This book started off so promising--it was creepy in a science fictiony 1900 kind of way.

And then it got weird. Not science fiction weird. More like Carl Sagan narrating a tour of the universe as imagined by some guy in 1900. For chapters and chapters and chapters.

And then it goes back to part one, kind of. But now the terror is caused by something completely different.

All in just 186 pages.

WHY OH WHY is this book on the 1001 list?

Two visitors to the West of Ireland, Tonnison and Berreggnog, stumble across a ruined house. They discover a damaged book in the midst of the debris. It is the diary of the reclusive former occupant of the house. In it, he recounts a series of bizarre phenomena he encounters while living there.

The influence of this book on writers like Lovecraft is unmistakable. The siege of the house of pig creatures is well done. There is an astounding  passage describing the speed up of time and the author’s experience of the passing of millions of years. It reminded me a lot of 2001: A Space Odyssey. However, other parts are less climatic. I felt frustrated rather than intrigued by the missing pages. The disjointedness and randomness of the events sometimes made me like I was passing through a fun house rather than experiencing an unknowable but cohesive mystery.

The house is strangely divorced from the time and place in which it’s supposed to be set. The odd anachronism doesn’t help. But maybe it’s part of the book’s dream-like charm. It reinforces the isolation (or madness) of the diary’s author and his much put-upon sister.

Tonnison at the end of the book is certain at the end of the novel that the journal is an honest recounting of real events. I wasn’t so sure. There seems to be hints to the contrary. It’s really up to the reader to make her mind up.

Wow... i tell you, I've read some crazy stuff in my time. BUT this tale. takes all those Biscuit's and dunks them in Gin! in a really good way though! I got this book on amazon it had some other stories with it i've yet to read. But anyway back to this strange tale.

American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft listed The House on the Borderland and other works by Hodgson among his greatest influences. i can definitely see why. Let's get to the Nitty Gitty without giving to much away, two men on a camping trip in rural ireland ((Yay!)) stumble on a old manuscript a diary of sorts. it tell's an absolutely crazy story. and you the reader and totally drawn into the world of... The only way i can describe it is, mythological beast gods, demons, and other "bestial horrors.in pig form.

Then it totally switches up and you have in the plot Green sun's and forever Twilight's.

This book left me with a really spooky uneasy feeling i've never quite felt with a book before. I could only imagine how it left people in the day's it was first printed! i felt there was so many unanswered question's to the book. all in all i really liked it.

  The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson Review to come.