"If you don't come to me, I'll come to you."

Writing about ghost stories when summer is approaching feels... strange. Especially because ghost stories were traditionally a Christmas thing. At least there's a full moon right now, so maybe this is appropriate after all!

The appeal of James's disquieting stories is in the transition from an ordinary, almost mundane and often academic world into supernatural. The sense of normalcy is interrupted by hair-raising scenes with mysterious figures, and James knows just the right parts where to let the reader's imagination do its work.

My favorites vary according to my mood. This time the ones I liked the most were "The Mezzotint", "Count Magnus", "Wailing Well", "Rats", and "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad". There was also a scene that for some reason freaked me out completely: a man touches a head of hair when there shouldn't be anyone else in the room. I just can't for the life of me remember which story it was.

Recommended to consume with a warm drink in hand and ideally in front of a crackling fire. If the latter is not possible, curled up inside a nest of blankets is a good substitute. There are also loads of adaptations, both old and new (some of them available on YouTube!).