I've been reading something spooky/creepy/horrific around this time for a few years now. Does anyone else do this? Any recommendations?
My reads:
- 2023: Perfectly Preventable Deaths by Deirdre Sullivan
- 2022: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
- 2021: Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
- 2020: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
- 2019: Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
- 2018: Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders & Something Wicked this Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
- 2017: Carrie by Stephen King
- 2016: Jekyll and Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
- 2015: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
- 2014: The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H. P. Lovecraft
- 2012: The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft
- 2009: Dracula by Bram Stoker
- 2008: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Yes! I've also been doing a Spooky Season last month and this one with some of the same classics - Frankenstein, Dracula, The Invisible Man, and now Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
I had never read any of them before! Based on the popular conceptions versus the reality of the text, I'd say Frankenstein was the most interesting.
I liked the format* of Dracula, that was a welcome surprise.
* I looked up the term: "epistolary".
Huh, that one's already in my to-read list, I'll add that to the top of my Halloween to-read list
The older 80s-90s versions of the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books, the ones illustrated by Stephen Gammel, are evergreen reads. If you have a good narration voice, ideal for campfire telling or other all-ages sharing.
Warning if you look them up: the Stephen Gammel illustrations are very creepy.
The complete collection is on Kindle for £0.99, so I have that now, thanks. It includes the Gammel illustrations, and they look great!
Has anyone read Woom by Duncan Ralston? My friend said it was extreme horror. I was going to read it this month.
Well, I read it. It was a weird sexual story with a good twist. A solid 3 out of 5 stars. It pales in comparison to the Marquis de Sade's 120 Days of Sodom which was a truly horrific and depravied story.
Yes and no: I don't on purpose, but sometimes I end up doing them because of Halloween related releases :)
I think most of those books are older than I am! New releases go into the to-read list, to settle in and get comfy alongside the ~600 others.
Hahaha that's fair! I'm a big mood reader and happy to ignore my TBR (which I keep small) so reading new releases does happen sometimes :)
