R.I.P. Autumn Reading Challenge

I haven’t been reading enough lately so I’ve decided to participate in the Readers Imbibing Peril (R.I.P.) 2006 Autumn Challenge hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings. The challenge is to choose five books that meet the broad criteria of “…being scary, eerie, moody, dripping with atmosphere, gothic, unsettling, etc. and vow to read them.” I think it sounds fun and although it takes a while for autumn to truly arrive in Sicily, I’m ready for some chills!

I decided to choose my reading list from my own bookshelf rather than purchase anything new. I have read all of these but it’s been a while and I have such a terrible memory that it will be like I’m reading everything for the first time anyway. All of the books on this list cannot be classified as “Gothic” and they aren’t all scary in the traditional sense but to me they all fit the criteria of being at least one of these things: scary, eerie, moody, dripping with atmosphere, gothic and unsettling.

So here’s the list:

1. Beowulf translated by R.M. Liuzza
2. The Turn of the Screw byHenry James
3. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
4. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
5. Six Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allen Poe (including: The Gold Bug, The Oblong Box, The Mystery of Marie Roget, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Murders in Rue Morgue, and The Pit and the Pendulum)

I don’t know which order I’ll choose for my Autumn reading. Knowing me, I’ll be reading 2 or 3 of them at any one time! Thanks to Bloglily for pointing me in the direction of this challenge!