I am still rather huffy that they didn't include one of my all-time favorite M R James' stories, "Lost Hearts," in this collection. I know it wasn't a favorite of his, but he wasn't all that fond of the far inferior "A Vignette" either, and that somehow worked its way into this anthology.That said, this is a good collection of supernaturally-tinged stories that tell you more about the time (Victorian England) than truly give you a fright. I did find these stories much scarier upon adulthood than...

The book gets five stars for the stories. It's the lack of adequate annotations and critical discussions (something which we have got used to, thanks to Rosemary Pardoe and 'Ghosts & Scholars') that causes me to drop a star.

M.R. James was the master of the English ghost story. I was drawn to this collection after having recently watched the excellent BFI releases of ‘Oh Whistle, and I’ll come to you my Lad’ and ‘A Warning to the curious’(Highly recommended for fans of ghostly tv adaptations)The stories themselves are steeped in a world of academics and antiquaries,but also have seemingly idyllic and tranquil English countryside settings. There are little laneways leading to old gates, country churches and woods, pe...

James is my favorite ghost story author of them all, and this is the book that introduced me to him. It's quite a good introduction: it has most of the stories from Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, volumes 1 and 2, plus a few more that were published elsewhere, plus an appendix with excerpts from various writings by James about the ghost story genre. Even though I now have the Wordsworth Editions collected James, I still can't bear to get rid of my battered old copy of this collection.

M. R. James is to the ghost story as Petrarch to the sonnet: he didn't invent the form but he perfected it and no one since has been able to write one without acknowledging the master. Others might sometimes rival, but I've yet to see either master surpassed at their greatest game.PS There are some really good audio version of James's tales on youtube, Michael Collins did a wonderful audiobook of James's tales and even one of my favorite actors, Derek Jacobi recorded some--great way to experienc...

Have read these stories many times and finding them of great comfort in these difficult times despite their creepy content. I would also recommend A Podcast to the Curious as a great listen alongside the stories.

James has the wonderful ability to tell a ghost story that is both amusing, insightful, atmospheric and terrifying all at the same time. Both readers of modern horror and classic literature will find things to love in these tales: there are gentle Victorian chuckles and genuinely unsettling images to be had in these pages.

Wonderful, classic sort of ghost stories.As a kid, I think these would have bored me. In many of the stories, someone has a spooky experience, but basically goes on with their life afterward. Now that I'm a jaded adult though, I find stories that depict cracks in the everyday world more frightening than ones that simply blow up the everyday world and send everyone running from the monsters.

This is a collection of ghost stories by M R James, widely considered to be one of the great writers in this genre.The title story of ‘Casting the Runes’ is pretty good. Aside from that, this collection is disappointing.The plots are very repetitive. The protagonist is usually an Oxford don/scholar/clergyman of some sort, whose personalities are clearly based on MR James himself. They will either go somewhere on holiday or to do research at a venerable university/library/European city, during wh...

Didn't finish, read:Canon Alberic's Scrap-BookThe MezzotintNumber 13Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come To You, My LadThe Rose GardenCasting The RunesA Warning To The CuriousRatsThe ExperimentSolid, if fairly quaint, Victorian ghost stories of a particular style. They are very English, and much detail is given to the setting of each story; quiet, out-of-season coastal villages are a particular favourite of James'. Most of the stories are told at one or two removes - the author is usually relaying a story...

M.R. James had a great, and simple, formula for writing ghost stories. Establish the mundane and everyday detail (which is heightened by the Victorian academic settings), and then introduce, briefly, the supernatural, which cracks the surface of everything normal that has been so carefully established. And what is suggested by the supernatural intrusion is usually horrifying. Lovecraftian spheres (or worse) are opened up to the reader. The human mind must retreat before the suggestion of the “ot...

This IS a book of CLASSIC horror stories. They don't depend nor do they need buckets of blood slung against a wall or descriptions of disembowelments or decapitations. James can achieve a creeping sense of horror and/or terror that will slip up your spine and tap on your shoulder when (if) you turn off the lights to go to sleep at night. It is of course possible not get into the stories, these are stories that you think about and if you do...the shivers and subtle looks over your shoulder when y...

While the writing style and the subject are and have always been among my favorites, I admit feeling quite frustrated by the lack -not of resolution, because resolution is not expected in this type of stories - but by the lack of deeper or further exploration. I felt teased by all these great, creepy, disturbing ideas, only to be let down too quickly by a mostly disappointing ending. Because of that, I would call them more vignettes than stories.Exceptions: Casting the Runes, A Warning to the Cu...

I hesitate to use the common label of "horror fiction" for this title, though some of the stories are indeed the stuff of very bad dreams and lying awake at night.Montague Rhodes James (1862-1936) was perhaps the most pre-eminent teller of the very scholarly and civilized British ghost story. As each story draws to a close, the reader is left to draw her own conclusions to a certain extent, and the author does not state explicitly what the explanation or termination of the manifestations might h...

To be honest, I only finished about two thirds of this collection, but the stories were similar enough that I didn't think it was necessary to complete the collection. James's stories are always creepy and often funny, though they're rarely genuinely frightening. They're quirky little half-satirical sketches where bed sheets come to life and scraps of paper and coins and shadows are haunted with vengeful specters, most of which insist on pursuing absent-minded scholars. Overall, James's tales ar...

Just a few words for this one.I do appreciate the author's use of language and the fact that these stories were indeed some early attempts in the horror genre, a genre that has progresses significantly since then.I have to admit though that it tired me a lot. A few motifs used more often than they should, lack of variety and the fact that such stories are outdated by today's horror standards made the experience of reading this book more tedious than it should have been.On the plus side a few sto...

I checked out the Oxford World's Classics edition from the local library which has an introduction by Michael Chabon. Chabon says horror stories are ALL psychology, and from what I've read so far that is the case for M.R. James.Of course stuff does happen, but perhaps my modern perspective wants a better ratio of psychology to action (heavier on the action).Chabon compares James to Lovecraft and of course his observations are well thought out and you must agree with them, mostly. James is obviou...