| Title | : | The Mammoth Book of Modern Ghost Stories |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0786719605 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780786719600 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 512 |
| Publication | : | First published September 1, 2007 |
The Mammoth Book of Modern Ghost Stories Reviews
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I know what you're thinking. For some reason, the publishers of this book didn't think literature would sell, so they geared the title and cover art to make you believe this was a collection of shocking-but-true ghost stories that would leave you with a good scare. So, if that was you're assumption, and you're thinking "That's not my thing" then let me tell you, you're wrong.
This is a fabulous collection of literature, that just happens to deal with the supernatural. (Think "A Christmas Carol" -- technically a ghost story, but so much more than that.) Authors such as Daphne du Maurier, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Henry James are featured, as well as other great writers I'd never heard of. The anthology tracks the development of the art of "ghost story" through the 20th century, beginning with classic tales of hauntings and ending with a supernatural story from 1997 that leans decidedly toward science fiction.
The stories themselves range from chilling to psychological, and from humorous to poignant. Overall, a compelling argument for not judging a book by its cover. -
Editor Peter Haining does a good job choosing the selections for this collection of ghost stories. Rather than emphasizing pieces featuring moaning phantoms, clanking chains and other staple but simplistic fare common to the genre, Haining sought stories heavy with eerie mood and tone. As with any anthology like this one, some vignettes are better or more effective than others. That said, the overall quality of the selections is consistently high. Some of the tales surely will curdle a reader's blood late in the dead of a stormy night. The compilation makes clear ghosts are as often specters within us as without, and there can be no haunting absent the haunted.
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This one took me a very long time to complete since nearly half of the collection of stories were either painfully dull and tame (surprisingly by well known authors whose stories may have frightened or terrified readers at the first-half of the 20th century, but are "ho-hum" by today's horror standards), or had little or nothing to do with ghosts (just a vague notion of the supernatural), and still others read like bad urban legends with predictable endings. But nonetheless I read them all from beginning to end. However, the book is by no means a complete loss since the other half of stories collected are well worth the read (which is why I gave the book an overall 3-star rating). So, if you happen to pick up this book, the stories I recommend reading are: A.C. Benson's "The House at Trehale", Arthur Gray's "The Everlasting Club", A.N.L. Munby's "Number Seventy-Nine", Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "Playing With Fire", Rudyard Kipling's "The House Surgeon", John Buchan's "The Grove of Ashtaroth", Somerset Maugham's "A Man from Glasgow", George Minto's "The Ghost of U65", Algernon Blackwood's "Vengeance is Mine", Sir Alec Guiness' "Money for Jam", Edith Wharton's "The Lady's Maid's Bell", Eudora Welty's "Clytie", Daphne du Maurier's "The Pool", James Thurber's "The Night the Ghost Got In", Eric Keown's "Sir Tristram Goes West", Ray Bradbury's "Another Fine Mess", E.F. Benson's "A Light in the Garden", Hammond Innes' "South Sea Bubble", Fritz Leiber's "Smoke Ghost", A.E. Van Vogt's "The Ghost", and Philip Pullman's "Video Nasty".
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I read the first two sections of this book (The Modern Tradition and The Golden Era), but have to stop for now to return this to the library and fulfill someone else's hold.
There are no real standouts so far; every tale is more or less the same as the one before it. Nabakov's and D.H. Lawrence's contributions the genre are frankly bizarre; not so much ghost stories as supernatural tales about the time-space continuum playing tricks on unwitting protagonists. If I had to pick a favorite, I'd go with Rudyard Kipling's "The House Surgeon," the closest to the modern day "haunted house" formula.
Something I find interesting: many of these earlier supernatural writers from the 19th and early 20th century are super-concerned with race and religion. There's an obvious strain of mistrust and fear running through several of the tales; the Christian/Protestant narrators are wary or disapproving of anyone deriving from a "mystical," "ancient," or "Mediterranean" culture, no matter how far removed these people might be from their roots. Blood, it seems, is inescapable. Greeks, people with Jewish heritage... all much more susceptible to hauntings and curses. This is consistent with other, more modern ghost stories that I've read, where Catholics are lumped into the same category.
Good fodder for somebody's Ph.D. dissertation, I'm sure.
I look forward to returning to this book later, to read interpretations by Edith Wharton, Eudora Welty, Daphne Du Maurier, and Joyce Carol Oates. -
I thought this anthology was uneven at best. "The Party" by William Nolan and "Video Nasty" by Phillip Pullman were well done. The rest of the stories fell into one of two categories: classics I'd already read (e.g. "Clytie" by Eudora Welty) or stories so dry that I found myself skimming to the end.
At worst, it's mislabeled. Some of these stories are over 100 years old--not exactly modern. Many of them aren't ghost stories, either.
Overall, I was unimpressed. -
Nice and creepy. Most of these I hadn't read which is surprising given my horror anthology collection.
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I sort of feel like when most people use the word "modern," they aren't referring to works that were written in 1900. I suffered through about three of the pieces in this book before I started flipping through and picking out the ones I thought I might like. 300 pages in, I gave up trying to find anything worth reading. There are some great paranormal anthologies out there, but this is most decidedly not one of them.
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As with most short story collections, some stories are better than others, but I really enjoyed most of this collection. The war ghost and comical phantom sections were my least favourite sections but thoroughly enjoyed the other sections (esp. Gothic tales, and Haunting Tales).
Please note that these are not 'ghost stories' in the way that casual 21st century readers expect. No cheap-thrills-blood-guts-and-gore horror film on paper. These are intellectual tales that delve into the supernatural, and interpret 'horror tale' and 'ghost story' liberally. I think this is why I enjoyed it so much, as I prefer to read tales that force us to look at the world (or ourselves) differently, instead of a book of cheap tricks and tales (which is what some of the other readers apparently expected...hmm.).
I also like how each story started off with a little blurb about the author, his/her life, inspirations, interests, other works, etc. Most of the authors were famous in their heyday but have now been lost somewhat in the past. It was great to get a chance to read works by these now-little-known (though often prolific) writers. In fact, I think I prefer works by the more obscure writers rather than the famous ones. Looking back, the book as made me discover some new others (notably a new favourite, MR James).
All in all, a great - though lengthy!! - compilation of 20th century ghost/supernatural stories!!! -
I didn't get exactly what I wanted when I started this book. I wanted something to scare me and this was more intellectual. I liked it though. The only thing is that it's pretty uneven, some stories are really good and some left me thinking : 'uh'. The book stories are divided in section. One section is called 'Christmas Spirits: Festive Seasons Chillers'... I was expecting stories set at Christmas, but they were PUBLISHED at Christmas which I think was a let down, I don't get that. My favorite section was the last one 'Haunting Times: Tales of Unease' about every story in this section was interesting and very good. I especially liked 'The Ghost' by A.E. Van Vogt, 'Video Nasty' by Philip Pullman and 'Haunted' by Joyce Carol Oates. I think the editor did an overall good job picking the stories; he did make me discover a lot of authors that I had never heard of (and a lot I did know) and I think discovering new authors is one of the main purpose of a short story anthology (with entertaining... obviously).
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This is a really well-chosen anthology filled with well-known authors, some known for supernatural fiction and some I wasn't aware wrote any ghost stories. (D.H. Lawrence was a pleasant - and fairly creepy - surprise, as were Nabokov and Alec Guinness, yes, the actor Alec Guinness.) It's worth picking up for that alone.
It's categorized by type of ghost story, which makes it an excellent choice if you are trying to figure out what kind of ghost stories you like or are in the mood for something specific.
These are pretty mild. They're not horror stories and won't make you lose any sleep or turn on any lights, but they are still fun to read. -
If you like this you'll love The Mammoth Book of 20th Century Ghost Stories and earlier edition with completely different ghost stories by many famous and great others including: P.G. Wodehouse, Henry James, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and H.G. Wells. Some are silly some are goofy and some had me saying, "Now why would anyone think this is scary." They are all a good romp and a key to marking the evolution of the gothic tale.
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I really struggled with this book. Mammoth indeed. I came to it expecting to be entertained with modern ghost stories, but found that many of them dated from the early 1900's. Not so modern. Some of them were very long-winded. All was not lost however. There were some very good tales in the collection, making it worth my while to stick with it. I don't think I will be reading any more "Mammoth Books of....." in the near future though.
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I have to credit my good friend Tom for hooking me onto this one. Incredibly compiled collection of great writing, ghost stories or not. Somerset Maugham, Daphne DuMaurier, Joyce Carol Oates, even John Gielgud before he was a "Sir." Most of them deliver genuine creeps, but the whole collection was SO well selected. I will read more in this series.
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A collection of ghost\supernatural tales from the past century. I'm only awarding this 4 stars because, although as a whole I really liked it, some of the stories weren't as good as others. Typical of this kind of book; some stories were fantastic, others were kind of meh and some just made me scratch my head.
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I brought this book to read while camping this summer. It was okay - some of the stories I really liked while others I did not fine entertaining or even remotely believable. I know this is fiction but I prefer books that let your mind ponder how it could happen in the 'real' world. I would recommend it to any die hard fans but I probably wouldn't re-read it in the future.
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All in all, not a very inspired anthology. Many stories are tedious and many have little to do with the supernatural. Of course, I loved the M.R.James and the Edith Wharton ones, but I was expecting some new, more compelling titles.
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A great, wide ranging selection of ghost stories, nicely grouped together in different styles, with a handy intro for each author. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will definitely dip into it again and again.
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Many great ghost stories collected here! There are ghost stories from various places in the world and throughout years bouncing between the early 1900’s and 2004. Some stories are short and a few are longer, but they are all memorable! Great read from Halloween through the Christmas season!
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I Couldn't finish it. A lot of the stories were good but some of them were so hard to follow that I ended up questioning why they where scary? Overall it an ok read.
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It was rather hard work to finish this book - some of the stories are really not very good - but I'm glad I did. The last part,entitled "Haunting Times: Tales of Unease", is easily the best.
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I am not really sure how to make a review on this book because it is a book with lots of little stories in it. Every story was different and eery. Not really scary but interesting to read.
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crap....couldn't get in to it
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Great book mixing stories from the 1800's to 2004. Interesting to see the differences and similiarities between writing styles in the different centuries. My favorite was a story by AE Van Vogt.
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As an anthology, it's obviously a curate's egg but the good stories are REALLY good.
My favourite story? No idea. -
Some great stories, beginning with the best; M R James O whistle and I'll come to you my lad and finishes with two of the future's bright prospects; Pullman and De Bernieres.
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Great collection of short, scary stories in here. Some absolute hidden gems which I hadn’t heard of before.
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Very nice! This is a good, solid collection. There's enough stories that there's going to be more than a few that will scare.
Oh, Whistle, And I'll Come to You, My Lad by M.R. James is good. That's a pretty good given, it's M.R. James.
The Richpins by E.G. Swain was nice.
Pink May by Elizabeth Bowen was a good story. This is one of those that I'd just think about every so often afterward.
Money for Jam by Sir Alec Guinness was pretty chilling, but that's just because I think it's non-fiction.
The Duenna by Marie Belloc Lowndes was good, but I didn't quite like the ending. I wanted a more fairy-tale ending, with good and bad punished appropriately.
A Spot of Gothic by Jane Gardam was good.
The Inexperience Ghost by H.G. Wells is still a lot of fun, but I have to admit, I skip to the ending now.
Who or What Was It? by Kingsley Amis was good.
The Light in the Garden by E. F. Benson was also good.
Christmas Honeymoon by Howard Spring was fantastic!
Ringing in the Good News by Peter Ackroyd was nice.
Smoke Ghost by Fritz Leiber is still good.
The Ghost by A.E. Van Vogt is a good story. It doesn't feel very scary at all, but it's a good story.
The Party by William F. Nolan was pretty much the same thing; good but not scary.
Underground by J.B. Priestly was good, I liked it.
Haunted by Joyce Carol Oates was not my sort of story. It felt a bit gross, like something nasty on your skin. I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be that way and thus is very well done.
Video Nasty by Philip Pullman is fantastic, scary and kind of heart-breaking. -
DNF - I don't like DNF-ing but I didn't want to spend any more time on this. This collection truly is mammoth. Which would be fine but most of the stories are a little slow and leave you more with a confused feeling than anything else. There are some good ones, my favourites being A Man from Glasgow and The Lady's Maid's Bell. All in all, not my favourite, some stories were good, but time to move on.
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Great stories!
