From the Bookshelf of Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)…

The Gold Bug

Edgar Allan Poe,

Tobias Hill (Foreword by)

Start date: October 1, 2021

Finish date: October 31, 2021

Discussion: Short Story/Novella Collection

Why we're reading this: October 2021 Short Story/Novella Read-Title Story Only
[close] October 2021 Short Story/Novella Read-Title Story Only

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 118 topics — 7,488 comments total

Short Story/Novella Collection

This topic has been closed to new comments.

* Short Story Classics
By Bob , Short Story Classics · 1 post · 703 views

last updated Sep 01, 2015 05:35AM

Lois the Witch - August 2025
By Bob , Short Story Classics · 29 posts · 72 views

last updated Sep 01, 2025 03:10PM

showing 10 of 10 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Apr 22, 2016 Alex rated it liked it

In Poe's short story an unnamed narrator befriends a man named William Legrand on a small island off the South Carolina coast. Legrand's family, Huguenots (French Protestants), had lived the good life in New Orleans until a string of misfortunes drained their wealth. Devastated by his loss of position, Legrand left New Orleans to live as a semi-hermit on Sullivan's Island. The narrator's relationship with Legrand and his companion Jupiter, a freed slave who has chosen to stick with his former ma ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 04, 2012 Denise rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, classic, related-media, kindle-owned

This was a great short story. I'd heard and seen it in different forms, but reading it was special, and I learned something. I would bet that I could now solve a cryptogram puzzle thanks to the detailed lesson in the book! To add to the entertainment value, I listened to the text to speech Kindle option as I read along, and it was a laugh hearing Jupiter's lines. Not bad, the pirate angle, too. Pirates, code cracking, Poe- what could be better? I know it sounds like I am being facetious, but I r ...more

1 like · Like · see review

May 27, 2012 Laura rated it liked it

Shelves: novellas, gothic-romance, fiction-19th-century, read-2012, audio-books, adventure, suspense-thriller, horror, short-stories

From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
A tale of piracy, slavery and suspense, dramatised by Gregory Evans.

Like · see review

Nov 23, 2008 Lesley Looper rated it it was ok

This edition includes the stories, "The Sphinx" and "William Wilson," in addition to "The Gold Bug." Each story had an interesting ending, but I had a tough time getting into the rhythm of each one. I wonder if it's a matter of "practicing" reading Poe. ...more

Like · see review