I read old fashioned gothic novels...I even proofread one for this publisher... here

Grown up, but with wild plots and kooky characters. The one I proofread, The Mysterious Freebooter, featured an evil captain, harems, rogue Scottish lords and a prison escape. It was very entertaining!

I think maybe Angela Carter writes adult type faery tales...and I too loved Robin McKinley. 'cept for that last book she did, about the vampires? I thought it was coarse and vulgar and that she was trying to hard to emulate the authors who write the sexsexsexsex vampire stories lately *cough*LaurellKhamilton*cough* That book made me very sad...

It was a lot coarser than she generally is, but I think she's feeling heat from either her publishers or just from herself to sort of keep it current and rise out of the young adult genre. However, I will admit that I really loved it because she is so very talented at setting a mood, and the way she described vampires as true monsters, something other than just a human with fangs, and the feeling of being near one in the sense that it resembled being in a cage with a lion, it was just refreshing.

The one thing I really dislike about her is that she leaves so many stories untold.

As for the older, gothic novels, they don't tend to work for me as light reading- it tends to take more time for me to really think about what is being said and I don't get the subtext quite as well. I think what I'm trying to say is that I'm just not smart enough for those yet. Maybe someday?