favorites were the exceptions, so take that as you will).
the way the ghouls and monsters are described really took me by surprise - there's a lot of variety, and I could see them so clearly in my head that I wished I was a better artist just so I could sketch them out! I think I wasn't expecting such detail when it came to their appearances, and to be as creeped out as I was (something about the way he describes how a lot of them move could really make my skin crawl!). I'm looking forward to watching some live action adaptations I've seen recommended, especially since a lot of them seem to be of my favorite stories.
speaking of, my favorites were 'The Mezzotint', 'The Ash-Tree', 'Number 13', 'Casting the Runes', 'A Warning to the Curious', and 'Wailing Well'. I can easily see myself referring back to these in the future, especially during these spooky and colder months.
as far as the stories that I wasn't a fan of, I think most of them were bogged down in a lot of history that I'm not well-versed in and also don't care as much about. there's a lot of academics in these tales, and while we are often spared some of the most boring topics, James still has some he quite likes to focus on. I probably would have liked these stories even less if I didn't have the context from the "notes" in the back! I really can't stress enough how much those helped contextualize and add flavor to a lot of these tales. if you're going to pick up his work, I highly recommend this specific edition.