There’s some advice I heard once that when you have a bad experience such as losing a game, failing to fix a tent door in a thunderstorm, or burning a pie, that you should always look for some positive lesson you learned in the experience.

So here are my lessons from finishing Isak Dinesen’s Seven Gothic Tales...

1. “Gothic” can mean other things besides dressing up like Robert Smith of The Cure and watching Dracula.

2. Never read another Isak Dinesen novel unless I really want to fall asleep quickly.

3. Little monkeys are scary.