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My Thoughts on Wilkie Collins, The Moonston, The Haunted Hotel and My Lady's Money as published by Great Classic Library / Chancellor Press (shown).
I have already read "The Moonstone" a long while ago in a different book. It was a fantastic mystery adventure. It landed itself in my favorites of all time. I also recently read "The Woman in White" by Wilkie Collins which you can read my thoughts on that in the 2023 list of books I read. It was great; although I didn't put it in my favorites of all time. The reading of these two short novels continued the adventure with Wilkie Collins
Questions for thought / discussion as I have been reading The Haunted Hotel:
Do you believe in Ghosts?
Have you ever visited any places reputed to be haunted? If so, when you visited did you experience any indications of the haunting(s) yourself firsthand?
If you were a hotel manager would you be concerned if one of the rooms or the hotel itself were haunted? or would you turn it to a marketing point?
Would you stay in a hotel that is reputed to be haunted?
What is a superstition that you have?
of the virtues, which is the most rare to be found in people?
Questions inspired by "My Lady's Money:"
What do you think of marriages between people in different socio-economic levels? what complications or issues arise from that that you are aware of or may have witnessed/experienced?
Would you pick a Pug or a Scotch Terrier for a pet?
Have you ever attended a wedding of someone who you wanted to marry?
In a recent book you have read, was there a wedding? how was it done? was it happy? not a happy wedding? would you have liked to attend it in real life?
Who knows how to live better, the English or the French?
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15 January 2024. Hello Froggies. Today I finished reading "My Lady's Money" by Wilkie Collins which wrapped up my reading of both that one and "The Haunted Hotel" in this publication of them by Great Classic Library (shown). As stated previously, I already had read The Moonstone in another publication and that one is in my favorites of all time. I highly recommend that one. I figured based upon that and the reading of The Woman in White recently (which I also really enjoyed but it did fall short of my favorites of all time because of its predictabilty) that I would enjoy these two. And I did enjoy them very much. I am not going to say they were at the level of The Moonstone though in my opinion at least. Of the two I enjoyed "The Haunted Hotel" more. If you enjoy mysteries you will enjoy both as well as the Moonstone and the Woman in White I believe. There were some of the same ideas or schemes in "The Haunted Hotel" that were carried out in "The Woman in White." That kind of took away from it for me and kept it out of my favorites of all time.
In "The Haunted Hotel" is the story of essentially a murder mystery with a missing person's case, an insurance policy, bronchitis, an unhappy marriage, chemistry (alchemy), a broken heart, superstition, enduring love, a playwrite, a deathly looking lady, and mysterious bequest. . . it's a mystery so I don't want to spoil it. Wilkie Collins does a good job at creating picturesque characters and in this one it was the deathly looking countess and her bizaare behaviors and statements. I really did enjoy this one; particularly the scene of the haunting in the hotel room was done particularly well. That I think was the highlight of the book. Another highlight was the opening when the deathly looking woman came in to see a reputable doctor to find out if she was crazy or not.
In "My Lady's Money" is a mystery of who committed a theft and the consequences of that question left unanswered on the person(s) suspected of it; it also involved a mismatched marriage, and the enduring devotion of a man who loves a woman despite her hurting his feelings (intentionally or unintentionally) and how that ends up in the end. It is also an exposition on class differences and the question of marriages between individuals of differing socio-economic classes. Different characters viewed the situation differently as I am sure readers would as well. As stated about Collins' ability to create colorful characters; in this one it was a former attorney who has turned private investigator who is dirty and disgusting and profoundly ugly with a delightful Pug dog. I really like how the book was wrapped up in the end; and the author has a little comical humor which is shown in the ending as well. In my many readings of classics I have attended many many weddings; this particular wedding party or engagement party was not a happy affair. It was also comical with the ill behaved scotch terrier in the book (reminds me of a certain unlikable dog that I know in real life, trying to bite my ankles and shins all the time hahaha). In this book there is one character who the reader developes a negative view toward but it seems unjustifiable. That was a positive feature about the book. There is also an interesting school teacher in the book with a unique habit which came out of her being a teacher which is comical. Again, that is another example of Wilkie Collins' great ability to create unique colorful characters in his books. It seems every book he writes has one or two that are really outstanding in that regard.
If I were to put all the works of Wilkie Collins that I have read in order of my liking them it would be in this order: "The Moonstone" - "The Lady in White" - "The Haunted Hote" - and "My Lady's Money". . . is it meaningful that that is precisely the order in which I read them? Regardless of that ordering, I enjoyed them all and would recommend any of them to anyone who likes mysteries and works with colorful characters in them.
Now I am going to read one by DH Lawrence: "The White Peacock". . . and will be kind of going on a DH Lawrence tour (kind of like I did with Wilkie Collins at the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024); I will be interrupted by "Lucky Jim" but after that will return to DH Lawrence reading two books of works by him: "DH Lawrence Four Short Novels: The Fox, Love Among the Haystacks, The Ladybird, The Captain's Doll (by Penguin Books); and "DH Lawrence - Love Among the Haystacks and Other Stories" by Penguin Twentieth Century Classics, which includes the additional stories of "The Lovely Lady", "Rawdon's Roof", "The Rocking-Horse Winner", "The Man Who Loved Islands", "The Man Who Died." Like with Wilkie Collins, these will not be my first adventure with DH Lawrence. I have previously read the banned and naughty book "Lady Chatterly's Lover" which is in my favorites of all time. There are other works by him on my TBR Shelf as well; however, I think this is enough of an adventure with him and will save those for latter; unless I really like these: then I will add to the adventure "Women in Love" and "The Rainbow". . .
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