St. John D. Seymour (1880–1950)

Actually a holdover from my 2013 reading list, I am just getting around to logging this book. A reprint of a work originally published in 1916, True Irish Ghost Stories is fairly dry reading, since it is a series of collected letters, wherein people recount their encounters with allegedly supernatural events. Most of the works take the form of “Mrs. S____ of County B____ recalls . . .”

I came across this book in one hotel’s “Take One / Leave One” library, and being a fan of ghost show more stories swapped this for a book I was carrying for just such a purpose. At first I was severely disappointed: I was looking to add to my collection of Ghost Stories. After a while, I realized I had some good source material here to help create my own versions of these tales. It also took a while to get past the dated syntax and colloquialisms, but in the end, I found it worth more than the price I paid, but not a truly superior find. (Yes, it has influenced my writing style as well!)

I would not go out of my way to seek this book out, but if you come across it, at least try it. It may be more to your liking than mine and does have some stories you just can’t find anyplace else. I’ll elevate this to three stars because of the curiosity factor. show less

It took me so much longer than I wanted to read this one, but I finished it. I have mixed feelings about it. I started out reading it with my daughter, but it was just a very dry reading overall, so I ended up just recording the rest for her to listen when she wants later. I don't know why I was expecting something much more lively, but I was. So it was a bit disappointing. However, that being said, the experiences themselves were interesting and it's obvious that the author put a lot of show more work into collecting and compiling the stories, which he did fairly well in the greater scheme of it all. I kind of wish Goodreads would allow half stars, because it's closer to a 2.5 for me, but it doesn't, so I'm going with 3. show less

Though the stories are not necessarily chillers, this book's value lies in its history. Seymour's piecing together of these stories and insistence upon their authenticity, based upon what would today be the shoddiest of proof, makes this an entertaining read and an interesting anthropological insight.

Seymour's retelling of legends of King Solomon from many different cultures, woven together as a fairly coherent life story. I got this as background for my paper "Richard the Wise and the Glory of Solomon."