Anyone who reads this site with any regularity knows that the fall is my favorite time of year, since I love nothing more than all things spooky.
With that in mind, I'm gearing up for this year's Halloweeny reads. I love to fill the months from September to November with dark, disturbing, and even scary reads to welcome the fall. This year, I need your help. My spooky stacks are painfully undernourished. That's why your recommendations are a must.
So far, I've lined up
Heart-Shaped Box, by Joe Hill
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, by Stephen King
Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier
Asylum, by Patrick McGrath
Unfortunately, four titles does not a season fill. What spooky reads can you recommend? I'd prefer titles as contemporary as possible, since I've already made my way through classics like Dracula and their ilk. But any and all recommendations are more than welcome -- they are absolutely necessary.
With that in mind, I'm gearing up for this year's Halloweeny reads. I love to fill the months from September to November with dark, disturbing, and even scary reads to welcome the fall. This year, I need your help. My spooky stacks are painfully undernourished. That's why your recommendations are a must.
So far, I've lined up
Unfortunately, four titles does not a season fill. What spooky reads can you recommend? I'd prefer titles as contemporary as possible, since I've already made my way through classics like Dracula and their ilk. But any and all recommendations are more than welcome -- they are absolutely necessary.
11 comments:
Wish I could think of something to recommend. I'm looking forward to hearing what you come up with, though.
Some spooky things that I've recently read and would highly recommend include:
A Good and Happy Child, by Justin Evans
Winterwood, by Patrick McCabe
and 20th Century Ghosts, by Joe Hill
From one lover all all things spooky to another, enjoy.
Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle and Neil Gaiman's Coraline were both...unsettling. Unfortunately, they're both wicked short, so at best I've killed an afternoon or two for you.
Have you read The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield?
White and Other Tales of Ruin by Tim Lebbon. It's a collection of his novellas and some are a bit harsh, but I found it interesting and different from a lot of other stuff I've read.
Mimi, I did read THE THIRTEENTH TALE, and I liked it a lot. Raych, same with CASTLE, but I've never read CORALINE. I might have to give Gaiman another go, despite our not getting along so well the first time.
Thank you for all of your suggestions; most of them are new to me, so I'm adding a lot to my list. Yay!
Keep 'em coming, and thank you!!
Asylum was decent. Very atmospheric, but not great. I can't say why. However, if you like it, Patrick McGrath has tons of titles that should fill the bill fairly well. Spider and The Grotesque instantly spring to mind.
The Lying Tongue (I cannot remember the author) was another that I enjoyed.
Last year I enjoyed World War Z by Max Brooks a lot. It ended up being much better than I expected, and it definitely qualifies as horror.
I also really liked The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. I not really scary but it is definitely dark fantasy and a very enjoyable read.
Speaking of enjoyable reads, I've not yet read my own copy of The Thirteenth Tale. After hearing the comments here, I'm thinking maybe I should...
I really enjoyed The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and I have Heart-Shaped Box on my TBR list for this fall as well. Loved Rebecca.
Here are a couple more suggestions for you:
The Ghost Writer by John Harwood
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
The Open Curtain by Brian Evenson. Unsettling, amazing.
I assume you've read all the M.R. James there is to read, but have you read Robert Aickman? I never have the feeling I've quite understood what happened in his stories, but they are certainly spooky and unsettling.
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