Recently decided I wanted to try something new, and I have taken an interest in Lovecraft.
But where do I start?
I looked into collections and shit, but I keep seeing complains about errors, missing stories, lack of chronological order listing, ect.
I realized I had no clue what I was doing, and I want to make sure that I make good purchases.
So I thought of /lit/. Help me nerds, you're my only hope.
(I prefer reading physically, so no digital-only stuff if possible. I want to buy a collection preferably, but willing to hear out from experts.)
The New Annotation of H.P. Lovecraft
Joshi's stuff is pretty trustworthy though probably needlessly exhaustive unless you REALLY have an interest in Lovecraft, sometimes.
If you like audiobooks, check out Wayne June's readings of Lovecraft stories on Youtube. Try out Rats in the Walls to start out or something.
>>7987768
You can pretty much just start anywhere; his prose is fairly consistence throughout and the atmosphere it creates is more impressive and effective at conveying his "cosmic horror" philosophy than the content itself.
Rats in the Walls is a good beginning story in that it is short, engaging, and has a satisfying payoff that leaves little open to interpretation.
Other good ones are Dunwich Horror, Shadow over Innsmouth, and Pickman's Model.
His work can roughly be separated into two "cycles" of work: his famous Mythos Cycles focusing on encounters with frightening beings, and his Dreamlands cycle concerning the Randolph Carter storyline and its accompanying landscape. It is more fantastic than the mythos cycles. Dream Quest is the pinnacle of the dreamlands cycle and my personal favorite Lovecraft novel.
>>7987856
Yes, it's good and it has corrected errors from other works like Penguin.
