Shelf Control #77 – 10/05/24
In today’s Shelf Control post, I feature an anthology that has to be the longest I will ever pick up! At over 1000 pages and with big names such as Stephen King, George R.R. Martin and H.P. Lovecraft, it promises lots of great narratives within.
Before I share details of this anthology, here’s a reminder of what the Shelf Control feature is all about!
Shelf Control is a meme run by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies. It’s a celebration of the unread books on our shelves! The idea is to pick a book you own but haven’t read and write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up!
If you want to read more about the Shelf Control feature, check out Lisa’s introductory post.
The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories
Genre: Anthology
Pages: 1,153
Audience: Adult
Publisher: Corvus
Publication Date: 31 Oct 2011
A landmark, eclectic, leviathan-sized anthology of fiction’s wilder, stranger, darker shores.The Weird features an all star cast of authors, from classics to international bestsellers to prize winners:
Ben Okri
George R.R. Martin
Angela Carter
Kelly Link
Franz Kafka
China Miéville
Clive Barker
Haruki Murakami
M.R. James
Neil Gaiman
Mervyn Peake
Michael Chabon
Stephen King
Daphne Du Maurier
and more…
Exotic and esoteric, The Weird plunges you into dark domains and brings you face to face with surreal monstrosities; You will find the boldest and downright most peculiar stories from the last hundred years bound together in the biggest Weird collection ever assembled.
My Thoughts
Anthologies aren’t the types of books I pick up on a regular basis, but I do like to try them now and then. Sometimes having a short read can be the break needed from longer or heavier narratives. In my experience so far, anthologies have served me well in this regard.
However, I have also never read an anthology that is over 1000 pages long! It’s a huge collection. In reality, I may find it easier to read this anthology in short bursts over a long a stretch of time rather than as the whole book in itself. Especially given it a style I don’t pick up that often, I think reading it all in one go would be too much. At least it does have ties back to my favourite genre, fantasy, which will keep me coming back!
The beauty of having a book compiled of shorter stories is that it will be easy to pick up and put down at will. Whenever I need a break from another book, I’ll be able to pick this up quickly! Equally, I’m able to break between stories back to my regular reading.
I’m looking forward to reading short stories from many of the names within, including even Neil Gaiman. Well, I’ve never had a great experience with his full length books, I think I can palette his writing style in shorter doses.
Have you read The Weird, or anything else like it?
