As your local (or internet local) goth librarian I have to announce this pretty cool new Halloween tradition. Neil Gaiman explains:
I am completely in favor of this notion of giving scary books on Halloween. I am in favor of giving books for all the holidays. So what books to give? I am not a huge reader of scary books. While I enjoy many books which are scary, scariness is not something, all on it's own, I look for in books, so I would love to hear the favorite scary books of others in the comments. You can also find more recommendations at the All Hallow's Read website.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: pretty close to the original scary book, and while not actually that scary by modern standards it is still a good read.
Pretty much anything by H.P. Lovecraft
The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Welles
Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman, although only about 1/3-1/2 of the stories within are scary, it does contain what is probably the single most unnerving story I have ever read: "A Study in Emerald"
Watchmen by Alan Moore, with it's especially unsettling comic within a comic
Affinity by Sarah Waters
Beloved by Toni Morrison
For Kids (A very short list):
The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman
Bunnicula by James and Deborah Howe
Coraline by Neil Gaiman, which would also be enjoyed by most adults
Not-scary but theme appropriate, for those that don't actually like being scared:
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (or really any of the Quirk Classics)
World War Z by Max Brooks
Crocodile in the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett
6 comments:
Hugs to our Gothic Librarian! I am fully in favor of giving books for all holidays, events, and twice a month on Fridays. ;)
As much as I love print - adore, love, crave - I actually bought a Nook yesterday so I can read my PDF scans for my dissertation research. I hate all the printing: wasting ink, killing trees, lugging loads of papers around. I thought the Nook would help me with all of this ... and then I realized that I can download books from Project Gutenberg! I can check out ebooks from the library! Hell, I even get a free book once a month from B&N. SQUEEEEEE!!! Faint! Swoon! Yeah, it's a good thing. :D
Happy Spooky Book Month, dear.
The first time (okay: ONLY time) I read Dracula by Bram Stoker, we had just moved to Germany, and your dad was deployed. I read Dracula after Katie went to bed. here I was, alone, in a small, completely quiet apartment in a small town in a land not terribly far from Transylvania.
I have never been more scared in my entire life.
Sorry I am so late in replying. I was eaten by a major paper for the past few days.
Professeur - I have some problems with the legal structures surrounding e-books, but I really love my e-reader too. The free public domain books are definitely a big part of that!
Sarahbelle - Yes, Dracula is another great classic scary book! Also, if you ever go to Maine (or probably anywhere in New England), don't bring Salem's Lot for your vacation reading.
I bought Coraline (finally) the other day along with The Ledged of Sleepy Hollow and some other books! Do you use The Book Depository? Its free shipping all over the world and has GREAT prices! They've been bought out though (at least that's what I've been told) so won't be around much longer but are worth checking out if you like to buy books! http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/
(by the by I changed the URL of my blog. if you follow the link below and click unfollow and then select follow you'll be linked to my new URL and will receive my updates. It's that simple! Sorry for the confusion, I didn't realise that I would have to redirect everyone! Could you let me know when you do that? Just so I know when to start posting again. Thanks so much. Rebecca x)
Woops, here's my new URL.
http://gothicphantomcat.blogspot.com/
I hadn't heard of the book depository. Thanks for mentioning it, it looks great!
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