A brief anecdote about me before going into the book: My first exposure to Lovecraft was by recommendation by my librarian in High School. She had taken a shining to me and recommended me H.P. Lovecraft given I was such a big horror fan. I used to use the library computers to print off the stories from the Free Internet archives of his collections to read in my spare time. Call of Cthulhu was my first story. When I first read his work- I found it a little hard to get by- but I was determined. I had to reach for a dictionary a couple of times and reread a few sentences because his writing can be dry at times, but it was worth it. I became enthralled by the challenge and the content. No wonder this was the author that had influenced so many horror writers to this day.

Now, onto the book. This was my first true book that I bought for myself concerning Lovecraft. I was properly introduced to stories such as The Shunned House, The Shadow out of Time, The Beast in the Cave and more.
Now, Lovecraft's work can be slow but is overall not disappointing. This anthology does contain some of the more 'lesser' works I'd say. I think after a story or two you, get his major drift and themes that he goes for in his style. The man certainly goes for weird by the throat. He goes for world building and it sticks. His style of writing tends to hinge on mood rather than plot, so keep that in mind as well.
I think this is a select choice for newcomers to his stories- although I think I would recommend the Waking up Screaming Anthology just a bit more. I find the stories in that one to be a bit darker, dramatic and more suspenseful.
https://www.librarything.com/work/12611/reviews/228280773 ( )

Lovecraft is more than just the creator of horror fiction, to this day he remains the best. You can't go wrong anything written by this man. I have yet to read a story that I've disliked. ( )