LitQueuelitqueue

After

La chute de la Maison Usher et autres nouvelles (Berenice / Fall of the House of Usher / MS. Found in a Bottle / William Wilson)

Edgar Allan Poe1999

6 of 6 directions open

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1 more
  • A Pleasing Terror

    Montague Rhodes James2001

    A collected volume of ghost stories involving cursed antiquities, scholars, and supernatural entities in English settings.

    dreamlike → elegiac, still gothic horror

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more

To recover

dreamlike → propulsive

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  • This Man

    Jodi Ellen Malpas2013

    An interior designer begins an affair with a wealthy client who demands total control over her life and schedule.

    dreamlike → tense

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Ready Player One

    Ernest Cline2008

    A teenager in a dystopian future hunts for a digital easter egg inside a massive simulation. The quest relies on 1980s pop culture trivia.

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Craven Manor

    Darcy Coates2018

    A man takes a job as a groundskeeper at a decaying estate. He finds a crypt, a strange employer, and evidence that the house is not empty.

    dreamlike → tense, still gothic horror

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Faster

3 more
  • The Rising

    Brian Keene2003

    A father travels across an apocalypse where the dead are possessed by malevolent, intelligent demons. The world is ending permanently.

    dreamlike → bleak

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak+1

  • Shattered

    Dean Koontz1973

    A man and his future stepson drive across America while being stalked by the woman's vengeful ex-husband.

    dreamlike → tense

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • The Executioner

    Chris Carter2010

    A Los Angeles detective hunts a serial killer who murders victims using their specific phobias. Each crime scene features a blood-scrawled number.

    dreamlike → tense

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

Slower

3 more
  • Ulysses

    James Joyce1914

    Three characters wander through Dublin on a single day in 1904. Each chapter uses a different literary style to mimic thoughts and sensations.

    dreamlike → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Absalom, Absalom!

    William Faulkner1936

    The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

    dreamlike → elegiac, still unreliable narrator

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Either/Or

    Søren Kierkegaard1992

    A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.

    dreamlike → meditative

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more
  • Flowers in the Attic

    V.C. Andrews1979

    Four children are hidden in an attic for years by their mother and grandmother to secure an inheritance. They face gradual poisoning and abuse.

    dreamlike → elegiac

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

  • Hamlet

    William Shakespeare

    A prince of Denmark is told by a ghost that his uncle killed his father. He feigns madness while deciding whether to take revenge.

    dreamlike → meditative, still unreliable narrator

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • The Terror

    Dan Simmons2007

    Two British ships searching for the Northwest Passage in 1845 become trapped in ice and are hunted by a creature.

    dreamlike → bleak

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1