The Horror of Lovecraft

For various reasons, I've started slogging my way through the H.P. Lovecraft ouvre. The word "hyperbole" comes to mind for some reason. Each tale starts like an entry in the Bulwer Litton competition...but overall they're lots of fun. One of the reasons I'm interested in them is the fact that my husband, his brother, his brother's best friend, and his dad, all read them in the 70s and had a good time with them, and they are a part of their little circle's micro-culture. Some of the more laborously sinister and nihilistic passages explain some of the mock dialogue Gordon and a friend of his recite when impersonating Gordon's older brother. Coincidence? I think not.