If I wanted to start reading HP Lovecraft...

[Nienor]

...where do you recommend I begin? Because my life has been lacking in his books, yet I don't know anyone who has ever read any of his books to recommend me a starting place.

Thanks

 

[Isambard]

Thats up to you as alot of his stories are short ones so books by Lovecraft are actually compilations of his work. My recommendation would be go for the penguin edition of 'Call of Cthulu'. Has some excellent work there. There is also compilations of Lovecraft's Dream stories which fall under dark fantasy. He's written alot so dont expect to get all his stories under certain compilations, but seeing his works are now public works, you can just as easily find any missing material online such as Wikisource.

 

[AndOne]

Marvel is releasing a three part comic series on Lovecraft's work starting this Wednesday. It is all in black and white - so I may take a pass on it. We'll see....

 

[Solomon Kane]

My recommendation would be to start with the two volume set "The Annotated H.P. Lovecraft", and, "More Annotated H.P. Lovecraft". Both edited by S.T. Joshi.

While the collection does not contain every work that Lovecraft is famous for, it does give an excellent introduction to his work. In addition, the footnotes to provide a strong insight into how Lovecraft's mind worked along with material on where he drew inspiration for his stories.

 

[stonetoflesh]

There are three principal strains of Lovecraft's writings. Most famous are his tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, contemporary (1920s-30s) horror tales in which humans encounter sanity-shaking evidence of the powerful pantheons of supernatural Elder Gods and Great Old Ones. Suggested stories: "The Call of Cthulhu," "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", "At the Mountains of Madness", etc.

Connected to the Cthulhu Mythos are the Dreamlands stories, as mentioned by Isambard. Dark and weird fantasy somewhat similar to that produced by Clark Ashton Smith, set in the dream-world parallel to Earth. The principal work in the cycle is "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath".

Lovecraft also wrote other stories unrelated (or tangentially related) to either cycle, mostly weird horror but also a science fiction tale ("In the Walls of Eryx"). I'm a big fan of "Imprisoned with the Pharaohs", inspired by the exploits of the then-popular Harry Houdini.

 

[Nienor]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I will add all of them to my reading list this summer and hopefully amend my lack of Lovecraft.