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My October Reading

It is my custom, over the last several years, to read or re-read a classic Gothic novel. In the past few years, I've re-read Dracula and Frankenstein, and read the "Mysteries of Udolpho" and the "Castle of Otranto". This year's is "The Old English Baron", by Clara Reeve who, in 1777 decided to fix what was wrong with Walpole's 1764 Otranto, namely that its supernatural or mythic elements over-egged the cake, making it hard to suspend disbelief and maintain the atmosphere established in other parts of the story. It doesn't seem very long (it's hard to tell with e-books sometimes, and I am reading the Project Gutenberg edition). If I finish it in the first week and a half or so, I will probably add in Matthew Gregory Lewis's 1796 "The Monk", though I believe it's a bit longer, and if I don't finish it, it's okay.

I'm also, separate from my annual Gothic, reading Roger Zelazny's "A Night in the Lonesome October". It is composed of 31 short chapters, each corresponding to a day of October, and I am reading it one (1) chapter per day. So far, the chapters are so short that I don't foresee it affecting my Gothic reading at all. If it does, I will prioritize it below Reeve but above Lewis.

I took a walk around the neighborhood just at sunset, now that it's cool enough to do so. Halloween decorations are springing up everywhere.