Any suggestions for spooky books to read in the run up to Halloween?

[headfairy]

I was thinking gothic horror type thing, I've been wavering between The Turn of the Screw and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow but I need a few more choices... the spookier the better!

Woman in Black

Edgar Allen Poe short stories

M.R.James short stories

'Dark Matter' by Michelle Paver (ghost story set in the Arctic) is scary.

DH read Dark Matter - he said it was very spooky and atmospheric. He's currently reading another ghost story - The Greatcoat by Helen Dunmore, but he said it's a bit at the moment.

I didn't like The Greatcoat, although I normally love Dunmore. The Turn of the Screw is terrifying and good and I really enjoyed (most of) Dark Matter.

I was really disappointed with 'Dark Matter' although it sounds exactly my sort of thing. I really liked the preparation for the journey but thought the 'scary' stuff was pretty silly and that the 'other business' got in the way and felt like issues for issues' sake rather than adding anything to the story. A real shame.

You might like Dickens' 'The Signalman' though it's just a short story - and Poe's 'The Telltale Heart' is always worth a revisit.

Salem's Lot?
Dracula?
Frankenstein?
The Monk?
The Mysteries Of Udolpho?

DH finished reading The Greatcoat last night. He didn't like it either, NNIR. He's given it to me to read now :o

I am Legend creeped the hell out of me.

The Little Stranger - it does seem to be a bit of a marmite book but I found it really scary.

Loved the little stranger. If you enjoyed turn of the screw, a jealous ghost by an wilson is excellent.

I also hugely enjoyed the book by Christiane Ritter 'a woman in the polar night' that inspired dark matter. Non fiction and fascinating about a woman in the 1939s who joins her husband to overwinter in Svalbard. It is far better than dark matter IMO (but without the scary bits!)

Agree with you that as the nights draw in, its time for a good ghost story!

The Monkey's Paw is a short , but pretty scary story.

I also like MR James, have you tried any of his?

Book of short stories by women writers, mostly new ones, called Something Was There, there's a great Naomi Alderman one and a recently discovered Daphne DuMaurier. They are very varied.

Yes to The Monkey's Paw.
The Moonstone / The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins: not so much scary but brilliant for a dark Autumnal evening.

The Unburied by Charles Palliser:-)

New one that I loved was 'The Uninvited Guests' by Sadie Jones. Not scary but great spooky fun.

Let The Right One In.

Much, much better than the film (as normal).

'Let The Right One In' is great (except for the silly ending) - not gothic horror but pithy and gritty and gripping. 'Lullaby' by Chuck whatshisname who wrote Fight Club is good too.