If you've read and loved 'The Haunting of Hill House,' you might want to try 'A Haunting on the Hill' by Elizabeth Hand. It was release last October and is a companion to Jackson's novel. This is the first time Shirley Jackson’s family has authorized a novel based on her work, and Elizabeth Hand does a bang-up job of honoring Jackson's legacy.
The setup is so good! A group of actors temporarily move into Hill House. They’re rehearsing a modernist staging of a 17th-century play about an infamous witch. I mean, why not practice your spooky play in a haunted house? What could possibly go wrong? ;-)
The descriptions of the hauntings are SO GOOD, and the story goes really interesting places. I loved it.
My go-to when I'm not sure what to read, but I want Gothic vibes that aren't too scary, I go back to 'Plain Bad Heroines' by Emily M. Danforth. It's a haunted house story with multiple timelines (basically now and 1902), charming/snarky footnotes, and a narrator who directly addresses the reader from time to time. The print book has fun illustrations and the audiobook is FANTASTIC, so you can't go wrong either way.
Elizabeth Hand is the bomb! I haven't read that one yet, but have loved everything I have read by her. Especially her Cass Neary novels, but also Radiant Days, her dual-time YA novel featuring Arthur Rimbaud.
Horrorstor, definitely. Also The Graveyard Book, Dracula, The Sun Down Motel, Twelve Nights at Rotter House. Some of my favorites are classic short stories: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Devil and Daniel Webster and Young Goodman Brown.
The Prestige by Christopher Priest was pretty damn spooky. Most people have seen the movie (which is excellent!), but the book is very different. I think the last thirty pages of that book is the some of the best horror writing I’ve ever read!
The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. It's the history of the Ebola virus and was pretty freaky. I grew up on horror movies, so nothing fictional scares or spooks me, much to my detriment, I believe! But I do enjoy reading a variety of horror and horror adjacent books (and it's my favorite screen-related genre): Frankenstein, Zone One, the Lockwood & Co. YA series.
Carrie, The Silence of the Lambs, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Our Share of Night, Psycho, Slade House, and currently reading The Historian which might turn out to be a top ten novel of all time (not just spooky) which is really saying something!
I am in the midst of discovering the thrillers of Louisa May Alcott. They may not meet the same stylings of modern thrillers but they are decidedly different from Little Women. In her life they were published under a pseudonym. I recommend starting with “A Long Fatal Love Chase”.
I'm a huge Stephen King fan, plus loved the original Frankenstein and Dracula. My latest fave spooky read--not horror but thrilling and scaaarrryyy--was The Hunter by Jennifer Herrera.
If you've read and loved 'The Haunting of Hill House,' you might want to try 'A Haunting on the Hill' by Elizabeth Hand. It was release last October and is a companion to Jackson's novel. This is the first time Shirley Jackson’s family has authorized a novel based on her work, and Elizabeth Hand does a bang-up job of honoring Jackson's legacy.
The setup is so good! A group of actors temporarily move into Hill House. They’re rehearsing a modernist staging of a 17th-century play about an infamous witch. I mean, why not practice your spooky play in a haunted house? What could possibly go wrong? ;-)
The descriptions of the hauntings are SO GOOD, and the story goes really interesting places. I loved it.
My go-to when I'm not sure what to read, but I want Gothic vibes that aren't too scary, I go back to 'Plain Bad Heroines' by Emily M. Danforth. It's a haunted house story with multiple timelines (basically now and 1902), charming/snarky footnotes, and a narrator who directly addresses the reader from time to time. The print book has fun illustrations and the audiobook is FANTASTIC, so you can't go wrong either way.
Elizabeth Hand is the bomb! I haven't read that one yet, but have loved everything I have read by her. Especially her Cass Neary novels, but also Radiant Days, her dual-time YA novel featuring Arthur Rimbaud.
In fact her novella Wylding Hall could easily be in my top spooky reads.
I loved that book!
We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson
Aura by Carlos Fuentes
Dracula! Of course.
It's always fun to make a book list, and I do love horror and spooky reads. So here are five favorites for the season:
1. The Thief of Always by Clive Barker
2. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
3. The Haunter of the Dark by H.P. Lovecraft
4. The White People by Arthur Machen
5. My Work Is Not Yet Done by Thomas Ligotti
Horrorstor, definitely. Also The Graveyard Book, Dracula, The Sun Down Motel, Twelve Nights at Rotter House. Some of my favorites are classic short stories: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Devil and Daniel Webster and Young Goodman Brown.
It’s often not associated with spooky reads, but “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” used to freak me out as a high school teenager.
That and “Silence of the Lambs.”
The Prestige by Christopher Priest was pretty damn spooky. Most people have seen the movie (which is excellent!), but the book is very different. I think the last thirty pages of that book is the some of the best horror writing I’ve ever read!
Ooooh, good to know! I have that on my Kindle and haven't read it yet. Spooky reads are my favorite, so this is very exciting news.
The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. It's the history of the Ebola virus and was pretty freaky. I grew up on horror movies, so nothing fictional scares or spooks me, much to my detriment, I believe! But I do enjoy reading a variety of horror and horror adjacent books (and it's my favorite screen-related genre): Frankenstein, Zone One, the Lockwood & Co. YA series.
I couldn’t read this real life memoir-cum-work-of-investigative journalism from Michelle McNamara alone at the house at night: I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer — https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062319795/ref=cm_sw_r_as_gl_api_gl_i_M9M9F1EA5KTR3S46ZNVY?linkCode=ml2&tag=twhite21401-20
It’s that creepy, that raw, that real. Boo!
Carrie, The Silence of the Lambs, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Our Share of Night, Psycho, Slade House, and currently reading The Historian which might turn out to be a top ten novel of all time (not just spooky) which is really saying something!
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury is my favorite spooky read of all time!
truly one of the best books ever written!!
The Haunting of Hill House definitely! And The Shining. I scare easily 😂
you already know I love both of those!! 😄👻
💯💯💯
The Hound of the Baskervilles. The atmosphere of the book really fits fall/Halloween. I read it in October every year
I am in the midst of discovering the thrillers of Louisa May Alcott. They may not meet the same stylings of modern thrillers but they are decidedly different from Little Women. In her life they were published under a pseudonym. I recommend starting with “A Long Fatal Love Chase”.
I'm a huge Stephen King fan, plus loved the original Frankenstein and Dracula. My latest fave spooky read--not horror but thrilling and scaaarrryyy--was The Hunter by Jennifer Herrera.
The Wolfen By Whitley Strieber scared me so much as a teen…