Spooky season is coming and with that our Halloween TBR is ready to be full, here are some horror books to cross out of your list.
1- My Best Friend’s Exorcism, by Grady Hendrix
“Where everyone was desperate to be an individual, but they all were terrified to stand out.”
My Best Friend’s Exorcism is a supernatural horror book about friendship,and I know it might sound a little crazy, but that is the center of the story.
Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since they were little girls, and one night they go to a party and have the most wild night, but Gretchen ends up lost in the woods and comes back strange.
Set during the satanic panic that occurred in the U.S. in the 80s, My Best Friend’s Exorcism is about friendship, love and demonic possessions. With lots of references from that decade and a crazy style, this book is the ultimate vibe of Halloween.
2- Carrie, by Stephen King
“Sorry is the Kool-Aid of human emotions. It’s what you say when you spill a cup of coffee or throw a gutter ball when you’re bowling with the girls in the league. True sorrow is as rare as true love.”
From the King of Horror, Carrie by Stephen King is a must-read. With four adaptations and one more to come, Carrie is a classical horror story to read on Halloween.The book revolves around this girl named Carrie who lives in Chamberlain, Maine with her religious-strict mother and is constantly bullied at school.
But what her mom and the school bullies don’t know is that she has telekinetic powers, and those powers will help her with her revenge plan. Carrie is the first book published by Stephen King, so if you’re looking for a Halloween read or a way to start reading The King, pick up this one and start right now.
3 -The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson
“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”
You may know this title because of its very famous Netflix adaptation, but it’s actually a gothic horror book from 1959 written by Shirley Jackson.
Hill House is a mansion that can be described as having a life of its own. In the book we follow a group of people, Eleanor, who takes care of her disabled mother, Theodora, an artist, and Luke, the heir of the Hill House, as they all gather in the mansion by Dr. John Montague request. He is a supernatural investigator and knows details about their experiences with paranormal events.
While they stay at the house, strange things starts to happen, like unknown voices and ghosts walking in the hallways. With only 246 pages, this could be a binge-read for Halloween and maybe a binge-watch too!
4- Carmilla, by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
“Nevertheless, life and death are mysterious states, and we know little of the resources of either.”
Another one with a gothic setting, Carmilla, written by the Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu in 1872, years before Dracula, is one of the earliest works regarding vampires in literature.
Narrated by our protagonist Laura, who lives in a remote castle in Styria and is not a vampire, but it’s preyed by one, the infamous Carmilla, that she sheltered in her house after a road accident but reminds her a little bit too much of a woman from her childhood dreams.
If you haven’t read Dracula yet, you could start by reading Carmilla and seeing what inspired Bram Stoker to write his own vampire novel, either way, Carmilla is an excellent pick for Halloween.
5- Anya’s Ghost, by Vera Brosgol
“You may look normal like everyone else, but you’re not. Not on the inside.”
The last, but not least, is a cozy one. Anya’s Ghost is a graphic novel about a young girl named Anya who emigrated from Russia to the U.S when she was still a child.
Struggling with the fact that she is a foreign in a whole different country and does not seem to fit into school, she thought her life could not be worse, but that’s when she falls into a well and meets Emily, a ghost of a girl who was brutally murdered.
Now Anya has to live with one more problem, a ghost on her tail.If you’re not into horror stories that are too horrifying but still wants to have a Halloween themed read, this one is for you.
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The article below was edited by Fernanda de Andrade Silva.
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