It's Edward Gorey's birthday!

What's your favorite book?

http%3A//www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2013/0222/Edward-Gorey-The-original-Tim-Burton-video



• LEt's all hold hands and think of poor Neville who died of ennui!

• I love The Osbick Bird!

  http://lareviewofbooks.org/media/media/492/1351562312.jpg

• A is for Amy, who fell down the stairs.

  http://www.georgehernandez.com/h/aaBlog/2004/media/04-16_AIsForAmyWhoFellDownTheStairs.jpg

• I like the one where they all go to the country for an orgy and people start dying.

• The Recently Deflowered Girl

  http://edwardgorey.livejournal.com/133502.html

• Amphigorey. Absolutely loved it as a kid. Was blessed to meet him much later in life. "Family" btw.

• A is for Amy who fell down the stairs. B is for Basil assaulted by bears. C is for Clara who wasted away. D is for Desmond thrown out of a sleigh. E is for Ernest who choked on a peach. F is for Fanny sucked dry by a leech. G is for George smothered under a rug. H is for Hector done in by a thug. I is for Ida who drowned in a lake. J is for James who took lye by mistake. K is for Kate who was struck with an axe. L is for Leo who swallowed some tacks. M is for Maud who was swept out to sea. N is for Neville who died of ennui. O is for Olive run through with an awl. P is for Prue trampled flat in a brawl. Q is for Quentin who sank on a mire. R is for Rhoda consumed by a fire. S is for Susan who perished of fits. T is for Titus who flew into bits. U is for Una who slipped down a drain. V is for Victor squashed under a train. W is for Winnie embedded in ice. X is for Xerxes devoured by mice. Y is for Yorick whose head was knocked in. Z is for Zillah who drank too much gin.

• I love them all, but "The Doubtful Guest," "The Curious Sofa," and "The Iron Tonic" are favorites. "It's known the skating pond conceals a family of enormous eels." -- The Iron Tonic "Lady Celia led Alice to her boudoir, where she requested the girl to perform a rather surprising service." --The Curious Sofa "Now and then it would vanish for hours from the scene, But alas, be discovered inside a tureen." --The Doubtful Guest

  Ogdred%20Weary

• YEAH! For too much gin!

• The Doubtful Guest is hilarious: "It was seemingly deaf to whatever they said So at last they stopped screaming and went off to bed." Also love this.

  http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lb916w8zh61qzfmh5o1_500.jpg

• "The Demented Cousins" is a favorite where one kills the other with a doorknob. And "The Insect God" made me burst out laughing when I got to the ending. It was so absurd.

• He and poet Frank O'Hara were roommates for a time in college. Even back then, they say Gorey was wearing the huge fur coats.

• Where the Wild Things Are.

• Check out this guy -- a less gothic but fun successor. javascript:submitPost();

  http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomgauld/

• I miss seeing him in his fox coat and tennis sneakers.

  Anonymous

• Another vote for The Gashlycrumb Tinies. I used to give posters of that (back in the days when they were still available) as gifts to some of my friends who had kids. All the mothers were horrified, all the dads laughed about them. I have kids of my own now, and I read those to them all the time. They know "A is for Amy...". It's how my son (age 7) learned what "assaulted" means. Good times. I also love the Gorey-inspired intro the the PBS series "Mystery", with that tango music. RIP, EG.

  Big%20Gorey%20Fan

• I loved how he would sneak a cat into almost all his books!

• Who be this guy? Never heard of him.

•  

• The Curious Sofa, of course! Fave panel is the one with "Herbert, Albert, and Harold, the gardener, an exceptionally well-made youth, disporting themselves on the lawn." (They're soon joined by Donald, Herbert's singularly well-favoured sheepdog.)

• R is for poor, deprived, bereft R18!

• My favourite was his book cover illustration for The House with a Clock in Its Walls by John Bellairs. Spooky.

• Did he ever have sex?