The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) Kindle Edition

Not going to comment on political stuff surrounding the author. I find the prose to be very well-written and detailed. I haven't read much Lovecraft, but a lot of these stories are emotive and creepy in a good way. None of them really overstay their welcome, and sometimes you almost want a full novel from some of the better tales. I have no issues here. The writings speak for themselves. I guess some people don't like the style. But to me it has a high standard and good vocabulary while keeping the tales concise and mysterious.This new edition feels fantastic with rough-edged pages and a great typeface. Easy to read and hold in the hand. For simply reading the stories, it is the best edition available. Penguin cut all the explanatory notes about the stories that the editor included, which is a bit of a bummer as those notes were very interesting and added to the book. But I guess for a text it can get annoying with superscript numbers all over the pages. I know it kind of takes me out of the story when I see a superscript number in a text every 20 sentences. I like the 1999 edition as well, but for purely reading purposes this one is superior. If you want to know more about the notes behind some of the stories you will want to select the 1999 Penguin edition.

As a longtime Lovecraft reader, I have several editions of his works, such as a couple of the Del Rey paperbacks and The Annotated Lovecraft and More Annotated Lovecraft (the last two also edited by preeminent Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi). These Penguin collections (Call, The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories, and The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories) are my favorites. While they don’t include all his work, they do represent his best and most influential works, as well as some earlier, lesser known tales. Each volume samples texts from his entire publishing career, from the late 1910s to the mid-1930s.I’m not entirely sure if Joshi had a particular theme in mind for each volume. The Call of Cthulhu may represent some of the most notable horror-oriented stories that are loosely connected through mythos elements, even if not always in terms of tone and plot. For example, both “The Picture in the House” and “The Call of Cthulhu” incorporate the Necronomicon, but “Picture” is an early schlocky cannibal story, while “Call” is a way more expansive tale of cosmic horror.The last five entries—“Call,” “The Colour Out of Space,” The Whisperer in Darkness, The Shadow Over Innsmouth, and “The Haunter of the Dark”—are among my favorite Lovecraft stories, as well as my favorite horror short stories in general. They all blend gothic horror with sci-fi and detective fiction elements. His atmosphere of dread at the realization of human powerlessness in the face of nonhuman forces reaches its pinnacle here.Also included is another of Lovecraft’s greatest works that stands on its own, “The Outsider,” perhaps the best of his early gothic period. It’s an allegorical tale about confronting one’s feelings of alienation from society, and overcoming self-alienation.Early works such as “Herbert West—Reanimator,” ”The Hound,” ”The Rats in the Walls,” and “Cool Air” are campy romps of curses and the dead returning to life. The influences of Frankenstein, Poe, and Arthur Machen shine through. They suggest a confluence of alchemy or magic with science and archaeology. “Rats” in particular goes to some dark places. “Reanimator” essentially reimagines Frankenstein with the mad doctor reviving not one but several zombies. His creatures are also more animalistic than Shelley’s Creature.The other stories—”Dagon,” ”The Statement of Randolph Carter,” “Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family,” ”Celephais,” “Nyarlathotep,” ”The Picture in the House,” ”The Festival,” and ”He”—are shorter and less developed works that explore horrible discoveries, dreamlands, and hereditary degeneracy. They have interesting moments but overall are fragmentary or formulaic.What also recommends these Penguin versions is Joshi’s annotated endnotes, which provide historical background, literary, historical, and autobiographical influences. They are also corrected texts, meaning they are as close to the original texts as possible with some minor errors fixed.The font in my version is a decent size and margins have room, although in the other two volumes, both text and margins are much smaller.Full list of stories with year written/year published.1. Dagon (1919/17)2. The Statement of Randolph Carter (1919/20)3. Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family (1920/21)4. Celephais (1920/22)5. Nyarlathotep (1920)6. The Picture in the House (1920/21)7. The Outsider (1921/26)8. Herbert West—Reanimator (1922)9. The Hound (1922/24)10. The Rats in the Walls (1923/24)11. The Festival (1923/25)12. He (1925/26)13. Cool Air (1926/28)14. The Call of Cthulhu (1926/28)15. The Colour Out of Space (1927)16. The Whisperer in Darkness (1930/31)17. The Shadow Over Innsmouth (1931/36)18. The Haunter of the Dark (1935/36)

Since this book contains a sampling of some of Lovecraft's most famous stories, I'm going to write this review for someone, who, like me, is new to Lovecraft. If you are already a fan of Lovecraft, I don't think this review will be helpful, but for someone who is waffling on whether Lovecraft may be right for them, I hope can offer some help.Just because you like horror, does not necessarily mean you like this book. In many ways it can seem dated. There is little character development. Most of the stories are told from the viewpoint of white, male, academic types and there are very limited interactions with other characters. "In The Whisperer in Darkness" the narrator is naive to the point of unbelievability.If you know anything about Lovecraft, you probably know he has a tendency to overwrite, and his stories rely heavily on atmosphere and setting then plot and action.There are many stories, that, while I was reading, I did not feel I enjoyed due to the predictable plots and purple prose.But the stories stuck in my mind.In many of these stories, Lovecraft created such a feeling of dread and suspense, that I could not easily shake them. From the underground catacombs in "The Rats in the Walls" to the rustic cabin with its strange odours and vibrations in "The Whisperer in Darkness." Scenes kept replaying in my mind.As the book is ordered chronologically, the further I read, the more confident and established was Lovecraft's writing, but also the more receptive I was to his words. The more I came to appreciate, that despite the musty layer of old fashionedness, there were, as King would say "meat to these stories."I recommend this book to change how you think about horror and about the cosmos.This book comes in a few different editions and though I don't think the cartoony cover fits the stories, I like the deckle edge and larger type then the black covered version.P.S. In some of the early stories there is some pretty odious racism. It is not too central to the plot but can be uncomfortable to read.

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It's a beautiful edition. No skimping on craftsmanship either. I don't know why people are complaining about the pages- they're called deckle edges. It's a thing, please look it up. It's not evidence of shoddy construction. I personally adore a book with deckle edges- both the aesthetics and texture are very pleasant to me. I have no complaints.

Dos veces me ha venido el libro con las páginas mal cortadas, rotas y sucias y el lomo del libro igual. Una verdera vergüenza.

H.P. Lovecraft lived in poverty most of his life, died a painful death at a young age, and only lived to see one of his novels published during his lifetime (The Shadow Over Innsmouth). His short stories were also only published in pulp fiction magazines (mainly Weird Tales) during his lifetime, and were largely unappreciated. In my opinion it is one of the great tragedies in the history of literature that Lovecraft was not celebrated during his lifetime for his incredible works.Today, Lovecraft is considered one of the greatest horror authors who ever lived, and his fiction created an entire mythos that authors still expand on to this day. This collection contains, in my opinion, most of his best works. Some of these, like The Shadow Over Innsmouth, I consider to be perfect, and among the best novellas or short stories ever written. Occasionally the notes by S.T. Joshi are a bit excessive, to the point of annoyance, and can contain borderline obsessive levels of detail. They also occasionally contain spoilers, which I find very irritating. On the whole, however, this book is incredible and a must-read for any fan of horror or supernatural fiction. Highly, highly recommended.As a side note, I have not read all of Lovecraft's stories yet, but I have read several dozen, including many of the most known ones, and these are the top five Lovecraft stories (of the ones I've read) in my opinion:1. The Shadow Over Innsmouth (included in this book)2. The Colour Out of Space (included in this book)3. The Shadow Out of Time4. The Dreams in the Witch House5. The Call of Cthulhu (included in this book)

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