Whilst having a clear out I realised that this book had not been registered despite lingering on my shelves for a few years.

When it comes to collections of short stories every reader will have their own particular favourites; I liked 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' and 'The Purloined Letter' with their undertones of Sherlock Holmes, 'The Pit and the Pendulum' and 'Hop-Frog' but I'm sure that others will choose differently.

By modern standards the tales feel rather pedestrian but on the whole I felt they were well written and wonderfully paced for maximum creepiness, and its easy to see how Poe had such an influence on many other authors who followed in his wake. Despite their age many of these stories have survived the passage of time and have been cinematically adapted. I can just imagine them featuring on the 'Hammer House of Horrors' series that I hid behind the sofa from as a child but secretly loved. Overall I found this a challenging but fascinating read and my rating reflects the book as a whole rather than any individual story or section but would almost certainly have been higher if if had contained the 'tales' alone.

Going out to another Bookcrosser as a BookMooch. Enjoy!