All Hallow's Read: Necronomicon; The Best Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft

On a dank dark book shelf hanging in cobwebs I saw, by the merge light of the candlestick, the leather bound volume I had been searching for, the fearful letters scratched out in gold. The light flickered. I held my breath as I reached out my hand in the pitch darkness to click “add to shopping cart”. 

Necronomicon; The Best Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft, promptly arrived in the post via Amazon. It is a terrifyingly large collection of weird tales written by the father of modern horror. The volume has 36 gruesome short stories and poems accompanied by set of painfully etched illustrations, finally there is an afterword detailing the life and work of H.P. Lovecraft the writer. 

 

At a time when there was a lack in television or film images Lovecraft’s macabre fiction had a frightening impact on audiences. The stories have a gristly twist of science fiction and horror which were strange and refreshingly new at the time. 

This coming evening, under the cloudless moon, by the dim light of candles have a read of ‘The Dunwich Horror’ or ‘The Hound’; uncanny tales of unnatural children and grave-robbing, but be sure to turn on the light if you glimpse the shadow of an unseen monster weaving his tentacles towards you…

Necronomicon, is a must have for the library of anyone who is a fan of weird fiction or the English language, as each tale reveal the wide vocabulary of the author who was blessed with a near-photographic memory.
 

I brought this leather bound anthology to get into the spirit of All Hallows Read and sneakily borrowed the short tale I am Legend by Richard Matheson from a friend.

What’s your favourite horror story? Will you be reading any horror stories this evening?

Pure by Andrew Miller Review

Paris. 1785. Market sellers howl out prices behind a litter of cheese stalls, dishonoured women sly through the streets dodging barked insults, and on the gates of the Bastille black paint scrawls out slogans of the coming “future”.

All the while a stench is corrupting the air, the populace’s clothing, skin, and food.  The cemetery of Les Innocents is overflowing. The walls, which enclose the cemetery’s burial grounds and abandoned church, are threatening to burst. 

Jean-Bapiste Baratte, a young provincial engineer, has been entrusted with the heavy task of the demolition of the cemetery. 1785 will be a year which changes him.

 “A year of bones, of grave-dirt, relentless work. Of mummified corpses and chanting priests. A year of rape, suicide, sudden death. Of friendship too. Of desire. Of love…”

From the cobwebbed corners of the church attic, the barren landscape of the Valenciennes mines to the static country air of Jean-Bapiste’s hometown, Andrew Miller delivers an interesting cast of decaying and forgotten characters. Characters who are in a constant state of waiting. “History”, utters the church organist, “has been choking us long enough.” 

The demolition of Les Innocents is the project that promises to purify the clogged air and pave the way for the future. Yet the task is a burden those who are entrusted to it and for some the source of their destruction.

Pure is a fluent and imaginatively delectable read. Andrew Miller’s smooth writing style places you in the heart of Paris. His simplest of sentences are constructed with a colour and clear understanding of the flaws of humanity. This is the first book by him I have read and I will definitely seek out his other works. 

Pure is loosely based on the removal of the cemetery in the late 1780’s. The cemetery of Les Innocents was completely destroyed, and nothing can be seen today of the site except a small square near Les Halles. The bones, however can be viewed on the Catacombs of Paris. 

On my recent trip to Paris the Catacombs were closed. Instead I visited Pere-Lachaise, the now largest cemetery in Paris, and the final resting place of Oscar Wilde. The tomb needed restoration in 2011, after continued damage caused to it by lipstick-kisses from visiting tourists. The modernist angel design is now protected by a glass box which is now covered in lipstick-kisses and quotes from fans.

I would definitely recommend visiting the Pere-Lachaise, it is like a city within a city, and if you go early it can be a nice quiet before visiting tourist hotspots like the Lourve.

The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco…and a bit of Prague!

Jammed packed with sensational tit-bits from the political turmoil of the 19^th century, The Prague Cemetery is a rewarding read to those who are familiar with the origins anti-Jewish conspiracies. 

The novel, which is set in revolutionary Paris and Turin, follows the career of a forger who produces “original” documents for secret agent officers. 

Using a shrewd grasp of racial and political enmities, the rogue protagonist weaves a “model of conspiracy” out of fictional sources. The culminating document of which is The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the antisemitic hoax that fuelled the Nazi tirade of propaganda in the following century.

With his skills of deception and disguise the forger visits the prison of political satirists and haunts the brassieres frequented revolutionary students, leaving a few bodies in his wake, and all the while indulging in the haute-cuisine. 

The plot is deep rooted in the racial hatred and stereotyping of European society but Eco dapples with subjects expected from any 19^th century historical shocker such as hysteria and naval warfare, while adding into the mix various cameos by the likes of Sigmund Freud, and Giuseppe Garibaldi.

At times The Prague Cemetery can be a difficult read. Nothing personal is disclosed about the forger except what helps to understand his work. A large of that can be attributed to the amnesia the character suffers which clouds the majority of the novel. Eco also takes liberties with the reader’s knowledge of the political intrigues of the time, but this can help to blur the lines between the ongoing themes of fact, forgery and conspiracy. 

What first drew me to The Prague Cemetery was that I thought it would cover some of the areas of Prague I have recently visited in the city itself. The title is a reference to The Old Jewish Cemetery part of the Jewish Museum in the area of the old Jewish ghetto. A set of very sombre and educational sites which I would recommend visiting. The Cemetery plot was the only place Jews were allowed to be buried until 1787, and the number of grave stones are still uncertain. 

At the time I thought it was slightly strange to take a picture of the site, so I thought I would share with you some pictures of some spooky puppets in a toy shop I visited instead.