Three eighteenth century romances: The castle of Otranto; Vathek; The romance of the forest

THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO:
To borrow Virginia Woolf's comment on James Joyce, "What tosh." But entertaining tosh. If you're in the mood for something completely preposterous but short (only 123 pages) with great pacing, here's your gothic. I can see why it made such a splash back in the day - it's quite thrilling with a solid villain, proposals of infamous misconduct (marital, sexual), secret identities, prophecies, groaning portraits, secret passages and more . Wait for a dark and stormy night, then read it in bed by candlelight while wearing a frilly white nightgown (optional for males). Extra points if you have flowing wavy locks and a rosebud mouth.

The Radcliffe title is hard to find elsewhere, though it is abridged in this edition.