The Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (1992)

I've had this for two or three years now. It's an old used copy and I love it! It's lovely to have so much Poe in one volume. ( )

A collection of 73 tales and 52 poems spanning the writing career of Edgar Allan Poe. He is best known for his poem "The Raven" and tale of "The Tell-Take Heart". A favourite among gothic horror fans, I was really looking forward to reading this complete collection.

Sadly I was quite let down. There was a lot of gothic horror tales, but there were a lot of random tales as well. The ones I really enjoyed were:
The Unparalled Adventures of one Hans Pfaal (non-horror)
The Gold Bug
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
The Mystery of Marie Roget
The Black Cat
The Tell-Tale Heart
A Predicament
Diddling (non-horror)
Hop-Frog
William Wilson
Beatrice
The System of Dr Tarr and Professor Fether
Narrative of A. Gordon Pym
Eleonora
Some words with a Mummy (non-horror)
The Spectacles
This is only a list of 16 tales and out of 73 it's a pretty small proportion. I found that there were far too many I didn't enjoy between those I did which mad it very difficult to keep going and finish them all.

On the other hand, I really enjoyed the poetry and they are something I would go back and read again. I think the best thing to do is stick to a collection of his best horror ones to save being disappointed with the rest (however they do become a little formulaic after a while). ( )

Many mixed feelings about Poe. Brilliance and schlock at turns. ( )