storychaser

George Orwell

The most important novel of the 20th century. Period.

Bram Stoker

Forget sparkly vampires. This is the real deal. Dracula is terrifying because he's sophisticated evil.

Matt Haig

A bit too neat and tidy for my taste. The life lessons feel spoon-fed at times. Still enjoyable.

Charlotte Brontë

Bronte wrote a love story where the woman holds all the moral power. Radical for 1847, inspiring today.

Mary Shelley

Shelley wrote this after a dare from Byron. Imagine what she would have written with encouragement.

J. P. Steed

The scene with Phoebe on the carousel is one of the most beautiful moments in American fiction.

Herman Melville

I respect it more than I enjoy it. The ambition is staggering but the execution tests your endurance.

Bram Stoker

A Victorian masterpiece of dread. The themes of sexuality, immigration anxiety, and modernity vs tradition are fascinating.

Emily Brontë

The Yorkshire moors are as much a character as Heathcliff or Catherine. Atmospheric and haunting.

J.R.R. Tolkien

The songs and poems slow things down but add to the mythic quality. This is meant to be an epic saga, not a thriller.

Aldous Huxley

Fascinating ideas but the characters feel more like vehicles for philosophy than real people.