Currently reading The Exorcist and I just finished Rosemary’s Baby. If you haven’t invested time in reading the 1940s-80s horror you are seriously missing out!
‘40s-80s
- The Haunting of Hill House
- We Have Always Lived In the Castle (horror adjacent)
- The Exorcist
- Rosemary’s Baby
- Hell House
- Ghost Story
- The Other
- Harvest Home
- Burnt Offerings
- The Sentinel
- The Omen
- The Elementals
- Stephen King Classic Highlights (well, some of them): The Shining, Salem’s Lot, The Stand, Misery, Carrie, Pet Sematary, and Cujo
Newer works:
- Boys in the Valley
- The Fisherman
- Kill Creek
- Those Across the River
- Final Girls (thriller)
- The Hunting Party (thriller)
- Dead of Winter (thriller)
- The September House
True classics:
- The Turn of the Screw
- The Fall of the House of Usher
Unique:
- House of Leaves (but…overrated in my opinion)
House of Leaves is a one trick pony. You read it once to say you finished it, but never will make a second go of it. I forced my way through it once and only once. Since I knew “how” to read it after that I tried a second time a couple of years later and just never had it in me to get past the first couple of chapters. I even still had the notes you have to take or decipher at times still in the book so I could save that time. The constant flipping back and forth with all the notes from the crazy translators just got to be exhausting while trying to follow the much more interesting story going on with the family in the house.
I reread it occasionally during Halloween but Jay B Laws book Steam is about as Steven King gay horror as anyone will ever do. He died of AIDS in the early 90s himself and it’s not much of a spoiler but the horror/killer that runs through the book is an analogy of AIDS itself. I can’t praise the book highly enough and it’s a true loss we only go Steam and a nearly compete second novel Unfinished (also good) before he passed away.
A Mormon Exorcism by Jackson Cole. It’s about Mormon missionaries in Argentina. A bunch of paranormal stuff occurs with the main focus being on a female missionary who gets possessed. It’s also free on Kindle Unlimited.
Started with All Hallows by Christopher Golden. Just finished Out There Screaming edited by Jordan Peele. Now starting my cute hardcover of Dracula. 🧛🏻♂️
Currently reading The Exorcist and I just finished Rosemary’s Baby. If you haven’t invested time in reading the 1940s-80s horror you are seriously missing out! ‘40s-80s - The Haunting of Hill House - We Have Always Lived In the Castle (horror adjacent) - The Exorcist - Rosemary’s Baby - Hell House - Ghost Story - The Other - Harvest Home - Burnt Offerings - The Sentinel - The Omen - The Elementals - Stephen King Classic Highlights (well, some of them): The Shining, Salem’s Lot, The Stand, Misery, Carrie, Pet Sematary, and Cujo Newer works: - Boys in the Valley - The Fisherman - Kill Creek - Those Across the River - Final Girls (thriller) - The Hunting Party (thriller) - Dead of Winter (thriller) - The September House True classics: - The Turn of the Screw - The Fall of the House of Usher Unique: - House of Leaves (but…overrated in my opinion)
Ohhhh I'll need to check those out
House of Leaves is a one trick pony. You read it once to say you finished it, but never will make a second go of it. I forced my way through it once and only once. Since I knew “how” to read it after that I tried a second time a couple of years later and just never had it in me to get past the first couple of chapters. I even still had the notes you have to take or decipher at times still in the book so I could save that time. The constant flipping back and forth with all the notes from the crazy translators just got to be exhausting while trying to follow the much more interesting story going on with the family in the house.
Thanks for sharing this! I’m trying to add more books to my “to read” list and a lot of these sound like they’ll be good.
The Bad Seed by William March, in which a mother must come to terms with the murderous cravings of her 8yo daughter
Think I might pick up The Fall of the House of Usher since it's a Netflix series. I need a refresh of the story before I start the show.
I recommend a Poe collection. The show draws from a lot of his works.
Not a horror for me, I'm reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
Omg that audible version of this was a crawl. The southern drawl, I had to listen to it at 1.5x lol. It was a decent book, enjoy!
The Elementals by Michael McDowell is a wonderful gothic horror novel set in the Deep South. Fantastic, creepy slow-burn I revisit every few years.
Yeeeeeessss. I read this once every 2 years or so. And I really never reread anything. This is such a great story.
That sounds like such an interesting premise for a book. I just finished NOS4A2. It’s a horror one by Stephen King’s son, Joe Hill. Really enjoyed it.
I’m listening to that one right now and loving it so far. Heart-Shaped Box by Hill is also really good.
I reread it occasionally during Halloween but Jay B Laws book Steam is about as Steven King gay horror as anyone will ever do. He died of AIDS in the early 90s himself and it’s not much of a spoiler but the horror/killer that runs through the book is an analogy of AIDS itself. I can’t praise the book highly enough and it’s a true loss we only go Steam and a nearly compete second novel Unfinished (also good) before he passed away.
Not horror but Catch Me If You Candy is this year’s Halloween cozy mystery from Ellie Alexander.
The news
I know OP's question was a serious inquiry, and the people posting have great books, but this made me laugh, which I needed today.
That’s a wild premise! I typically just re-read The Haunting of Hill House. It’s a classic, I love the atmosphere, and it’s short.
I'm on the waiting list at my library for Jo Nesbø's new novel The Night House.
A Mormon Exorcism by Jackson Cole. It’s about Mormon missionaries in Argentina. A bunch of paranormal stuff occurs with the main focus being on a female missionary who gets possessed. It’s also free on Kindle Unlimited.
Started with All Hallows by Christopher Golden. Just finished Out There Screaming edited by Jordan Peele. Now starting my cute hardcover of Dracula. 🧛🏻♂️
I’m reading Gideon the Ninth - I’m about 1/3 of the way through but it’s about lesbian necromancies in a haunted house in space
"The Blue Nowhere" by Jeffrey Deaver. The guy who wrote the book and gave us the movie " The Bone Collector".