Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is credited for being the first to write an evil mummy story. This is that story. I thought it was an interesting read, not in the least because these type of Victorian horror stories would hardly be called that today. The story is in fact rather slow. But what I liked about it most was how it showed the total craze for mummies/everything Egyptian that was ongoing at the time.

~Little Black Classics #121~

This short novella has been a fun read. Mainly because the main character Lady Susan Vernon is a scheming, cunning, manipulating nightmare of a woman and she doesn´t mind one bit. She is the most unlikely Jane Austen heroine you could encounter in one of her books.

I did have some issues with it, though. I´m not particularly fond of stories told through letter (what this novella does) and the ending is so abrupt, it feels like Austen didn´t know how to proceed with her narrative at some point. 

I enjoyed reading this novella by Austen, it´s been a fun read but I´m not overly in love with it.

I´ve read this book for my Booklikes-opoly jail visit. 116 pages has been donated to the jail library.

My pick for the jail visit.

I´ve recently watched the movie "Love and Friendship", which is based on this short epistolary novella. So far I can say that I like the novella more than the movie. Lady Susan really is a cunning and scheming character, horrible and entertaining at the same time.

Goodreads summary:

"Strange man, how can you have eyes for sale? Eyes? Eyes?"

The disturbing tale of a young man's obsession with the Sandman, stealer of eyes, which has inspired writers from Sigmund Freud to Neil Gaiman.

My opinion:

I know this is a crappy summary, but it describes it actually perfectly (I don't know about that Neil Gaiman part, because I haven't read anything by him yet). This is a famous German classic. I had my eyes on it for a while (my plan was to read in German back when I had to read some German novels; glad I didn't read it back then though, because a) I don't know that much German and b) I think it's even better in English (I can't compare it though, but I mean that I understand it now more I think than when I read it in German). KarinaE (over at Booktube) read it and ever since I wanted to read it too, so I was really excited when I found out it was going to be published in this edition.

This story is dark, but really good. It's about how obsession can drive you crazy; how dreams and desire can drive you crazy too. This tale begins with three letters, but then it continuos through the eyes of a writer (it's strange yes, just read it) and then he tells us what happens next. I hoped it would be a tale through the young eyes of the character, but most of the story is from his adult point of view. However, I still liked it and recommend you guys to check it out as well. 

Have you ever heard of The Sandman and if you have read it: what's your opinion about it?

... revealing great shining fangs more than three inches long.

It was Halloween and in a short notice, I wanted to read ghost stories. This was in my hand quite some time ago and I thought I give this a try, skip the rest of the volumes to read Pu Songling's Wailing Ghosts. Turns out... this is more of a melancholy tale of old folk's urban legend of the supernatural.

There are 14 short stories in total, not every single one of them is a good read. A few have ambiguous endings, some were lessons and the rest were... well, interesting. I myself love Butterfly because it reminds me of an old 1980s Hong Kong film A Chinese Ghost Story... just the essence of it. The rest can pass off as some thing where you heard it from some where but as urban myths. Of its entirety, I think Pu Songling was a better storyteller rather than a writer of stories, if you get my meaning.