8 TERRIFYING BOOKS to Pick Up Next Time You’re at the Bookstore

Reading a well-written work of creepy fiction in the fall will get you in the mood for Halloween by making you feel uneasy and afraid. I read both horror and mystery, therefore my spooky holiday novels follow those genres but with a twist to them.

The chillier weather, the shorter days, the earlier sunsets, and the abundance of comfort foods make this the ideal time of year to curl up with a good scary book. Lovely carbohydrates that put you to sleep. I simply want to go beneath a soft blanket and read till I drift off to sleep peacefully.

In the spirit of Halloween, I have compiled a list of eight novels that I think do a fantastic job at creating a chilling mood.

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THE SATURDAY NIGHT GHOST CLUB 

BY CRAIG DAVIDSON

This novel is a coming-of-age narrative with a ghostly and melancholy tone; think of it as Stand By Me if it took place on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. Jake Baker spent a lot of time by himself before he met Billy and Dove, two brothers, during the summer of his 12th year. After many conflicts with boredom and bullies, Billy would become Jake’s longtime buddy. Jake is quite interested in his late-night adventures with his ghost-obsessed uncle, Calvin.

THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE: STORIES 

BY MARIANA ENRIQUEZ

TRANSLATED BY MEGAN MCDOWELL

When discussing literature, the term “grotesque” typically refers to a concentration on the distorted and exaggerated representation of the human body. The Masters Review describes it as “the familiar deformed” (after all, what could be more familiar than our own forms?). Do not read this collection if you have a weak stomach or a weak heart; it is disgusting, violent, and unpleasant. But this isn’t just gratuitous violence for the sake of it; by setting it in Argentina, Enriquez shows a country still adjusting after decades of dictatorship.

DARK TALES 

BY SHIRLEY JACKSON

Jackson’s prose has an engaging bounce, a perky eeriness that shifts and unnerves. In many stories, the protagonist begins the tale in high spirits and with a sense of dignity, only to have the reader grow uneasy as the story progresses. The outrageously vile “What a Thought,” for instance, in which a wife’s homicidal thoughts are birthed by a boring evening at home, is a reminder that evil may arise from the most ordinary of circumstances, and her stories serve as such a warning.

HER BODY AND OTHER PARTIES: STORIES 

BY CARMEN MARIA MACHADO

Remember the scary story you heard as a kid about the girl who wore a green ribbon around her neck? That was something I was never able to forget. At times, while I’m daydreaming, the memory of a true tale I read as a kid pops into my head. Crazy. Machado has created an adaptation of a terrifying story she read as a youngster, and it is as as terrifying as the original. A feminist read that will stick with you, these stories touch on the brutalities routinely perpetrated against women’s bodies.

WHITE IS FOR WITCHING 

BY HELEN OYEYEMI

Mira suffers from pica, a rare kind of anorexia in which the patient consumes non-food objects. Let me start with the most magically lyrical line I will ever pen: In a house that is probably haunted, Mira and her twin brother and widower father make their home across the street from a graveyard. (It may even serve as a narrative device.) Oyeyemi is a brilliant and tragic writer, and her coming-of-age story is a perfect example of her skill.

THE HOLE 

BY HYE-YŎNG P’YŎN

This psychological thriller, written by P’yn, was a huge success in South Korea, and it’s simple to understand why. After losing his wife in a vehicle accident, Oghi wakes up crippled and unable to speak. After the death of his wife, he moves in with her mother, who turns out to be abusive and neglectful. While Oghi is wallowing in his sorrow and reflections, his mother-in-law begins tearing away the garden she had planted for her daughter.

SWAMPLANDIA! 

BY KAREN RUSSELL

The Bigtrees were a family of alligator wrestlers that made their show, Swamplandia!, the most popular attraction in the Florida Everglades. After their mother passes away and their father vanishes, Ava, Ossie, and Kiwi have an uphill battle running the family company. Until, that is, Kiwi betrays them to their primary rival, and Ossie falls in love with a ghost who may or may not be real. Ava needs to figure out how to reunite the family and take care of all of their performing alligators. Readers who like Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love will enjoy this novel, which follows a peculiar family as they run an equally peculiar company. Occasionally challenging, but always entertaining and amusing.

FEVER DREAM 

BY SAMANTA SCHWEBLIN

TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH BY MEGAN MCDOWELL

I didn’t get everything out of this book, but I didn’t hate it either. The events are narrated in a disjointed, dreamlike style through conversations between characters. On her deathbed, Amanda, a young mother, is accompanied by Daniel, a son she scarcely knows. Although Daniel is attempting to help her understand why she is dying, neither we nor he know the cause of her illness.

Turn on all your lights and get ready to crave company after these frightening, unsettling reads. Maybe just in time to slip on a costume and to head out to a Halloween party. Wishing you all the best this Halloween!

The best way to get in the mood for Halloween is by reading a spooky novel. While there are many different types of scary books, I find that horror and mystery novels work best to create a suspenseful and eerie feeling. Curl up with a bowl of your favorite comfort food and get ready to be scared! Have you read any of these novels? Let me know in the comments below.