This week’s Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by The Broke and the Bookish) is a Halloween-themed freebie, so I thought I’d recount ten books that seriously creeped me out, from monsters to psychological thrillers. I’m not necessarily a huge horror aficionado but I’d love to read more of the genre, so if you have any awesome suggestions to send my way, please do so!
If you prefer vampires who definitely don’t want to sit on the porch swing and drink iced tea with you, you’ll appreciate the bloodsuckers in The Passage (Justin Cronin) or The Strain (Chuck Hogan and Guillermo del Toro).
If you like creepy places, you might like venturing to Abandon (Blake Crouch) or The Ruins (Scott Smith).
If supernatural horror is more your thing, but you’re not necessarily into ghosts and exorcisms, then try The Returned (Seth Patrick) or House of Leaves (Mark Z. Danielewski). Both offer situations that just feel a little….abnormal. Over time, things get creepier.
If you’re sitting up alone on a dark, windy night, read House of Echoes (Brendan Duffy), but be sure to pull your blanket tight! And Dracula (Bram Stoker) is a classic for a reason—Stoker really knew how to invoke an atmosphere.
Finally, if your kids want to share in the fun, give them Coraline (Neil Gaiman) or Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (Ransom Riggs), both of which are spooky but age-appropriate.
9 Comments
Abi Pearson
I love the way you did this post, it saves me the trouble of wondering what about the book I’d like. :D
writergirlm
Thanks! I think different people definitely find different things scary or prefer to avoid certain things, and lists that don’t highlight what’s scary about a book drive me NUTS. lol
Vonze
Thanks for the dark, windy night and supernatural horror recommendations! I hadn’t heard of those :)
writergirlm
Yay, I hope you find some new titles to enjoy :)
Katrin
Great post! I need to check some of them out, I love creepy books! Hope you had a great Halloween!
writergirlm
Creepy books are awesome! Did you do anything for Halloween? I just stayed at home and watched movies, it was too wet and cold to go out!
Katrin
I did the same! It was nice to have a quiet evening at home!
Shannon @ It Starts At Midnight
Aw great list! I love how you organized it. I need to read Passage, I have heard such good things. And I’d also like to finally read Miss Peregrine’s, I feel like the whole world has done so ;)
writergirlm
I hope you get to read them soon! I was so sad to hear the final book in the Passage trilogy was pushed back (again!) to spring. I’ve been waiting to read it for so long!