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Title: H. P. Lovecraft: Tales (Library of America)
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Author: H. P. Lovecraft
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Review of H. P. Lovecraft: Tales (Library of America)

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Comments for H. P. Lovecraft: Tales (Library of America)

• Posted on 2009-10-19
  The Best Compilation of Lovecraft to Date
  
  Short Version:
  If you want a book full of Lovecraft, buy this one
  
  Long Version:
  While one could argue quite successfully that H.P. Lovecraft wasn't an exceptional writer. However, his style is unique in inspiring a unique fear, the insurmountable cosmic evil of his major works (especially the Cthulhu mythos) have a strange way of making one feel helplessly insignificant, and yet actively engaged. This collection contains all the great gems of his career, some reviewers have noted that there are a number of sub standard stories here. Well, there simply aren't 800 pages of top notch Lovecraft work out there, and the editor decided to fill in the rest of the space with a bit of fluff, but rest assured, the truly essential pieces are all present.
  
  A minor note on the book itself, high quality binding and a smooth paper stock(a quality of all Library of America publications I have read) make this book quite pleasant to handle as opposed to some other Lovecraft compilations on the market (specifically, Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H. P. Lovecraft (Gollancz SF) is printed on funny smelling paper). It seems like a tiny nit to pick but it can greatly impact the experience of reading.
  
  
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• Posted on 2009-10-09
  Definitive? Almost.
  
  At this point, saying anything about Lovecraft's writing itself is somewhat redundant, as many others more qualified than me have chimed in.
  Regardless, I will say: Lovecraft is excellent. His writing itself is turgid and difficult, but his ideas are wonderful and quite unlike any other horror author out there (in my opinion he surpassed Poe). I have found Lovecraft is an author to knock back quickly, then let the ideas simmer in your subconscious, then return to later. I first read Lovecraft when I was 17. I enjoyed a few of his stories, true, but overall I wouldn't even have called myself a Lovecraft fan.
  
  Months later, as I endeavored to write horror stories of my own, I found Lovecraft's themes (man powerless against larger beings, etc) heavily present. Lovecraft's ideas had settled into my subconscious, and I have never been the same since.
  
  This particular collection is quite lovely. The pages are thin, but pleasant to the touch, and the sturdy binding makes this a durable volume as well as one still comfortable to hold.
  One minor gripe, and the reason I didn't give it five stars: one of Lovecraft's outstanding novellas "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath", a excellent foray in his very unique "dream world", is absent from this book. That surprises me greatly, as I expected to see it hear, along with his two other novels.
  This is still a great collection to own and a fantastic place to start if you are new to Lovecraft's weird fiction.
  
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• Posted on 2009-06-08
  Cthulhu Fhtagn!
  
  While this collection is by no means perfect, it is the second best out there*. I'm not gonna go into detail about Lovecraft, plenty of reviews have done that, but I'll just say everyone I've tried to get into Lovecraft, even if it took some time, grew to like him, or at the very least appreciate him. While I won't tell you to go straight out and buy this book, at least rent it from the library, or any of his books, and read a few stories and see what you think. People have complained about some of the stories Peter Straub chose, but I like that he tried to show his different styles throughout his career.
  *I recently discovered, to my surprise and delight, and Barnes and Noble hardback that contains Lovecraft's complete fiction. It's large, beautiful, thread bound, and the cover price is only $12.95. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure you couldn't buy it from here, you'd have to get it from Barnes and Noble, but I feel to those Lovecraft fans who haven't discovered it, they should be told about it.
  
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• Posted on 2009-03-12
  Excellent mix of Horror and Sci-fi
  
  One should know right off the bat some things about H.P. Lovecrafts works:
  
  It is incredibly descriptive of environments.
  There is virtually no character development.
  It is horror from a scientist's perspective.
  
  That there is no real character development may seem like a criticism, but in this case it's really not. The main theme of Lovecraft's work is the utter futility of man against cosmic forces that aren't malevolent towards them as much as indifferent or at the very best a little curious. Humanity is just a little blip in the universe, who were surpassed before their existence by interplanetary beings, many of which are still alive and simply sleeping. Humanity will die and be succeeded by another species, as is told by many of the characters who state their travels through time, switching minds with creatures horrible by human comprehension.
  
  Most everything seemingly supernatural has its origins in beings that exist in other planets, other dimensions(some of which criss cross our own), and have knowledge of warped mathematics that are completely contrary to the euclidean framefork human beings are so accustomed to.
  
  What's most interesting is his mythos of the Old Ones, Cthulhu, and the Necronomicon of the Mad Abdul Al Hazared(what a great name!). The short storuies piece themselves into a whole that speaks volumes of the long dead civilizations and the terror experience at encounters with them.
  
  At The Mountains of Madness is the high point in this collection, but most of the stories as a whole are entertaining, if overly verbose at times. some of the stories feel a little repetitive, but one must remember there 800 pages of short stories here, so there's certainly going to be a little overlap.
  
  Why did they put the Reanimator story in this collection? Egads was that terrible. Even Lovecraft himself explicitly stated it was bad. Other than that, a good collection that avoids the silly slasher gore of most modern horror.
  
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• Posted on 2009-02-26
  Most Magnificent Collection of Scientific Minded Horror and Prose.
  
  This book is one of the finest I have had the pleasure to read.
  This year, less than two months into it,
  I read over 20 long and complex books.
  This is among the finest. This is true, not only of this year,
  but of every year of my lifetime.
  I am 30 years of age. Due to the reading I have completed this year, I am now a self-proclaimed student of literature, and writing.
  
  Specifically, I have had much experience with masters of fiction, and self-proclaimed 'disciples of cthulhu mythos' fiction.
  
  Until now, I have only briefly been engaged with Lovecraft.
  It took the Library of America, and its superb book craft, which in my opinion is unmatched for the meagre sum they ask,
  to bring me full-force-frontal with the genius that is Lovecraft.
  Rest his soul!
  
  A poem for Lovecraft;
  
  "So fine a writer,
  superb and leaden with
  universe and time,
  inspired this and
  many others,
  so long and forever
  after his own life
  has drawn to a close."
  
  Live on in our Minds, Great One!
  
  
  Thank you for your imaginative and amazing prose.
  
  
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