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/lit/ - Literature

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8522670 No.8522670 [Reply] [Original]

I'm interested in Ligotti's work and I'd love read something from him.

What books guys do you recommend?

>> No.8522718

>>8522670
I've read very little of him

I would not recommend him. But his one penguin book with your OP as the cover is probably the one to go with

Or whatever short stories you can find online

>> No.8522735

>>8522718

Why? What's wrong with his literature?

>> No.8522761
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8522761

Well, some time ago I started reading McCarthy's work by curiosity.

I already read The Road and No Country For Old Men and I actually liked it.

Do you recommend me now try with Blood Meridian? Or do you guys think that I should read another book from him first?

>> No.8522762

>>8522735
I really want to find good horror and /lit/ hyped him as being someone worthwhile

To me, he is just an edge-lord with no insight into what is actually horrifying. Imagine a veteran with PTSD being lectured to by an angst filled teenager about what war really is. Except the veteran here is literally anyone.

>> No.8522766

>>8522761
Read Blood Meridian

>> No.8522767

>>8522761

gtfo

>> No.8522769

>>8522762
I should also add that many read him as comedy, that these rantings he goes on are actually not meant to be horrifying but funny

Obviously I dont want teenager comedy when I am looking for horror

>> No.8522774

>>8522761
Blood Meridian is undoubtedly McCarthy's finest work and one of the greatest American novels written, so I figure if you like McCarthy's prose but crave more violence, might as well read it.

>> No.8522791
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8522791

>>8522762
>no insight into what is actually horrifying.

>> No.8522860

>>8522761
Consider reading this before you read anything by McCarthy:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2001/07/a-readers-manifesto/302270/

>> No.8522878

He is a skilled but somewhat awkward writer. I don't think he's very funny or very scary, but he is great at establishing and maintaining an anxious atmosphere that serves as a springboard for bizarre events loaded with psychological and philosophical subtext.

My biggest gripe with his fiction is his unfortunate tendency to repeat images. Mannequins, clowns, puppets, masks, mannequins clowns, puppets, masks... He usually makes an attempt to justify each repetition, but the justification itself just adds to the tedium. His language is often affected and pompous. Reminds me of Lovecraft, and not necessarily in a good way.

>> No.8522895
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8522895

>>8522791
So your counterargument is that Alan Moore likes him

Great.

>> No.8522929
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8522929

>>8522860
Sweet Jesus this thing is long.

>> No.8522944

>>8522895
I thought your assertion that Ligotti has

>no insight into what is actually horrifying

a good illustration of Moore's observation that

>modern audiences [are] programmed to only expect horror within certain parameters—a kind of almost comforting state in which the audience can always pretty much predict where the horror is going to come from . . .

>> No.8523763

I just read Teatro Grottesco. I found it a bit of a cross between Kafka & Lovecraft. Very atmospheric but there's no full on horror. It's a bit like Silent Hill. He does repeat motifs of clowns etc. quite a bit. When it works better it sort of links the stories. It isn't really fair to compare Ligotti with Blood Meridian. I'd recommend both, Ligotti is a fun quick read.