🎃 10 Books to Read for Halloween 🎃

The first science fiction novel, and thus making it the first crossover of science fiction and horror, we would be remiss if we did not include Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein on the list. This story of creation and consequence still feels unsettling today. We all know who the real monster is in this story. And whether it’s your first time reading it, or a re-read, it’s definitely a must read. (Especially with the movie coming out this year, directed by Guillermo del Toro.)

While Bram Stoker did not create the legends of vampires, he certainly helped popularize the subgenre of vampire fiction. Dracula is a vampire tale that set the standard. There’s a castle, superstition, and one of the most memorable villains in literature. In fact, it was so good, it inspired the movie Nosferatu to almost completely copy its concept.

Okay, these are short stories but still count. Poe is the master of gothic atmosphere and the unwinding of the human mind. This collection includes his most famous works such as The Fall of the House of Usher, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Masque of the Red Death, The Black Cat, and The Raven. These stories are filled with madness, decay, and death.

Speaking of madness, we had to mention the turn of the screw by Henry James. This story has unsettled readers for more than a century. A governess tells the story of two strange children under her care. Are they haunted by ghosts, or is she losing her mind? You’ll have to read it to find out.

Despite all that came before it and inspired the genre, many consider this to be the greatest haunted house story ever written, so we had to mention the Haunting of Hill house. A house that’s “not sane” draws in a group of visitors who quickly learn that Hill House does not easily let go of its guests. Plus, it has a fantastic show on Netflix inspired by it (but not quite book accurate, if you know, you know.)

When a girl begins to change in terrifying ways, her family turns to the church for help. This story of possession and faith remains one of the most frightening novels ever published. Particularly scary if you were raised religious, whether you still are or aren’t. This is not for the faint of heart.

Something about the 70s and really scary books, Hell House clocks in as one of - if not the - scariest stories about a haunted house ever told. While Shirley Jacksons’ Hill house is the best, this is supposed to be the scariest. A team of investigators is sent into the most haunted house in the world. What they encounter inside is violent, disturbing, and unforgettable. Also not for the faint of heart.

Finally, a modern(ish) book. At the center of this book is a house that is different than it appears. What begins as a strange puzzle turns into a descent into obsession and madness. You’ve likely heard of this book before on bookstagram, booktok, or Goodreads, and if you still haven’t read it, now is your sign to do so.

A family moves to a quiet town in Maine, only to discover that sometimes death is not the end. This is one of King’s darkest and most disturbing novels. So dark in fact, that the word on the street is he almost did not want to publish it. He wrote it and put it in a drawer, only to eventually publish it to fulfill a contract with his publisher. Eek.

The king (sorry, I had to) of modern horror deserves to have at leas 2 books on the list. A struggling writer takes a job as caretaker of a remote hotel during the winter. Cut off from the world, the hotel begins to feed on a mind that wasn’t fully solid to begin with. Another one with a great movie adaptation that some would say is even better than the book. But I’ll leave that for you to decide.

A little different than the other books on this list as it’s a mix of Fantasy and Horror, this is the horror book of the year if you haven’t already seen it all over bookstagram or booktok.

From Good Reads:

In the greenest of our valleys

By good angels tenanted,

Once a fair and stately palace—

Radiant palace—reared its head.

In the monarch Thought’s dominion,

It stood there!

Never seraph spread a pinion

Over fabric half so fair!

Banners yellow, glorious, golden,

On its roof did float and flow

(This—all this—was in the olden

Time long ago)

And every gentle air that dallied,

In that sweet day,

Along the ramparts plumed and pallid,

A wingèd odor went away.

Wanderers in that happy valley,

Through two luminous windows, saw

Spirits moving musically

To a lute’s well-tunèd law,

Round about a throne where, sitting,

Porphyrogene!

In state his glory well befitting,

The ruler of the realm was seen.

And all with pearl and ruby glowing

Was the fair palace door,

Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing

And sparkling evermore,

A troop of Echoes, whose sweet duty

Was but to sing,

In voices of surpassing beauty,

The wit and wisdom of their king.

But evil things, in robes of sorrow,

Assailed the monarch’s high estate;

(Ah, let us mourn!—for never morrow

Shall dawn upon him, desolate!)

And round about his home the glory

That blushed and bloomed

Is but a dim-remembered story

Of the old time entombed.

And travellers, now, within that valley,

Through the red-litten windows see

Vast forms that move fantastically

To a discordant melody;

While, like a ghastly rapid river,

Through the pale door

A hideous throng rush out forever,

And laugh—but smile no more.

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