Halloween: Spooky Reads
In my previous Halloween posts I have mentioned haunted places and spooky horror characters from films; now I thought I would discuss spooky reads...
Breathe: A Ghost Story by Cliff McNish
The story is centred around a young boy named Jack who suffers from asthma and he has just moved in to a new home. Jack and his Mother aren't the only inhabitants, ghosts are stuck there. As Jack befriends the ghost children he learns of the Ghost Mother and as the story unwinds Jack learns as to why they are stuck there and how save the children from being trapped there.
I remember reading this as a child and being chilled to my core and being really creeped out by the atmosphere the story gives; and more importantly the chilling way the Ghost Mother used the other ghosts to live on in the house and her ambition to use Jack too. I'm pretty sure, again I was a child with an over-active imagination, that I was convinced the Ghost Mother would come after me, that's how much the story moved me.
I think this is a very good read and would suggest it for young readers and adults alike. Everyone interprets it differently and will be interesting to see if anyone else felt the same.
Dracula by Bram Stoker
This is a classic. If you haven't read Dracula you at least know the tale of the most famous Vampire ever and his counterparts Jonathan Harker, Lucy Westenra and, of course, the vampire killer that is Abraham Van Helsing.
I read this years ago, as a part of my curriculum at University, and although I was not scared I thoroughly enjoyed the novel. Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to help a customer purchase a London home; that customer being Count Dracula. As Harker experiences the odd and uncanny at Castle Dracula things get even weirder back home in England with lady Westenra and a lunatic that begins celebrating his master returning to him.
A great story to read at Halloween, or any time of the year to get you in the mood for deep dark mysterious and chilling tales of 19th Century feelings.
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Another great story and again there is a definite theme of being chilled from these gothic novels. The Turn of the Screw was another required reading when I was at University and I absolutely loved this novella. A short read and yet I was totally immersed in the haunting experiences at Bly Manor.
The story is a retelling of the events that happened at Bly Manor during a summer in which a new governess is looking after the children Flora and Miles. It is retold through a letter written to a man named Douglas years later when the governess is presumed to have passed away. The governess, new to the position looks after the children and begins to feel unease at the Manor when she witness people she does not know on the grounds. She also speculates that the children are aware of their presence and yet won't talk to anyone about them. The governess believe these beings to be ghosts and the chilling presence of these takes it toll on the household.
I really loved divulging in to this novella. For one I found it super chilling (I know I've said that a fair few times in this post) to read and loved the way it was written, it is a ghost story but not your stereotypical one. It was one of those reads for me that I felt so engrossed in the story that I felt I was there witnessing these spectral beings across the lake with the governess.
IT by Stephen King
IT has taken the world by storm these last couple of years with the remake of the 1990 mini series (starring Tim Curry as Pennywise). Now the two chaptered film IT, starring Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise, has excited many audiences across the world and the book has reignited its fascination with the scary and the disturbed. I read this book back at the end of 2017 and was shocked at how much the film adaptations had to omit for being too disturbing to be presented on screens without getting banned or unreleased.
Set in the fictional town of Derry, Maine and told between two different time periods, the story follows a group of young kids and the darkness that unfolds in their town one gruesome year. Then years later, twenty seven to be precise, that evil is back and although the children are all grown up, they are called back to their childhood homes to defeat it once and for all.
I don't want to give too much away from this novel but I was absolutely shocked when I was reading this. Some scenes did chill me and scare me a little, other moments I was shocked to be reading the very reality of it. It is understood that Stephen King was addicted to drugs during this period of his life when he was writing IT and I think that's where some of the darkest moments of the book comes from. I wouldn't advise a young child/teen to read this without fully being aware of some of the darker themes and moments of this book. But this book is very good and lingers with you afterwards.
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
As a part of the research for this blog post I read that a lot of people said they were scared by this novel. Albeit I was fully aware of the novel in its loosest adaptations The Haunting (Jan de Bont, 1999) and the first season in Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House (Mike Flanagan, 2018). I'm currently reading this and it's not as scary as I'd imagine...yet. I'm a little over half way through and waiting for the climax to begin.
Three strangers are invited by a doctor to stay with him at Hill House as a part of scientific research. When they arrive they learn the history of the building and the weird phenomena that surround it, and as time unfolds in the house they begin to notice the unexplainable and they learn the true history of not only the house but themselves.
Like I said I am only a little over half way through the novella, again a short and quick read, but I am loving it. I think where I was introduced to the story through its adaptations I was aware of major plot points that have happened, but I also like how the films and series have changed the novel in ways to make it different too. I should be finishing the book soon and I'm exciting to see where it leads too.
*Update*
I've finished the novel and thought it was good, it wasn't quite as spooky as I expected but thoroughly enjoyed the eeriness of Hill House.
What books have scared you or that you love to read in the Autumn/Halloween season? Leave a comment down below.
Click the titles of each novel to visit their GoodReads page.
Enjoy x
Breathe: A Ghost Story by Cliff McNishThe story is centred around a young boy named Jack who suffers from asthma and he has just moved in to a new home. Jack and his Mother aren't the only inhabitants, ghosts are stuck there. As Jack befriends the ghost children he learns of the Ghost Mother and as the story unwinds Jack learns as to why they are stuck there and how save the children from being trapped there.
I remember reading this as a child and being chilled to my core and being really creeped out by the atmosphere the story gives; and more importantly the chilling way the Ghost Mother used the other ghosts to live on in the house and her ambition to use Jack too. I'm pretty sure, again I was a child with an over-active imagination, that I was convinced the Ghost Mother would come after me, that's how much the story moved me.
I think this is a very good read and would suggest it for young readers and adults alike. Everyone interprets it differently and will be interesting to see if anyone else felt the same.
Dracula by Bram Stoker
This is a classic. If you haven't read Dracula you at least know the tale of the most famous Vampire ever and his counterparts Jonathan Harker, Lucy Westenra and, of course, the vampire killer that is Abraham Van Helsing.
I read this years ago, as a part of my curriculum at University, and although I was not scared I thoroughly enjoyed the novel. Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to help a customer purchase a London home; that customer being Count Dracula. As Harker experiences the odd and uncanny at Castle Dracula things get even weirder back home in England with lady Westenra and a lunatic that begins celebrating his master returning to him.
A great story to read at Halloween, or any time of the year to get you in the mood for deep dark mysterious and chilling tales of 19th Century feelings.
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Another great story and again there is a definite theme of being chilled from these gothic novels. The Turn of the Screw was another required reading when I was at University and I absolutely loved this novella. A short read and yet I was totally immersed in the haunting experiences at Bly Manor.The story is a retelling of the events that happened at Bly Manor during a summer in which a new governess is looking after the children Flora and Miles. It is retold through a letter written to a man named Douglas years later when the governess is presumed to have passed away. The governess, new to the position looks after the children and begins to feel unease at the Manor when she witness people she does not know on the grounds. She also speculates that the children are aware of their presence and yet won't talk to anyone about them. The governess believe these beings to be ghosts and the chilling presence of these takes it toll on the household.
I really loved divulging in to this novella. For one I found it super chilling (I know I've said that a fair few times in this post) to read and loved the way it was written, it is a ghost story but not your stereotypical one. It was one of those reads for me that I felt so engrossed in the story that I felt I was there witnessing these spectral beings across the lake with the governess.
IT by Stephen King
IT has taken the world by storm these last couple of years with the remake of the 1990 mini series (starring Tim Curry as Pennywise). Now the two chaptered film IT, starring Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise, has excited many audiences across the world and the book has reignited its fascination with the scary and the disturbed. I read this book back at the end of 2017 and was shocked at how much the film adaptations had to omit for being too disturbing to be presented on screens without getting banned or unreleased.Set in the fictional town of Derry, Maine and told between two different time periods, the story follows a group of young kids and the darkness that unfolds in their town one gruesome year. Then years later, twenty seven to be precise, that evil is back and although the children are all grown up, they are called back to their childhood homes to defeat it once and for all.
I don't want to give too much away from this novel but I was absolutely shocked when I was reading this. Some scenes did chill me and scare me a little, other moments I was shocked to be reading the very reality of it. It is understood that Stephen King was addicted to drugs during this period of his life when he was writing IT and I think that's where some of the darkest moments of the book comes from. I wouldn't advise a young child/teen to read this without fully being aware of some of the darker themes and moments of this book. But this book is very good and lingers with you afterwards.
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
As a part of the research for this blog post I read that a lot of people said they were scared by this novel. Albeit I was fully aware of the novel in its loosest adaptations The Haunting (Jan de Bont, 1999) and the first season in Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House (Mike Flanagan, 2018). I'm currently reading this and it's not as scary as I'd imagine...yet. I'm a little over half way through and waiting for the climax to begin.Three strangers are invited by a doctor to stay with him at Hill House as a part of scientific research. When they arrive they learn the history of the building and the weird phenomena that surround it, and as time unfolds in the house they begin to notice the unexplainable and they learn the true history of not only the house but themselves.
Like I said I am only a little over half way through the novella, again a short and quick read, but I am loving it. I think where I was introduced to the story through its adaptations I was aware of major plot points that have happened, but I also like how the films and series have changed the novel in ways to make it different too. I should be finishing the book soon and I'm exciting to see where it leads too.
*Update*
I've finished the novel and thought it was good, it wasn't quite as spooky as I expected but thoroughly enjoyed the eeriness of Hill House.
What books have scared you or that you love to read in the Autumn/Halloween season? Leave a comment down below.
Click the titles of each novel to visit their GoodReads page.
Enjoy x
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