Welcome to Litsy!

#TemptingTitles #April2023
Day 6: #WithAnOccupation

#photochallenges #classics #Gothic #GothicLiterature
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

This book is dark and twisted. A Gothic romance that was banned for a time, give great insights on the depravity of humanity. Can be hard to settle into, but once you do, it‘s impossible to put down. Lots of shocking moments. Read this for a British Lit class and thought it was phenomenal.

Today is the first day my foster cat, Felineous Monk has decided to spend time in the living room. Only took him a month. Cecil and I still can‘t touch him.
#catsoflitsy

Some not so #benevolentbrothers for #newyearnewyou @Eggs

Racy even today (Paul rec)

Starting this one tonight on Serial Reader. It sounds interesting.

I don't know that you can say you're in for a treat if you've never picked up this completely insane book, but it's probably unlike anything else you've ever read. Murder, illicit sex, incest, heretics....it's still pretty scandalous!

#pop19 #booksetinanabbeycloistermonasteryvicarageorconvent

It's frustrating to be sitting in a cell lot when your friend has landed, but the plane isn't allowed to gate because of lightning. At least I have this wackadoodle book to keep me company.

I went to my first Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) meeting today! It was a discussion of the Gothic novels that influenced Northanger Abbey, and I think I may have been the only fan of Gothic lit but it was still a great event. Now time to settle in for more time with this novel and leftover lemon cake.

Another classic gothic horror I want to read! And this cover is frightening!!!

A Monk and his temptations 😨

#bookhaul

#classics

Book 3 of 2019. Loooved this. The subject matter is scandalous even for today so I can't imagine what the reaction would have been like when it was published 200+ years ago. Two thumbs up for this evil monk.

If you've read it, who would you cast as Ambrosio if you were casting a film version???

Reading at work means doing it sneakily from the computer. On another note, this book is insane.

This was worth reading, I‘m glad I read it for my general understanding of gothic novels but I didn‘t find it as compelling or fascinating as most of the other gothic classics I read. I found it a little difficult to follow, and bits of it felt very mundane while other bits felt a bit silly, rather than deliciously melodramatic in the way something like castle of otranto or mysteries of udolpho was. Eh you can‘t love every book

I‘ve been really wanting to read a proper old fashioned gothic novel and this is one of the really big famous ones I haven‘t read yet! I‘ve heard it‘s very dark and was the first proper horror novel in English (or at least one of the candidates depending on how you define things). Excited.

I forget how I discovered this book but the violence and depravity in it made me want to read it. I finally did. Reviews from other readers said it was slow 🐢, and it was. I questioned some parts of it, but in the last section of the book, things really begin to pick up and get dark. Then, after being bored, I began to get intrigued. I was beginning to regret getting the book and reading it until then. I absolutely LOVE the way it ended!

That dreadful doom to which even seemed preferable… to linger out a life of misery in a narrow loathsome cell, known to exist by no human being save her ravisher, surrounded by moldering corpses, breathing the pestilential air of corruption, nevermore to behold the light, or drink the pure gale of heaven, the idea was more terrible than she could support.

Totally safe to judge this book by its cover.

Reasons to read it ⬇️

💀 The author was 20 years old and a member of Parliament

💀 It was an inspiration behind Poe‘s The Pit & The Pendulum

💀It‘s got the 3 bases of Gothic lit covered - paranoia, the barbaric, and the taboo

Something

Two great finds, while passing by the thrift store. I've had The Monk on my Gothic TBR list; sure best with an intro by Stephen King. That happens to pair with Harry Potter & The Cursed Child. The book was missing its cover jacket, but still a good bargain for getting around to reading the script story.

I always have trouble picking a #villain because, like Jane Bennett, I try to find the good in people (at least fictional people) and try to consider their reasons and motivations for their behavior. However, I think it‘s pretty clear that Ambrosio more than earns the title of villain.
#litsyclassics #maylovesclassics

Great gothic novel about a monk‘s fall into disgrace.

I can‘t wait to start this next! I‘m a huge fan of gothic lit and have read most of the well known novels. Northanger Abbey (which is a parody of gothic lit, and hilarious) is my fave Austen novel. I had never heard of this book until I saw a review on YouTube by Hannah of Beginnings to Bookends, and I was lucky enough to have won a copy from her!

About a third of the way, slow going though 🤦‍♀️

I really liked this audiobook - wonderful narration by Boulton, with performances of the songs mentioned and supplemental narration here and there by Sutton. Very high quality production of a dark, creepy gothic horror novel first published in 1796. Some of it was predictable, but all of it was absorbing.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

5th and final book finished for #24in48

I signed up for #24in48 without actually looking at my calendar and then more things were added, so there is going to be very little reading this weekend. 😔
However, I did finish this audiobook while driving to spend today with family. It was darker and more violent than most other gothic novels I‘ve read, and it attributes more to the supernatural instead of explaining it away. It definitely kept my attention!

#audiobook #1001books

I‘m already more than a third of the way through this book and enjoying it more than I expected. I was still listening about the ghost of the bleeding nun when students started arriving in my classroom this morning and continued again a bit after I got home this evening. I might actually finish by the end of the month at this rate.

#Reading1001 #1001books #audiobook

I finished Women in Love this morning (finally!) and am moving on to a new book for this afternoon‘s #audiowalk. So far I‘m finding it much more interesting!

This is book number four in January with #Reading1001, although I‘m not sure I‘ll manage to finish by the end of the month.

#1001books #audiobook #Hoopla

This will be one of my first books of the year. #Reading1001, #1001, #ScaredyKit.

The monk Ambrosio is a #believer who has never set foot outside the cloister he lives in. Then one day something happens that introduces him to the world of temptation and lust. Written over 200 years ago and still such a great gothic read!
#DecDays #1001books

I'm not sure this is even legible but here are my #litsyclassics for @sarah83 upcoming challenge. I own all but 3 of these and have only read 4 previously so I'm really looking forward to it!

A great book! I can hardly believe that is was written more than 200 years ago by a boy of 19 years old in a two-week period. The story is very gothic, but could have been written yesterday. Ambrioso the monk is a very religious man, who has never experienced the world outside the cloister in which he lives. Then one day something happens which introduces him into a world of temptation and lust. These themes are today as vivid as ever. #1001books

Hands down the best gothic novel I have read. So much romance, melodrama, blood and guts! Highly recommend for fans of the dark and gothic 🔪🔪🔪

Crazy sex monk wizard. It is as good as it sounds.

#dnf
@RealLifeReading
The only one I haven't finished since being on litsy!! Recommended by an English Prof I work with.
Just not for me. I have finished some I've not really enjoyed, which is stupid really......

#creepycover could pretty much be every edition of this book. It's one of those weird classics I almost want to read just to say I read it but not sure if it's worth the effort? Anyone read this one? #booktober

Got to about half way and just couldn't finish. I expected a gothic horror and it definitely wasn't!

Starting this, recommended by an English Professor I work with as I like Gothic stuff.

Quite possibly the trashiest book I have ever read. Read for a Jane Austen and her Contemporaries course. At times it was very funny even when it wasn't supposed to be!

Just getting started

"Having finished her usual devotions, Antonia retired to bed. Sleep soon stole over her senses; and for several hours she enjoyed that calm repose which innocence alone can know, and for which many a monarch with pleasure would exchange his crown."