So I was thinking of reading some books by H.P Lovecraft...

[infohippie]

The Dream Cycle is less known, but in my opinion, better. It includes things like The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, The Cats of Ulthar, and The Colour out of Space. Instead of giant monsters, it deals with where we go when we dream.

I wouldn't have grouped The Colour out of Space with the Dream Cycle myself, I'd say it's more of a standalone story. I do love that story though, there's something about it I found very creepy. I do agree that the dream stories are generally better than his others. I particularly liked The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath.

To OP: You should read At the Mountains of Madness and The Shadow Over Innsmouth, they're probably Lovecraft's best-known tales, and they're the ones that have been the inspiration for a lot of other Lovecraft-themed works. I'd also recommend The Dunwich Horror, that's one of my favourites.

 

[Arkham]

I feel like I should be all over this topic given that my name and avatar are both directly related to Lovecraft, but I'd hate to seem like a fanatic.

If for whatever reason you cannot get a copy of any of his works in book form or prefer to read on a computer or tablet or ebook reader there are plenty of places online you can find to help. Wikisource [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:H._P._Lovecraft] and HPLovecraft.com [http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/] have quite a bit of material. I recommend reading The Shadow Over Innsmouth first.

 

[Cedric Wilson]

I picked up the complete works from Barnes and Noble for $20 bucks

 

[Forgetitnow344]

Is there a particular order in which a new reader should read the works?

 

[mizushinzui]

I would say that you should go for the necronomicon:The Best Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft. It's a great collection of his short stories.

Would agree that unless you like Poe you're not going to like Lovecraft though.

 

[creepy_rabbit]

thank you everyone!

also another question, does it matter in which order you read them?

 

[zombie goat fetish]

Could you guys help me out?
1. Which one should I start with?
2. Which one is the best one?
3. Thoughts on H.P Lovecrafts work

H.P Lovecraft only wrote one book the rest were short stories, you can get most of them in one big collection.

My personal fav is Pitmans Model

He is the master of horror I love his work.

 

[Vhite]

I have heard At The Mountains of Madness audio book. It was rather short, it isn't even 1 hour long and it gave me more questions than answers but I guess that is how you create mythos. Also it wasn't scary at all which was really disappointing. It wasn't bad but I expected more.