Horace Walpole - The Castle of Otranto

We only read some of the first chapter, but it was enough to tell me that I like this story a lot. Giant helmets that fall from the sky and walking portraits are both very good ways to capture a short attention span. An interesting aspect of this story was that it had the power to be both funny (not on purpose of course) and tense. I felt like I was a part of Isabella's flight from Manfred, and completely understand why young women were interested in reading Gothic novels and why fathers were interested in keeping their daughters away from them. Stories where old guys try to seduce (sometimes forcefully) younger women both repel and fascinate. Also, I think it's hilarious that Manfred describes his recently deceased son as a "'sickly puny child"'.