Anyone else have some spooky reads lined up for October? My bookclub is reading Frankenstein this month, which will be a nice change of pace from the usual fare. I’ve got Tender is the Flesh, Rouge, and Black Sheep lined up. I will probably get to The Haunting of Hill House as well, which I’m really excited to read! I just finished up Vampires of El Norte, which definitely needed more vampires!

  • davefischer@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    Frankenstein is a really great read because the story that “We all know” is drastically different from the book.

    • Orm @beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      100 per cent agree with this! The book is so knotty and interesting, there’s all these ways you can read into it that the popular understanding, and all the media, just do not engage with.

  • Dunstabzugshaubitze@feddit.de
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    1 year ago

    Well, Dracula in some form.

    And i hope that i finally manage to read Dr. Sleep by Stephen King, because The Shining is one of my favourite books by him.

    • TimTheEnchanter@beehaw.orgOP
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      1 year ago

      Some of my friends are doing the Dracula Daily newsletter this year, where it emails you the chapters as they happen in real time. Pretty cool idea and they’ve really enjoyed it!

      I liked Dr. Sleep more than I thought I was going to! I thought it worked as a follow up to The Shining, but still had a lot of original stuff going on, too.

  • Orm @beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    It’s kinda spooky-adjacent, but I really want to reread The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter before the month is up. I really love her interpretations of old fairy tales, plus the title story is a riff on Bluebeard and it’s just chef’s kiss.

    Shelley Jackson is also so so good. Her other big one, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, is really well paced and full of surprises. It’s also really weirdly sweet!

    • TimTheEnchanter@beehaw.orgOP
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      1 year ago

      The Bloody Chamber has also been on my list forever! I like fairy-tale reinterpretations; I might have to finally pick up a copy for this month!

  • bbbhltz@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    I never really read horror. I did enjoy A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay when I read it. If you want very quick reads, the Level 26 trilogy, while far from being amazing, is a nice distraction.

  • Andjhostet@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Lovecraft is awesome if you want some short stories. Call of Cthulhu, Colour out of Space, and Rats in the Walls area my personal favorites.

    • TimTheEnchanter@beehaw.orgOP
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      1 year ago

      The Colour Out of Space is my favorite Lovecraft! I definitely need to reread some of his stuff; it’s been a while.

      • davefischer@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        The last few years I’ve been reading a bunch of Lovecraft’s earlier influences. Some of that has been very good. (Chambers, Blackwood, Machen, etc.) But the absolute standout has been Dunsany. If you like HPL’s “Dream Quest” material, check out Dunsany’s “Time and The Gods” and “Wonder Tales”.

  • EntropicalVacation@midwest.social
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    1 year ago

    I hadn’t thought about it, but it sounds like a fun idea, so I’ve checked out The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers, a horror classic that’s been on my to-read list for a while: “a collection of spine-tingling horror stories that are woven together by a fictional play called The King in Yellow.”

  • Deebster@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    Ah, I just posted about this in !books@lemmy.ml (I forgot what this community was called). My Halloween history:

    • 2023: Perfectly Preventable Deaths by Deirdre Sullivan
    • 2022: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
    • 2021: Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
    • 2020: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
    • 2019: Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
    • 2018: Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders & Something Wicked this Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
    • 2017: Carrie by Stephen King
    • 2016: Jekyll and Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
    • 2015: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
    • 2014: The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H. P. Lovecraft
    • 2012: The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft
    • 2009: Dracula by Bram Stoker
    • 2008: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley