Every year, I like to read a book or two during the month of October that is fitting with the holiday. I love a good theme. In keeping with the seasonal festivities, I am taking my usual habit and kicking it up by 500%. This year, I am making it a point to scare/creep the bejeebus out of me at every reading opportunity.
Last year's read was Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman, a rather tame story in comparison to this year's selections, but very enjoyable. I like the movie quite a bit - who doesn't wish they could join Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman and fly/jump off their roof, holding broomsticks, in front of their whole town? Plus, Aidan Quinn. Although it left me feeling mostly satisfied, it didn't quite hit the Halloween note. You know, the shrill, screeching, knife thrusting towards your face, psycho note.
This year's list brings psycho killers, witches, ghosts, and the End of the World. They may not be precisely Halloween related, but all are suitably creepy or thrilling in nature and should serve their purpose just fine. Naturally, no such Halloween reading list would be complete without Neil Gaiman and Stephen King. Check and check!
Bring on the scary!
My 2012 Halloween Reads:
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
From Goodreads: After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own. Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family . . .
The Daylight Gate by Jeanette Winterson
From Goodreads: GOOD FRIDAY, 1612. Pendle Hill, Lancashire.
A mysterious gathering of thirteen people is interrupted by local magistrate, Roger Nowell. Is this a witches' Sabbat?
Two notorious Lancashire witches are already in Lancaster Castle waiting trial. Why is the beautiful and wealthy Alice Nutter defending them? And why is she among the group of thirteen on Pendle Hill?
Elsewhere, a starved, abused child lurks. And a Jesuit priest and former Gunpowder plotter, recently returned from France, is widely rumoured to be heading for Lancashire. But who will offer him sanctuary? And how quickly can he be caught?
This is the reign of James I, a Protestant King with an obsession: to rid his realm of twin evils, witchcraft and Catholicism, at any price...
John Dies At The End by David Wong
From Goodreads: STOP. You should not have touched this flyer with your bare hands. NO, don't put it down. It's too late. They're watching you. My name is David Wong. My best friend is John. Those names are fake. You might want to change yours. You may not want to know about the things you'll read on these pages, about the sauce, about Korrok, about the invasion, and the future. But it's too late. You touched the book. You're in the game. You're under the eye. The only defense is knowledge. You need to read this book, to the end. Even the part with the bratwurst. Why? You just have to trust me.
The important thing is this: The drug is called Soy Sauce and it gives users a window into another dimension. John and I never had the chance to say no. You still do. I'm sorry to have involved you in this, I really am. But as you read about these terrible events and the very dark epoch the world is about to enter as a result, it is crucial you keep one thing in mind: None of this was my fault.
Misery by Stephen King
From Goodreads: Novelist Paul Sheldon wakes up in a secluded farmhouse in Colorado with broken legs and Annie Wilkes, a disappointed fan, hovering over him with drugs, ax, and blowtorch and demanding that he bring his heroine back to life.
[Sidebar: I am fairly certain this book will end up in the freezer at some point, but I'm willing to give it a go.]
And for an alternate, in case any of the above creep me out far too much:
Gossip Girl, Psycho Killer by Cecily von Ziegesar
From Goodreads: Just as in the original story, Serena returns from boarding school hoping to make amends with her BFF Blair Waldorf--things just haven't been the same since Nate Archibald came between them. But here's where our dark tale takes a turn: Serena decides that the only way for her to make things right with Blair is to eliminate Nate. If that means killing him, well, c'est la vie. Her attempted murder doesn't go unnoticed by Blair, however, who isn't about to let Serena kill whoever she wants-not when there's Cyrus Rose and Chuck Bass and Titi Coates and everyone else who's ever irritated Blair to get rid of first . . . .
If the above list isn't to your taste, here is a short list of some of my favorite suspenseful-chilling-thrilling-creepy-leave-the-night-light-on reads:
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
What are some of your favorite chilling and thrilling reads? Please, no Twilight jokes. :-)
Not my cuppa tea. However, I did like Rod Serling's The "Twilight Zone" on TV. I also like Vincent Price's horror movies from the 50's and 60's especially "House on Haunted Hill" and the "Pit and the Pendulum" among others.
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Stephen King's The Stand, anything by Simon Clark, Night (or is it day?) of The Triffods by can't think of the author at the moment (it's been a while), Swan Song by McCammon, Apeshit by Mellick, anything by Edward Lee or Jack Ketchem and there is a few others. My newest ones are Carlton Mellick and Jonathan Maberry.
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