Customer Reviews

18 Best Stories by Edgar Allan Poe

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I've read a few of Edgar Allan Poe's stories and found them very intriguing, to say the least. One of my favorites being "The Cast of Amontillado." Poe really brings out the darker side of one's personality in his stories. I think he expresses his hardship growing up through his writings. Once you pick up one of Poe's books, you would want to read more and more. His stories are mystefying and frightening. They may make you want to laugh and cry all at the same time. If you are really in the mood to get lost in darkness, mystery and intrigue, pick up one of Poe's books. You'll be glad you did.

For decades people have read, and re-read the works of Edgar Allan Poe--each time leaving the reader to walk away with a chill in the spine, and a deep sense that there are some things in life, however imagined, that are simply terrifying. Poe speaks through the heart of his own woes, his own terror...making his characters breathe life into their stories. Perhaps one of my favorites by this master of the macabre is "The Tell-Tale Heart," a maddening and sometimes angering ride through a deranged mind. This is an historical dance through the dark, perhaps even the most pivotal root in the life and love of the horror story. Poe worked not from the concepts of traditional monsters, but rather stirred the monsters haunting his protagonists...there are few who can lay claim to this level of suspense, drama, or who have ever invoked genuine fear in their readers. Poe does it with cunning, and seeming ease. Highly recommended reading.

This book, by Edgar Allan Poe, is made up of 18 short stories that are considered the best. Most of his stories are based on death, terror, mystery, murder, and fear. One of the stories I really like is "The Tell - Tale Heart," and it's about a mad guy who is called upon an old man for care. Later, he kills the old man because he got too scared of his eyes and he hides the corpse under the planks of the house. When the police come and search through the house, he starts hearing strange heart beats from the place where the corpse is hidden. He gets nervous and the heart beats get louder and louder until he thought that the police could hear the heart beats and thought that the police were making a mockery of his horror. So he gets angry right away and tears up the planks saying he did it and telling them to stop making a mockery of him. It's a story based on extreme fear and horror of the protagonist. The final part is pretty ironic and has lots of suspense in it. There are more stories as good as this one I wrote about. I really enjoyed reading this book and I rate this as 10 out of 10. I would strongly recommend this book. I like these stories for different reasons: I always liked these kind of stories, the author has an incredible use of language for description, and it builds up suspense throughout the story. It's hard to predict what will happen next and it contains strong irony. I could say that these stories are the ones you must read at least once and, in fact, the best ones I've read.

This book was given to me by a friend that was trimming down her library, and a more fitting book it could not have been. Editors Vincent Price (yes, THAT Vincent Price) and Chandler Brossard (no, not THAT Chandler Brossard) have gathered together some of Poe's finest tales of horror, mystery, and fantasy, with a comedy or two thrown in for balance. Poe's horror stories were, for the most part, short and placed emphasis on the pyschological rather than the mystical. His narrators were always driven by inner demons that they recognized, but could not control, and focused on emotion rather than story. The Black Cat and The Tell-Tale Heart are the most famous examples of these. But the author also used his sharp insight into the mind to craft brilliant tales of mystery, it is these tales that remain my favorite. The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Gold Bug are my choices for Poe's best work, the mystery The Purloined Letter is also contained within the anthology. On the fantasy end, we are offered A Tale of the Ragged Mountains and MS Found in a Bottle, which seems to be a sort of a dry run for Poe's only attempt at a novel length story - The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym. Poe also had a wicked sense of humor, and The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether, The Man That Was Used Up, and The Balloon-Hoax are excellent examples of that alomst forgotten side of a complex and talented writer. No matter what edition of Poe you get, any collection of his tales is an essential for a well read personal library. Highest recommendation.

Poe's writing has stood the test of time. This edition, however, literally looks like a photocopy of an older, overinked edition. The type is small with a small x-height (relationship of lower case letter to capital letters), which is difficult to read, looks dirty and cluttered, and is indicative of a publisher going CHA-CHING and cashing in on a reproduction of someone else's work -- honestly, in this day and age, would it have taken so much to re-set this book? Make it a bit easier to read?!

The stories are excellent. This is a cheaply-printed edition, however, dated and difficult to read.

Vincent Price and Chandler Brossard do a great job of collecting some of Edgar Allan Poe's finest works, in their story collection 18 Best Stories by Edgar Allan Poe. Edgar Allan Poe's short stories left me in suspense and surprise (it was the first time I ever read Poe literature). I could not put the book down. Since the first time I picked this book up, I've become fascinated with Poe's literature. I can thank Price and Brossard for their wonderful choice in stories, but can mainly thank the writer, Edgar Allan Poe, for bringing such great literature.

One of the first and best murder mystery authors of all time is brought out in these wonderful pieces of art. To think of the demons and struggles this man went through in his life and to be able to get them on paper, just makes them more realistic and scary. Edgar A. Poe, as he liked to call himself, needs to be read and interpreted in a group setting. Therefore, you are able to bounce all the different little aspects of the story or poem off one another. Some may say that all the foreshadowing and little pieces of clues he gives you are coincidence. That is for you to determine.

When reading these pieces of work, be sure to pay attention and take in all he gives you. You are guaranteed to miss lots of hints in your first reading. Which means you need to read many many times. Each time you are given a different perspective and find those little hints. But in the end, readers will never really know what Edgar A. Poe was feeling or thinking while writing these masterpieces.

This is a very good collection of Poe's works. My personal favorites are The Black Cat, The Gold Bug, and The Masque of the Red Death. They are mostly about horror and the immense fear people can get. The Gold Bug is more of a mystery but it's really really good. Poe's writing it hard to grasp when you're first starting to read his stories, but you catch on real quick. ~*Danielle*~

This collection is a wonderful introduction to the master's works. Poe is perhaps one of the most influential writers America has ever produced. Though known mostly as a critic in his own time, his stories were translated into French by the great French Poet, Charles Baudelaire, and thus his reputation started to spread in Europe, where he had a deep effect on writers such as Dickens and Doestoyevsky. And it's no wonder, since his stories are excellently crafted with many layers of subtle psychological meanings. "The Tell Tale Heart" for instance stands out in my mind as one of the penultimate tales of terror that was ever created by his sometimes feverish imagination. It could almost be read as a confession by a madman in an asylum. Then there's the deeply symbolic tale, "The Mosque of the Red Death." A truly moral tale for a man who had a rep for being a drunkard in his own lifetime. Strange, Hemingway, who drank gallons of booze, is never critiqued for this weakness, but poor Poe has suffered for his malady and is not given his proper place in the curriculum of our universities, though now his works are widely read and are being reassessed. For Poe was indeed a great master and perhaps 200 hundred years ahead of his time.

So read Poe - and you'll be equally horrorfied and entertained forevermore!

It was good and the best book I have read because it caught my eye. The best one I thought was the "The Raven".