Some time ago, I bought a book called the “Necronomicon” it’s a collection weird tales from a weird author – H.P Lovecraft.

Lovecraft has a very unique style and endless imagination, which is the entire allure of his stories, but, I challenge you to explain to me exactly what’s going on half the time. His style of writing made it difficult to get into his stories, but what you need to understand about Lovecraft is that he wrote for himself and the only one who can fully understand his stories is he.

That doesn’t mean they are bad stories, for even if some sentences of fail to grasp you, you will be caught in his flow and submerge yourself in the dread he’s trying to convey, and that’s where he shines, to create real atmosphere of horror.

If found that my mind started to wander on other things while reading his tales, yet, I didn’t forget what I read. I came up with ideas for my own stories as if Lovecraft himself dug into my mind a surfaced them.

His work oozes inspiration.

But while you’re in that state, every once in a while, you’ll find yourself drawn back to his world, and then, nothing else exist. Your concentration is unparalleled and you can see the craftsmanship of each page, how he melds the real world with his mythos, real science with the supernatural.

His descriptions are vivid, though over excessive, at times. It is as if Lovecraft had visited these places himself, so detailed is his imagery, which is admirable. I, myself, prefer vague descriptions that allows me to use my own imagination, but as I said, he wrote the stories for himself, not anyone else. Perhaps he wanted to document what he’d really seen… He took inspirations from his own dreams, after all.

I’m ashamed to say, it took me about a year to go through his work. It began slow, but as I grew as a writer and a reader, the stories were consumed quicker and quicker until the last third of the book (which is 878 pages long) was consumed in a month.

I can’t recommend this book to everyone, but keep in mind that this is the first book that I ever bothered to write a review on, that’s how much of an impression it had on me. Pick it up if you are a avid read and if you yourself can imagine strange things, for if you cannot grasp the unknown, you’ll go mad with the imagery Lovecraft provide.

Amazon link