Finished reading M.R. James's Collected Ghost Stories last night. Loved his dispassionate narratives without any conscious effort to build up suspense. Some of the stories had no explanations but were scary anyway. Among the stories I liked most were those about a 16-year-old boy and a 12-year old boy who sacrifice a black pullet; a hanged witch who inhabits an ash tree to wreak vengeance on the family of her prosecutor; a dollhouse that comes alive at 1:00 AM to reenact a dark secret; a haunted prayer book; an architectural print that comes alive; and a strange friendship between two men that the village gossips about.

Retrieved Curtain: Poirot's Last Case to reread in bed next.