Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Halloween Reads

I love a good ghost story. I even have a few stories of my own. So, while other bloggers will be showing you their Halloween costumes today, I'm going to be a nerd (nothing new there) and share some Halloween themed reading. And don't worry, that sound you heard was probably just the wind... Probably.

Starting at the top of the pile:

The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Keatly Snyder: Scared the crap out of me-- in the best way-- when I was a kid.
The Shining by Stephen King: Come on, it's a classic.
Turn of the Screw by Henry James: Ghosts and child abuse, both very scary.
The Haunted Looking Glass stories collected by Edward Gorey: Includes short stories by authors you never knew liked ghosts stories.
The Ghost Stories of Edith Warton: A good ghost story is scary when it's ambiguous. Over explain the plot points and all the mystery is gone. Warton's ghost stories don't have that problem.
The Tell Tale Heart and Other Writings by Edgar Allen Poe: Do I even need to explain this one?
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson: Shirley Jackson is a genius in my opinion. What makes her stories and novels scary is the implication that it is not the ghosts that are evil, but our own broken psyches.
Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link: Please, please read Kelly Link. She is amazing.
The Dark Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural by Patricia McKissack: Another one that scared me as a kid.
Tales of Terror collected by Alfred Hitchcock: Some (ok, most) of the stories in this collection are pretty cheesy, but it's still a ton of fun to read.

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