Ghosts | Litsy

Ghosts | Edith Wharton

pick

3āļø¸ This is a perfect book for Halloween. 11 stories about ghosts š‘» I would‘ve given a higher rating if the endings are more conclusive. I was left feeling unsatisfied for most. My favorites are ā€Afterwardā€¯ and ā€A Bottle of Perrier.ā€¯ There‘s no ghost for the latter but a gruesome finding at the end, and I found it the most entertaining.

43 likes

Graywacke

Ghosts | Edith Wharton

pick

This is a great little collection of Wharton‘s writing. Not her best stories, mind you, and not very haunting. But each of these early stories is in her special readable style, with terrific characters and often fancy settings. (She seemed to have a thing for remote haunted English mansions.) It offers a nice step into her voice. #whartonbuddyread

Lcsmcat

TheBookHippie I finally caught up I enjoyed them very much. A good escape. 13mo

45 likes1 stack add1 comment

dabbe

Ghosts | Edith Wharton

pick

Wharton's criterion for a good ghost story was the following: ā€If it sends a cold shiver down oneā€s spine, it has done its job and done it wellā€ (The New Yorker). I couldn't agree more. Her gorgeous writing also built up the suspense, which kept me turning those pages. Most of her endings were ambiguous--like perhaps the amorphous idea of a ghost itself. All were Gothic but also representative of the 20th-century psychological approach to horror.

batsy Great review! Nice point about the nature of ghosts and the story endings. 14mo

dabbe @batsy š–¤šˇš–¤ 14mo

60 likes2 stack adds2 comments

batsy

Ghosts | Edith Wharton

pick

I loved this collection of stories. Wharton's writing is as beautiful as ever, and although some stories are of course stronger than others, each one is like a perfect little gem. While not horrifying or macabre, the stories are disquieting, unnerving, with a hint of the gothic, and tend to reflect deeper themes involving marital discord, misogyny, and control around power and money. Can't go wrong with this one, imo š‘» #WhartonBuddyRead @Lcsmcat

Liz_M Excellent review! One of these Octobers I will read this and the tagged......

Don't Look Now: Stories

14mo

dabbe š¤©š¤©š¤© 14mo

batsy @Liz_M Thank you! I want to read that collection, too! 14mo

See All 6 Comments

batsy @dabbe š 14mo

LeahBergen Great review! I love these stories, too. 14mo

batsy @LeahBergen Thank you! These were such a treat. 14mo

83 likes4 stack adds6 comments

Lcsmcat

Ghosts | Edith Wharton

The final three stories only have two ghosts - Perrier is more a murder mystery. They were all a bit predictable, but held some sparkling Wharton sentences. I liked how, once Charlotte opened one of the letters, it was too pale to read. And in Mr. Jones, how the only one who could see him was the one who was annoyed by rather than scared of him. Thoughts? Do you think Wharton is as skilled with short stories as novels? #whartonbuddyread

Lcsmcat @AllDebooks @amysisson @Ann_Reads @arubabookwoman @batsy @BookishTrish @CarolynM @catebutler @Catherine_Willoughby @Cathythoughts @Crazeedi @Currey @dabbe @emilyhaldi @IMASLOWREADER @IndoorDame 14mo

Lcsmcat @kspenmoll @Leftcoastzen @LitStephanie @llwheeler @Louise @rubyslippersreads @SamAnne @sarahbellum @Sparklemn @Suet624 @TheBookHippie @willaful 14mo

Lcsmcat @mdm139 @graywacke @jewright @amysisson @Ann_Reads @arubabookwoman @batsy @BookishTrish @CarolynM @catebutler @Catherine_Willoughby @Cathythoughts @Crazeedi @Currey @dabbe @emilyhaldi @IMASLOWREADER @IndoorDame @KathyWheeler 14mo

See All 25 Comments

batsy I enjoyed these stories very much. I think it might not be as scary as some hope it might be but Wharton manages to infuse a sense of dread or anxiety in each one. Like in Pomegranate Seed: "In the deep silence of the room the tearing of the paper as she slit the envelope sounded like a human cry". Or the way she tells her mother-in-law, "I've known for a long time now that everything was possible". Delightfully gothic. 14mo

batsy Perrier was interesting for being a bit like a fairy tale, with some great set pieces with her deftness at description: "To anyone sick of the Western fret and fever the very walls of this desert fortress exuded peace." And this: "Almodham was out there somewhere under that canopy of fire, perhaps, as the servant said, absorbed in his dream. The land was full of spells." 14mo

Lcsmcat @batsy Yes! And this: ā€the gradual imprisonment in a pose assumed in youth, and into which middle age had slowly stiffenedā€¯ (edited) 14mo

Currey I rather enjoyed Perrier although there turned out to be no ghosts because as @batsy mentioned, the setting was so well brought to life. I do believe that Wharton does better with anxiety and dread than with actual ghosts. 14mo

Graywacke Well, I really wanted to meet Henry Almodham, our scholar and misogynist in his desert refuge. So I‘m kind of annoyed at Gosling. š™‚ 14mo

Graywacke I enjoyed reading all the stories, but didn‘t care for any of their closing twists. I liked the idea of servants running the home their own way in Mr Jones. And i liked the characters in Pomegranates Seed. I think I liked all the characters 14mo

Graywacke I‘m glad I didn‘t drink or bathe in that waterā€¦ 14mo

Lcsmcat @Currey I think what made these stories was that Wharton focused on the people and their emotions/reactions rather than on the supernatural beings. 14mo

Lcsmcat @Graywacke I felt like the younger servants were afraid of Mr. Jones but the older ones weren‘t. Like maybe they were using him to keep the young ones in line. 14mo

dabbe @batsy Perrier also made me think of A PASSAGE TO INDIA. I just felt the same deserty-vibe. 14mo

dabbe @Graywacke #ditto! š 14mo

dabbe In looking at all of the stories as a whole, I found Wharton excelled at building the tension and drama, which kept me turning those pages, and then leaving me flustered at the end because most of the endings were not complete resolutions. She made me have to attempt to put the two-and-two together. And her writing ... I just finished TESS OF THE d'URBERVILLES and kept thinking how gorgeous Hardy's writing was--reminding me of Wharton. 14mo

Graywacke @dabbe i went through that process with each story too. Tension and curiosity as i read, and they usually left me a little ā€flusteredā€¯. But then, even knowing this, i‘d hop into the next story happily. š™‚ 14mo

Lcsmcat @dabbe I love Hardy‘s prose too, and for his time he held some feminist ideas. So another thing in common with Wharton. 14mo

dabbe @Graywacke Wharton just has that way, doesn't she? I even tried to find some analysis online to help me fill in the pieces, but I didn't find much. 14mo

dabbe @Lcsmcat Exactly! It's hard to read him nowadays because what women had to go through was so damn infuriating, but his prose would get me lost in the story--just like Wharton. 14mo

Lcsmcat @dabbe @Graywacke It felt very Henry James to me. Like Turn of the Screw. 14mo

Graywacke As a side note - looking ahead: We had talked about reading Italian Backgrounds next. It‘s only about 100 pages and would make a nice early December easy group read. However, the series Buccaneers is coming out on Apple TV November 8. So, maybe we sneak _that_ into November. It‘s 400 pages, so, it‘s not really a sneak, but a commitment. Anyway, share your thoughts. I‘m pretty happy any which way. (edited) 14mo

Graywacke (Amazon kindle gives a print length of one page. š™‚) 14mo

Lcsmcat @Graywacke I‘m happy to go either way - whatever the group wants. 14mo

Graywacke @Lcsmcat i think squeezing Buccaneers in would take a whole lot of enthusiasm. Based on the response hereā€¦ š™‚ā€¦ i‘ll go with Italian Backgrounds for December. I‘m looking forward to it. 14mo

Lcsmcat @Graywacke š‚š‚Sounds like a plan. 14mo

28 likes1 stack add25 comments

Lcsmcat

Ghosts | Edith Wharton

Seeing more of the Wharton prose I love in this set. Above is a quote that made me chuckle and rang true too. š€ MMP was my favorite of the four, although Bewitched was a close second. #whartonbuddyread what did you think? Going to be on the road today (grandson‘s first b-day!) but I‘ll check in when I can.

Lcsmcat @mdm139 @graywacke @jewright @AllDebooks @amysisson @Ann_Reads @arubabookwoman @batsy @BookishTrish @CarolynM @catebutler @Catherine_Willoughby @Cathythoughts @Crazeedi @Currey @dabbe @emilyhaldi @IMASLOWREADER @IndoorDame @KathyWheeler 14mo

Lcsmcat @kspenmoll @Leftcoastzen @LitStephanie @llwheeler @Louise @rubyslippersreads @SamAnne @sarahbellum @Sparklemn @Suet624 @TheBookHippie @willaful 14mo

See All 20 Comments

Currey @Lcsmcat I enjoyed MMP also because Wharton had me laughing at myself for falling for her tricks but I think I preferred Bewitched with its cold winter setting and the sense of longing for it not to be real throughout. Also liked the dog ghosts in Kerfol 14mo

batsy MMP was great & very unexpected #spinsterlit in the sense that it really shows how existing as a single woman in those times could really render you practically, well, dead. I shouldn't laugh but it was some dark humour there. I loved Kerfol and the dogs getting their revenge... Triumph of the Night probably the weakest of the four but still very much appreciated how it showed the "dark" side of capitalism. 14mo

batsy And Bewitched was so good in terms of setting and atmosphere. Very Ethan Frome in its vibes. And pretty great in showing how far people will reach for a supernatural explanation to avoid confronting what's in front of their eyes. 14mo

Lcsmcat @Currey @batsy The dog Ghosts were great! 14mo

Lcsmcat @batsy Great insights into Wharton‘s commentary on spinsterhood! 14mo

Lcsmcat I confess I‘m having a more difficult time sparking discussion of short stories than I do with novels. I keep hoping for a unifying theme other than, well, ghosts. š¤·š¸»ā€¨ā™€ļø¸ 14mo

Currey @batsy Yes, loved that insight into the deadly unmarriedā€¦.they are so frightening 14mo

Graywacke @batsy very interesting on #spinsterlit 14mo

Graywacke @Lcsmcat me too - wondering how to respond. For me, on one sense, they are nice stories, but mostly with snack-able themes. But i‘m enjoying being in them, within this story telling. It‘s just a really pleasant place to spend some reading time. MMP made me laugh. The rest was fun enough. What a character Prudence Rutledge is, with her unpainted marble statue closed eyes. 14mo

arubabookwoman I wasn't able to get to this wk's reading. Will catch up next wk. I did read these long ago with little memory of them, but seeing the comments I remember the dog ghosts, and loving that story. @Lcsmcat @Graywacke That is often my problem with books of short stories, but I like these stories because they are each so complete and self-contained. 14mo

batsy @Graywacke What a character Mrs Rutledge is! Looking "as if the stone-Mason had carved her to put atop of Venny's grave"... ? 14mo

batsy @arubabookwoman I agree that each story is complete and self-contained. The common theme is ghosts but even the dog story touches on something deeper, like domestic abuse/tyranny, and each one has something interesting to say. I find that I'm enjoying it more than I expected because short stories do tend to be hit or miss for me sometimes. @Lcsmcat @Graywacke 14mo

TheBookHippie I want the above in a picture frame in my house š…š¤£ā™�ļø¸ 14mo

TheBookHippie I love short stories I was reading these in the morning and switched to dimmer lighting in the evening with tea, it‘s like little visits Mrs Rutledge won the favorite this week. It‘s hard to discuss other than it‘s a good way to pause and immerse. I do feel like this was more ā€herā€¯ as in writing style and spinsterhood still seems to me preferable back then šµā€¨š’«š¤£š¤·š¸»ā€¨ā™€ļø¸š‚. 14mo

Lcsmcat @batsy @Graywacke I‘m enjoying them too. I didn‘t mean to imply that I wasn‘t. More apologizing for not providing very much in the way of discussion prompts. 14mo

Lcsmcat Mrs. Rutledge was a character all right! 14mo

Lcsmcat I find short stories great when my concentration is low, because as @batsy says they are self-contained. Last week‘s set seemed flatter than Wharton‘s usual prose, but these had some great lines. 14mo

22 likes20 comments

AllDebooks

Ghosts | Edith Wharton

#Scarathlon

Paaahhhaaahha. Pockets are EVERYTHING!!

wanderinglynn Pockets are essential! 1y

rubyslippersreads When I was a little girl, my mom always put pockets in the dresses she made me. š 1y

yourfavouritemixtape That made me smile! Itā€s the best when you see a pretty dress and it has pockets! 1y

43 likes3 comments

AllDebooks

Ghosts | Edith Wharton

#Scarathlon #TEAMBooklovers

Points round up

Week 1 - 8559
Week 2 - 12,270

Total = 20,829 points šˇš™šˇ

@Clwojick @StayCurious @Bookwormjillk

Bookwormjillk Nice!!! 1y

Clwojick Fantastic job! woop woop! š™ 1y

26 likes2 comments

Lcsmcat

Ghosts | Edith Wharton

Apparently there‘s a movie of The Lady‘s Maid‘s Bell, from which I grabbed this still. I may watch it later, but that wasn‘t my favorite of this week‘s 4. I liked Afterward the best. Lots of Henry James echoes, and less of the Wharton prose I‘ve been admiring. But these are early works - all but All Souls published 1910 or before - so I‘ll wait to see if it returns. What‘s everyone thinking? #whartonbuddyread

Lcsmcat @kspenmoll @Leftcoastzen @LitStephanie @llwheeler @Louise @rubyslippersreads @SamAnne @sarahbellum @Sparklemn @Suet624 @TheBookHippie @willaful 1y

See All 50 Comments

Lcsmcat From ā€The Eyesā€¯ - His stupidity was a natural graceā€”it was as beautiful, really, as his eye-lashes. 1y

Graywacke I‘m behind. Sorry, rough week. I‘ll try to catch up. I‘ve read All Souls, The Eyes and the wonderful little preface. I encourage everyone to search out the preface if you don‘t have it. Probably a free Amazon sample will include it. It‘s about 5 pages. 1y

batsy Afterward was my favourite, too. Something about it lingers, stays with you. Apt title! Loved this line: "Lyng was not one of the garrulous old houses that betray secrets entrusted to them. It's very legend proved that it had always been the mute accomplice, the incorruptible custodian, of the mysteries it had surprised." All Souls is my next fave, though I have to say I enjoyed them all. The Lady's Maid's Bell left me with a lot of questions. 1y

Lcsmcat @batsy I had a lot of questions on LMB too, it felt not quite complete. I was enjoying All Souls until the end, which felt awkward to me, like she wasn‘t fully committed. 1y

Currey @batsy @Lcsmcat Yes I also liked Afterward the best. It truly ended but with many unanswered questions that stay with you. LMB crafted as if it was a classic ghost story but with no where to go once it was established. To be honest, I didn‘t really understand the eyes. Feeling stupid about that. Did the last young man sees the old man‘s eyes in his dreams? 1y

Currey @Graywacke The preface was excellent! 1y

Lcsmcat @Currey I wasn‘t sure if the eyes were ā€passed onā€¯ to the young man or if the old man _was_ the eyes? I have questions too and haven‘t researched it. 1y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Understood. Take care and check in when you can. That‘s the beauty of short stories. 1y

arubabookwoman @Graywacke Yes, the preface was excellent. My favorite too was "Afterward" with "All Souls" just slightly behind. I think it was because with those 2 stories, the supernatural doesn't appear. immediately and jump out at you--there's a possible explanation from the "real" world, even if it may be horrific. As when Mrs. Clayburn searching the deserted house wonders if she will find "her dead servants, mown down by a homicidal maniac." The ???? 1y

arubabookwoman immediate immersion into the supernatural bothers me. I guess I like my ghost stories grounded in the real world. I found it interesting that "All Souls" echoed some of Wharton's preface in denouncing the thought that ghosts stories went out when electric lights came in, and also echoing that a good ghost story should send a chill down your spine. Both these stories did that for me. I liked the other 2 stories less. "ThEyes" was fine as far ?? 1y

willaful TLMB reminded me of what in improv theater is called a ā€passenger sceneā€ -- when a character is thrust willy nilly into the middle of other people's story for the ride -- and it stuck me that a lot of older ghost stories have this sense of distance. In ā€All Soulsā€ too, most of what's really happening is elsewhere, and I kind of thought it might have been scarier not to even have it explained. 1y

arubabookwoman as it goes, but I have the same question as above. After the story was told why did young Phil react as he did? Why did it take Culwin so long to recognize this? I am really puzzled by this. I also have a lot of questions about "The Lady's Maid's Bell." I'm usually puzzled by short stories, but this one particularly puzzles me. Was Mrs. Brampton having an affair with Mr. Ranford? Why did the ghost (Emma) lead the narrator to Mr Ranford's? ???? 1y

Lcsmcat @willaful That‘s a good description! I would have liked All Souls much better without the ā€it could have been witchesā€¯ ending, which felt awkward and unconvincing to me. 1y

arubabookwoman Why was there a rule never to ring the bell? When the bell did ring, who rang it? Why could only the narrator see the ghost? What was the ghost trying to tell the narrator about Mr. Ranford? Was Mr. Ranford in the house the night Mr. Brimford returned and Mrs. Brimford died? Why did Mrs. Brimford drop dead? What was the red spot on Mr. B's forehead. And did anyone else notice that in 3 of the 4 stories there were maids named Agnes? 1y

arubabookwoman @Lcsmcat I agree the story would have been better without that ending. 1y

Lcsmcat @arubabookwoman I have the same questions! I watched the Granada adaptation that this picture is from and that screen writer / director implied that when the bell rings Emma is ringing it, so Mrs. B doesn‘t want anyone else doing it. That made sense to me. The affair/no affair question was just as vague in that one and no explanation was given for Emma leading her to Mr. R. I kind of think she was having an ā€emotional affair.ā€¯ 1y

arubabookwoman @Lcsmcat As I was thinking it over, I was starting to believe Emma was ringing the bell, and that she rang it when she thought Mrs. Brimford was in danger (from Mr. B. ?), or otherwise needed help that Emma, as a ghost, couldn't give her. Emma was there as a ghost protector for Mrs. B. And maybe Emma led her to Ranford to warn him, or have him come try to save Mrs. B. 1y

dabbe I'm behind but hope to catch up today. Lots of excellent posts to read here; I'm saving it for happy hour! š¤© 1y

Graywacke Ok, just caught up. I enjoyed them all, with The Eyes feeling a little weaker, and I didn‘t get the end (Was it Murchand‘s own elderly face he had been confronting all those years ago? And was there a gay love interest?) The 4th, TLMB, being fresh in my head, I think had the most suspense. It‘s a pleasure to read Wharton. She overcomes all distractions and wins me over early in each story. 1y

Currey @Graywacke I did think there was an implied gay love interest but I was not sure about the eyesā€¦.were they shared or were they Murchand‘s own old eyes? Not sure but that probably makes the most sense 1y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke @Currey I agree that a gay relationship was implied. But the eyes themselves? I‘m not sure about them. 1y

Graywacke Preface quotes: "Do you believe in ghosts?" is the pointless question often addressed by those who are incapable of feeling ghostly influences toā€¦The celebrated reply (I forget whose): "No, I don't believe in ghosts, but I'm afraid of them," is much more than the cheap paradox it seems to many. ? 1y

Graywacke ? To ā€believe," in that sense, is a conscious act of the intellect, and it is in the warm darkness of the pre-natal fluid far below our conscious reason that the faculty dwells with which we apprehend the ghosts we may not be endowed with the gift of seeing. 1y

Graywacke Quote 2: for deep within us as the ghost-instinct lurks, I seem to see it being gradually atrophied by those two world-wide enemies of the imagination, the wireless and the cinema. To a generation for whom everything which used to nourish the imagination because it had to be won by an effort, and then slowly assimilated, is now served up cooked, seasoned and chopped into little bits, the creative faculty š‘‡ 1y

Graywacke ? (for reading should be a creative act as well as writing) is rapidly withering, together with the power of sustained attention; and the world which used to be so grand à la clarté des lampes (google tr: great for the brightness of lamps) is diminishing in inverse ratio to the new means of spanning it; so that the more we add to its surface the smaller it becomes. 1y

Graywacke Quote 3: Ghosts, to make themselves manifest, require two conditions abhorrent to the modern mind: silence and continuity. 1y

Graywacke @Currey i‘m not sure it makes sense about the eyes. It might be a very misleading suggestion. One thing that puzzles me is what the parallel was. (My mind thinks these are two situations in which he avoided doing what he should have done in order to not upset anyone. That his conscience was confronting him about his weakness.) 1y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke She sounds like us Boomers today talking about the internet š† 1y

Graywacke @batsy I love that line about the Lyng house. (Did anyone else see Heart of Darkness elements in Afterward? The whole far-off dreamy experience and back to reality aspect, and the way it‘s conveyedā€¦maybe just my own random brain association? Dorset would be an awkward Congo.) 1y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat the wireless and cinema! And I‘m posting about this on my iPhone! š³ Feeling very seasoned and chopped into little bitsā€¦ 1y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke I didn‘t think of Heart of Darkness, but now that you say it, I think you‘re right. It would have been 11 years old when she wrote Afterward, so around long enough for people to get the reference. 1y

Graywacke @arubabookwoman i do prefer the plausible explanations over actual ghosts (well, except in Ghost Busters!ā€¦or Discworld) Only TLMB really pushes that. I just told myself she‘s real. It almost worked for me. 1y

Graywacke @arubabookwoman on Mr. Ranford - certainly it wasn‘t a torrid affair. More like an affinity. But who knows how far it went. I felt terrible for Ranford at the end. I also don‘t know why she died, or what the cause was, or if it was bound to happen anyway (in which case Emma was giving Ranford one last visit). @Lcsmcat Interesting about Emma ringing the bell. I couldn‘t puzzle that out. 1y

Graywacke @willaful interesting about ā€passenger sceneā€¯ On a different note, one thing I really liked about All Souls‘ is that we don‘t really need to have anything weird going on. Could all be (mis)perception. 1y

Graywacke What I kept thinking about while reading was trying to imagine life with servants, or being a servant (I loved Mr. Wace!). Such a different world. And the mistress, already captive to female expectations, is captive a second time to the will and feelings and abilities of her own servants. Men are captive to them too. It seems like such an odd lack of privacy and control. 1y

batsy @Lcsmcat "if the old man was the eyes" that's the kind of thing I was going with, too @Currey I too didn't feel like I totally got this story, but the ambiguity of it it all worked for me (although I do think it's probably my least favourite out of the four). 1y

batsy @Graywacke I need to read Heart of Darkness! š™ But I like that you found parallels... This story seems to work on multiple levels. I liked the suspense of the questions in TLMB too, to the point where I don't know if I necessarily wanted them all answered. 1y

batsy @Graywacke Love that quote from the Preface. 1y

batsy @Lcsmcat I agree about the witch aspect robbing All Souls of some of its supernatural power, for some reason. The story also struck me as one of those "last person on the planet" type stories, particularly resonant for our era, and underneath it all a kind of reckoning with death. 1y

batsy @arubabookwoman I had all the same questions as you and I also wondered if it was Emma ringing the bell, but then I wondered would Emma be also exiting her room right before Hartley is getting ready to come out of her own, but I just chalked it up to ghostly behaviour I don't quite understand š… @Graywacke I loved Mr Wace too! 1y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke I don‘t think I could have stood having servants. My mother hired a housecleaning service for us after my 1st kid was born and it made me so uncomfortable to sit there with the baby while she cleaned! 1y

batsy @Graywacke The bit about servant life and life with servants really stuck with me. And the way the husband was like, "How many of there are you anyway?" put me squarely in Sarah Waters territory and I anticipated if we were perhaps going to get some sapphic undertones (sadly, none). It's actually a great story about the precariousness of a maid's life, with all the menace and unease coming from the conditions of their life in a strange place. 1y

TheBookHippie Catching up today! I‘ll report back šµā€¨š’«š… 1y

dabbe RE: TLMB: some of the analysis I looked at has Emma possibly helping with the ā€affairā€ between Ranford and Mrs. B; the entire staff hated Mr. B, and there is the hint that Mr. B may have abused Mrs. B as well as had numerous affairs (the maid even states that he looked her over and was not moved). Emma's room seems to be the gateway between life and death as no one goes into that room at all, and Emma is only seen at the doorstop or in the ā¬‡ļø¸ 14mo

dabbe hallway. She also may have been trying to send the message about the relationship between Ranford and Mrs. B (what do you suppose was in the letter that she wrote to him?) so that the new maid could protect Mrs. B and keep helping to hide the relationship from Mr. B. Also there's the idea that the narrator is not reliable (1st person POV's usually imply that) ... she was recovering from a severe sickness and was referred to as being pale (even ā¬‡ļø¸ 14mo

dabbe fainting in front of Ranford and his house). The fact that Mr. B sees Emma at the climatic ending shows there must be the paranormal going on here. What did Mrs. B die from? Maybe a heart attack (it was mentioned she had a weak heart) at the whole climatic scene? Similar to Mrs. Mallard dropping dead at the sight of her husband in ā€The Story of an Hourā€ by K. Chopin? I loved that the story left so many questions--that makes for great discussions! 14mo

dabbe Found this interesting article about Wharton's ghost stories in THE NEW YORKER if anyone's interested:
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/edith-whartons-bewitching-long-lost-... 14mo

23 likes50 comments

Graywacke

Ghosts | Edith Wharton

I‘m distracted by š‡®š‡± and behind for #whartonbuddyread but I have begun reading. On story 2. The preface was lovely.

36 likes

LitsyEvents

Ghosts | Edith Wharton

Repost for @Lcsmcat

A reminder to the #whartonbuddyread that the first discussion for Ghosts is next Saturday. The collection each story was originally published in is in parentheses for those of us reading from The Complete Works eBook.

LitsyEvents Original post: https://litsy.com/p/Q0hLS2tyTDZC 1y

35 likes1 comment

Lcsmcat

Ghosts | Edith Wharton

A reminder to the #whartonbuddyread that the first discussion for Ghosts is next Saturday. The collection each story was originally published in is in parentheses for those of us reading from The Complete Works eBook.

Graywacke

Lcsmcat @kspenmoll @Leftcoastzen @LitStephanie @llwheeler @Louise @rubyslippersreads @SamAnne @sarahbellum @Sparklemn @Suet624 @TheBookHippie @willaful 1y

See All 8 Comments

Graywacke I‘ll start tomorrow š™‚ 1y

TheBookHippie Got the kindle ready! 1y

Liz_M @LitsyEvents 1y

Lcsmcat Thanks @Liz_M ! I meant to tag them and forgot. 1y

IMASLOWREADER im starting this friday the 13th wooooooo spooky feels lol š‘» 1y

19 likes8 comments

Lcsmcat

Ghosts | Edith Wharton

And the winner is . . .Ghosts (by a slim margin of those of you who voted) The parentheticals are the collections these stories are in for those of us reading from The Complete Works of Edith Wharton ($1.99 on Kindle) We‘ll start on the 14th to give people time to get a copy. I didn‘t check page counts, but the number of stories is roughly equivalent. #Whartonbuddyread

Graywacke

Lcsmcat @kspenmoll @Leftcoastzen @LitStephanie @llwheeler @Louise @rubyslippersreads @SamAnne @sarahbellum @Sparklemn @Suet624 @Tamra @TheBookHippie @willaful 1y

See All 9 Comments

TheBookHippie Looks good! 1y

batsy Thank you! 1y

Tamra I‘m overbooked this month, but thank you! 1y

Lcsmcat @Tamra I‘ll take you off the tag list. Let me (or @Graywacke ) know if you want to be added back for the next one. 1y

Graywacke Thanks! I‘m so curious what these ghost stories are. 1y

IMASLOWREADER cant wait 1y

26 likes9 comments

Lcsmcat

Ghosts | Edith Wharton

Option three for October #whartonbuddyread

Graywacke

Lcsmcat @kspenmoll @Leftcoastzen @LitStephanie @llwheeler @Louise @rubyslippersreads @SamAnne @sarahbellum @Sparklemn @Suet624 @Tamra @TheBookHippie @willaful 1y

See All 13 Comments

LeahBergen It‘s a great collection š‘¨ 1y

Graywacke Ok. My vote goes here. 1y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke š‚ I guessed as much. 1y

Currey @Lcsmcat Sorry I jumped the queue. I can get option #1 and option #3 and not the second. I will vote for Ghosts 1y

Lcsmcat @Currey Got it. There‘s a lot of overlap so whatever people pick should work. My ā€Completeā€¯ has them all and it was 1.99 on Kindle. š¤·š¸»ā€¨ā™€ļø¸ 1y

rubyslippersreads I vote for this one. 1y

batsy Sorry, I'm not sure what's the difference between the Ghosts versions and apologies if I've missed the explainer elsewhere. I'm happy to read Ghosts in whichever edition as long as I can find an epub or Kindle version! 1y

IMASLOWREADER i read this one before and it‘s pretty awesomeā€¦never knew she wrote ghosts stories 1y

Lcsmcat @batsy The Three collections have some overlap, but each has some stories the others donā€t have. The post here has a list of the contents of each. Lcsmcat's post on Litsy https://litsy.com/p/aGIzWHl1TDFE All the stories are in the Complete Works eBook which is $1.99 on Kindle. (edited) 1y

batsy @Lcsmcat Thank you! I'll stick to my pick but I'll be happy with reading any one of these. 1y

27 likes1 stack add13 comments

Welcome to Litsy!

Trending Hashtags

Trending Books