10 Spooky Book Recommendations from your Favorite Ex-Librarian
Now that Iām not a Librarian anymore I really miss recommending books to people, and since Halloween is my favorite time of year, I thought Iād made some recommendations of my favorite Halloween-appropriate spooky books! Below, youāll find a list of ten of my favorites ā Iāve tried to spread them out in terms of genre and style as much as possible so that everyone can find something they like!
1. My Favorite Thing is Monsters, Emil Ferris (2017)
Spoiler alert: this is already my Book of the Year, and for good reason. Ferrisā semi-autobiographical comic is half coming of age story, half post-Holocaust mystery adventure, and her unique ink sketch illustrations are interspersed with old horror movie posters against a backdrop of 1960s Chicago.
Read if you like:Ā Harriet the Spy, the Universal monster movies, lesbians, stores about outcast preteen girls finding confidence, stories about outcast preteen girls trying to solve mysteries, stories about outcast preteen girls having crushes on other preteen girls, hippies, the 1960s, monster theory
2. White is for Witching, Helen Oyeyemi (2009)
A supernatural story from one of my all-time favorite authors, White is for WitchingĀ is told through a litany of voices. It is about Miranda, a late-teen girl, and her twin Eliot, and their dead mother Lily, and the house-turned-bed and breakfast that their mother and her mother and, eventually, Miri herself, haunt; featuring: Miri goes to Oxford and vampirizes her cute girlfriend for a while. I sound flippant, but thereās something very haunting to the novel, a kind of late-fall-emptiness to the resonance of it that you canāt easily shake.Ā
Read if you like:Ā haunted houses, dead mothers, lesbians, witches, mirror selves, Oxford, magical realism, African folklore, co-dependent twins, maternally inherited curses
3. House of Leaves, Mark Z Danielewski (2000)
I think this one makes it onto mostĀ spooky book lists, but the feeling I got when I read it almost ten years ago stillĀ sticks with me, so I canāt pass it up. The book is the transcript of a documentary about a house that is bigger on the inside than on the outside (in a terrifying way, not in a Doctor Who way), which has been footnoted by a literary scholar writing about the film, which has been found by a drug-addled tattoo artist who scribbles his own story in the margins. Notorious for itās typography, there is no right way to read House of Leaves, but you should absolutely give it a shot.Ā
Read if you like:Ā haunted houses, documentary horror, literary theory, footnotes, getting very dizzy while reading, post-structuralism
4. The Changeling, Victor LaValle (2017)
I think the newest release on this list, but possibly already one of my favorites ā LaValleās latest tells the story of a new father, Apollo Kagwa, who was abandoned by his own father as a child, and his search to understand the unthinkable actions of his wife both right after she gives birth, and several months down the line after she has disappeared. Itās a little heavy-handed on theĀ āsocial media is Badā undertones, but well worth it for a particularly good joke about a bad iPhone app.
Read if you like:Ā warrior women who live in secret hidden islands, distrusting social media, Scandinavian folklore, contemporary stories, complicated characters, unexpected twists, not trusting men, being afraid to have children
Donāt read if:Ā you just had a baby. Seriously, donāt do it.Ā
5. Through the Woods, Emily Carroll (2014)
A graphic novel that collects several discrete stories, Through the WoodsĀ is a quick read and delightfully macabre. If youāre unsure, read a couple of Carrollās online comics (linked below) to get a feel for her ā especiallyĀ āHis Face All Red,ā which is included in the collection as well as available online.
Read if you like:Ā a sense of general unease, creepy folk tales, being afraid to look under your bed, bold colors, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, body horror, scaring the bejeesus out of children, any of Emily Carrollās other work
6. The Girl With All the Gifts, M R Carey (2014)
Not your typical zombie story, GiftsĀ is a zombie apocalypse story that focuses on a young girl, Melanie, who is both a zombie and not-a-zombie. While most of the zombies (called Hungries, in the novelās parlance) are mindless eating machines with no higher cognitive functions, human scientists study the learning capabilities of an unusual group of zombie children who, aside from an irascible hunger for human brains, are perfectly normal, thank you very much. Set primarily in the English countryside, the novel follows a scientist, a solider, and a teacher, who are traveling to safety with Melanie in tow and trying to decide whether to see her as a person or as a monster.
Read if you like:Ā who-is-the-real-monster stories, questions of scientific ethics, precocious children, survival horror, the-earth-wins-out post-apocalyptic fiction
Bonus tip: GiftsĀ was made into an excellent movie in 2016 with one of the best soundtracks I think Iāve ever heard ā worth a watch if you like a good zombie movie. A follow-up novel, The Boy on the Bridge, was also released this year, but if youāve read Gifts, check out my article on why you shouldnāt bother with Bridge.
7. Harrow County, Cullen Bunn (2015-present)
The third graphic novel to make it onto this list, and an ongoing serial so thereās always more coming when youāve caught up! Harrow CountyĀ takes place in a haunted town in rural Southern America filled with all kinds of restless ghosts and ghouls and monsters; it follows a girl named Emmy who, on her eighteenth birthday, realizes she has a strange connection to these haints, along with a whole family of other mediums, psychopomps, and witches.Ā
Read if you like:Ā Southern Gothic, haunted forests, power struggles, uncertain pasts, whispers in the night, amazing but morbid character design, stunning artwork in muted colors
8. The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter (1979)
A fairly famous collection of short stories, most of Carterās works are feminist re-tellings of famous folk tales like Little Red Riding Hood, Beauty and the Beast, and Bluebeard. Carterās use of language is exquisite and her stories are quick reads. Themes are about what youād expect of late-70s feminist writing ā female sexuality, marriage, coming of age, corruption, female relationships ā and her prose has a distinctly Gothic feel thatās just right for this time of year.Ā
Read if you like:Ā Gothic fiction, more creepy folk tales, wolves, feminist reinterpretations, wolves, girls drinking blood, wolves
9. Mr. Splitfoot, Samantha Hunt (2016)
Two connected stories told interwoven together, part of Mr. SplitfootĀ is about Ruth and Nat, orphans adopted into a religious cult where they learn two things: co-dependency, and grifting strangers by pretending to communicate with ghosts. The other part of it is about Cora, Ruthās niece, who finds herself first pregnant and second visited by her old, mute aunt who leads her on a strange and inexplicable road trip on foot.Ā
Read if you like: the Fox sisters, unhealthy co-dependency, orphans converging timelines, strange and silent road trips, pseudo-religious cults, doomsday cults, upstate New York
10. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier (1938)
āLast night I dreamed I went to Manderley againāĀ will always be my personal favorite opening line to a novel, and for good reason: even though RebeccaĀ is known for its plot, primarily through Hitchcockās film version of the story, the writingĀ is gorgeous. It tells the story of the unnamed Second Mrs. de Winter, who joins her new husband in his mansion on the English coast and is haunted by the memory of his first wife.Ā
Read if you like:Ā stories about rich people, Jane Eyre, gorgeous prose, being the second wife of a rich man with a dark past and enjoying the lap of luxury even though his dead wife is haunting the shit out of you, Alfred Hitchcock, British mysteries, that late-1930s posh English aesthetic
Have any other good spooky October reads? Let me know!Ā Iām always looking for more to read and recommend and Iād love to hear what books you revisit when the Halloween mood strikesā
