Reading Recommendations:
Halloween Edition! 🎃
It's that fantastic time of year when we all get to (acceptably) let out our crazy dark Halloween-crazed selves, so I'm here to provide some reading recommendations to help get you in the mood (even if you're not a huge Halloween fan!). Also, I totally didn't plan to write this post on the special Friday the 13th, but it's perfect timing!
This year I decided to subdivide my recommendations into a few different categories, so be sure to check them out. For each book I also added a brief quote or sneak of a synopsis to give you a taste of what you can expect.
Happy Halloween to all!
Eerie Forests 🌲
"Why does it seem that, ever since they arrived, the trees have been creeping closer? Who is the beautiful boy who’s appeared from the woods? And who is the tall man with no eyes who Nori plays with in the basement at night… a man no one else can see?"
"A dark, forbidden forest. Vicious beasts. Deadly plants. An evil spellbook. Secrets. Mysteries. Witches, both good and bad . . . Welcome to the world of the Thickety."
"'It came from the woods. Most strange things do.'"
A story based on actual events, In the Forest proceeds in a rush of hair-raising episodes and asks what will become of O'Kane's unwitting victims -- a radiant young woman, her little son, and a devout and trusting priest.
A Touch of Murder 🔪
"[London] is the greatest city in the world--quite possibly the greatest ever known--but on this dark early-winter day in 1850 you might be forgiven for thinking you've been transported, on a sudden, to a circle of hell even the devil has given up for lost."
"Until 2010, Japan had a fifteen-year statute of limitations on the crime of murder..."
“I promise. I’ll be as silent as the dead.”
“Ah,” Uncle said, putting a hat on and tugging it low, “the dead speak to those who listen. Be quieter than even them.”
---
“Fear is a hungry beast. The more you feed it, the more it grows.”
"Ten little soldier boys went out to dine;
One choked his little self and then there were Nine.
...
One little solder boy left all alone'
He went and hanged himself
And then there were None."
“By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.”
Haunted Houses 🏚️
“He stepped fully into the house. The air inside was cool on his skin. He turned, expecting the front door to close on its own. But it stayed open, as it was supposed to. He shook his head, chiding himself for letting an old house spook him. He walked into the kitchen. Behind him, the front door slammed shut.”
------
“He lowered his eyes to his dad's face. There was fear there. Fear. When your dad was frightened, there was something to be frightened about.”
“Little solace comes
to those who grieve
when thoughts keep drifting
as walls keep shifting
and this great blue world of ours
seems a house of leaves
moments before the wind.”
“No, no—there are depths, depths! The more I go over it, the more I see in it, and the more I see in it, the more I fear. I don’t know what I don’t see—what I don’t fear!”
A Hint of the Fantastic 👻
The Apprentice Witch by James Nichol
"Strange things are sighted in the woods, a dangerous infestation of hex creeps throughout the town, and a mysterious magical visitor arrives with his eye on her. "
The Diviners by Libba Bray
“Naughty John, Naughty John, does his work with his apron on. Cuts your throat and takes your bones, sells 'em off for a coupla stones.”
Gilded Ashes by Rosamund Hodge
"Her dying mother made a bargain with the evil, all-powerful ruler of their world that anyone who hurt her beloved daughter would be punished; her new stepmother went mad with grief when Maia's father died; and her stepsisters are desperate for their mother's approval, yet she always spurns them. And though her family has turned her into a despised servant, Maia must always pretend to be happy, or else they'll all be struck dead by the curse."
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
"“Because there are mysteries. Because there are things that people are forbidden to speak about. Because there are things they do not remember.”
What are your favorite Halloween reads? Have you read any of these/What would you add to this list?
