Welcome to Litsy!

I thought this book would be all about the titular book, but only the first few stories related to The King in Yellow. I found some of them, especially the first, deliciously creepy, but some were just baffling (the one with the sculptor may have made more sense to the original audience). Then there was a cool story about time weirdness, and then some about Paris? Some with war and some with art students? I expected consistency and found none.

While I loved the first few stories, the last half felt like it had nothing to do with the rest and was only added because Chambers had them done and wanted them published. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ photo featuring a curious Goblin #catsoflitsy

Started yesterday at work.

This was a really well written, easy to read series of stories with creative world building and intriguing ideas. However, it left me wanting more. My co-host on the other hand had a completely opposite opinion. Check out our discussion about it on episode 42 of the Mind Duck Books Podcast: https://bit.ly/3HM5w5h

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I really loved The Mask. I'm still thinking about it. 🤯 The first 4 stories are the only ones about the king in yellow and are the strongest, but I did enjoy Demoiselle d'Ys, The Streets of the Four Winds, and Rue Barrée.

This worked for 6 readathons, which I'll list in the comments, for #WinterGames2021 and was a TBR read. #MistletoeManiacs @Clwojick

🎄🎄

316pts.

I wrote a considered review of this but Litsy crashed. Didn't enjoy it enough to bother writing it up again- it's OK, nothing special though.

This was a neat little book! Really showcased a decidedly Lovecraftian bent before Lovecraft even got going. My biggest complaint is that he just abandons the weird, macabre “King in Yellow” motif halfway thru, so it feels ultimately disjointed; like he was originally writing something akin to a mosaic novel but then just lost interest and padded it out with unrelated material. Still, it‘s all well-written and I enjoyed it. Would recommend. 👍

Hmmm okay. I know Cthulhu, I have seen the first series of True Detectives so it only made sense I would get to this. And I was slightly disappointed. Chambers wrote gothic horror and romance and in this book came up with fascinating idea of a play about the lost city of Carcosa ruled by the eponymous king which drove many who read it insane. And if this was a core of the book I would be happy, but rather it is an idea mentioned and the forgotten.

Not perfect, but definitely an enjoyable read. The Mask is a fantastic story which everyone should at least give a read. My thoughts as I finished the book were how customs change over time and locale, but humans are humans all the same.

Excellent way to start a day!

I've just started reading it, and the age of the book (first published in 1895) is throwing me in weird ways. The first story is set in the 1920s and mentions a war with Germany and it took me a second to realize that was just a reasonable assumption lol it also mentions a character using brandy as a chest rub and I can't tell if that was actually a thing people did

It is possible that his curiosity was piqued, for with the exception of a hen-turkey, a boy of nineteen is the most openly curious biped alive.

Whatever it was about the man that repelled me I did not know, but the impression of a plump white grave-worm was so intense and nauseating that I must have shown it in my expression, for he turned his puffy face away with a movement which made me think of a disturbed grub in a chestnut.

Some great unsettling fiction. Because they‘re short stories, I would have liked to see some things expanded on, but it didn‘t ruin my enjoyment. I have seen the yellow sign and I have committed the greatest error, and read act 2.

#thekinginyellow

The king in orange brushes up on The King in Yellow.
#onecattorulethemall

The king in yellow is really making me want to go and play Cultist Simulator again. Wouldn‘t be shocked at all if it had served as inspiration.

#thekinginyellow
#cultistsimulator

Even with everything going on I still have ONE shred of sanity left. Let‘s do something about that.
#thekinginyellow
#hellodarknessmyoldfriend

Got some christmas gifts!

#thekinginyellow
#chambers
#weirdlit

Most people will be introduced to this through Lovecraft. A strange collection of short stories & poems. The first 4 stories are excellent weird tales. The 5th, The Demoiselle d'Ys (my fav), is a supernatural tale of a different kind than the preceding. The rest is a collection of bizarre poems & some short stories mostly about artists & romance with no (or few) elements that link them to the earlier works. Overall worth reading, but a mixed bag.

Oh the sin of writing such words, words which are clear as crystal limpid and musical as bubbling springs words which sparkle and glow like the poisoned diamonds of the Medicis! Oh the wickedness the hopeless damnation of a soul who could fascinate and paralyze human creatures with such words words understood by the ignorant and wise alike , words which are more precious than jewels more soothing than Heavenly music, more awful than death itself.

My next venture.... has anyone read it?

This book is chiefly known for its opening quartet of stories of eldritch horrors and macabre dystopias. Some works contain only those four, which may well satisfy the majority of readers who (like myself) are drawn to it due to the thread it weaves through the works of others, most famously H.P. Lovecraft. However that does the author a disservice. Chambers collected these stories together and intended them to be read as a complete work. 👇👇

A previous owner, not before 9 Nov 79 according to the bus ticket bookmark, appears to have got to the penultimate story, "The Street of Our Lady of the Fields", and then put the book aside, not to finish it. I wonder if something happened on that bus journey? Did they meet some old friend or lover and forget the book? Did the preceding story of war trigger a trauma memory in a veteran, who felt unable to read further? The mysteries of old books!

My late afternoon: Books, music, cocktails and nibbles 📖🎶🍸🍡😊

Reading the non- horror stories in the King in Yellow in the garden while eating my breakfast (tea, and toast and Marmite) when I was joined by a mother blackbird preparing breakfast (worms) for her children ☺

#bodakyellow #aprella
I‘m taking @Cathythoughts definition of ‘undead creature‘ and this cover for the tagged book!
It is true, you learn something new every day!

"The Demoiselle d'Ys" is tangentially connected to Chambers' King in Yellow stories by the character names Hastur and Jeanne d'Ys ('jaundice'). Otherwise, it's a modern folktale styled somewhat after the Breton laïs, and which put me in mind of both Dunsany's "The Curse of the Wise Woman" and Warner's "Kingdoms of Elfin".

There are three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not:
The way of the eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.

- "The Demoiselle D'Ys"

Litsy doesn't hold the edition I have, the Ace 1965 edition pictured here. In addition to the macabre stories featuring the mysterious play, "The King in Yellow", it contains several non-genre stories.
Contents:
The Repairer of Reputations
The Mask
The Court of the Dragon
The Yellow Sign
The Demoiselle d'Ys
The Prophets' Paradise
The Street of the Four Winds
The Street of the First Shell
The Street of Our Lady of the Fields Rue Barrée

The first and last stories in this collection were the strongest (the first was particularly unnerving) but they were all good. I can definitely see why Lovecraft was inspired by them — the idea of a work of literature (in this case a play) that drives its reader insane is right up his alley. I‘m glad the references to the Yellow King and Carcosa in True Detective put this book on my radar, even if the result was a few sleepless nights. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

After finishing a re-watch of True Detective season one, I decided it was time to finally read The King In Yellow. My version only has the four stories that have the King as a recurring theme (there are copies that have a few more) but that‘s what really interested me anyway. First story was really good, second was okay, hoping to finish the others this week.

Chambers short story The Messenger is a FREE read, audio too, at Reading Fiction Blog. What an exciting shortie by a master writer of mystery/suspense. This is literary horror, also known as quiet horror, at its finest. PaulaCappa.wordpress.com #readingfiction #bookaddict #reading addict #bookclubs #backtoreading #gothic #gothicfiction.

Breakfast tea number two because I was not feeling so well after breakfast and ended up having a nap on the sofa. Starting the day over with #bookandtea

Hello, my name is Kate and I like to buy cheap books. It's been 3 hours since my last purchase.
#bookaholicsanonymous #badcovers #Riotgrams

K: (The) King in Yellow- Robert Chambers

Y: (The) Yellow Wallpaper- Charlotte Perkins

L: (The) Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe- C. S. Lewis

I: IT- Stephen King

E: Eleanor & Park- Rainbow Rowell

This was more difficult than I thought it would be. I know The Yellow Wallpaper is technically a short story, but apparently I haven't read too many books that start with 'Y' 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

This starts off strong and then peters out about halfway through.

Started this little number on a dreary day in Dublin. The cover looks almost like a sun, hopefully it will bring a bit of sunshine!

The entire premise of this collection is that there is a #cursedbook so terrible it drives anyone who reads it to commit terrible acts. It's wonderful and creepy and somewhat pulpy. #PiratesLife #WhatAWayToLive

Not really Spring here, autumn (not really), and hot af but I'm joining the #springcleaningreadathon because of reasons!

I couldn't afford the gorgeous book sleeves I ser here and on Instagram, with shipping costs and custom taxes... So, I asked a friend to make me some! And I love them! #booksleeves

Not really a party, because I forgot to get prepared, again, but a #litsypartyofone anyway...

Snow Day today means reading and some baking! ❄📚🎂

Ein mysteriös-schauerlicher Band in der Romantik verwurzelter Erzählungen. In der Nachrecherche zur Serie "True Detective" entdeckt, frage ich mich, wie mir dieser moderne Klassiker der Gothic Novel entgehen konnte.

The first stories were all about the Yellow Sign, and always the "King in Yellow", a book that was forbidden and said to make people who read it go mad, had a part in it.
The last three stories did not, and I do not understand why they are part of the book. They bored me, and it was difficult to hold my attention, as I am often #serialreading in the train to university

A #litsyconfession: I have a problem with scary stuff. It freaks me out.
And now I need your advice: for an #AllHallowsRead, can you recommend something mild, maybe more on the mystery side?

I dunno about the rest of you, but Matthew McConaughey never did anything for me before he played fragmented, pessimistic, intense Rust Cohle. Maybe it's that Texas is growing on me, but he's totally my #mancrush in all his flawed glory. #octphotochallenge (image is a gif from deviantart that I love: http://www.deviantart.com/art/True-Detective-Rust-Cohle-Gif-Animation-448578006)

This was an excellent read! #booktober
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 🌝

So thanks to Litsy i dowloaded the #serialreader app. I think it is a cool concept because classics are often not easy to read and one issue ist just long enough that i can read it in the bus in one day!
I choose to read the King in Yellow because it is referenced in one of my favourite board games, Arkham Horror and i just stumbled upon the title 😀