Books for Halloween
recommended by novelists and academics
Last updated: October 30, 2024
Halloween is a great time to get into horror books and everything scary.
"What we normally call fear is such a complex experience, especially when it comes to reading...You bring yourself into horror. In a sense, what scares us most about horror is often ourselves, where our minds will take us, which is coloured by our experiences and tastes." Xavier Aldana Reyes from Manchester University, in his interview on the scariest books.
Scary stories are also a great way to get kids into reading. For 9-12 year olds we recommend Read, Scream, Repeat, a short story collection. If you have a child who likes to read novels, Scareground by Angela Kecojevic is all about exploring the line between thrills and terror. And if you have a teenager you're keen to get to read more (and who doesn't easily get nightmares), try A Taste of Darkness: 13 Chilling Stories to Savour, a horror anthology.
The Best Haunted House Books, recommended by Kylie Whitehead
Looking for a scary story this Halloween? Us too. We asked Kylie Whitehead, author of the acclaimed literary body horror Absorbed, to select five of the best haunted house books. Here she discusses her spine-tingling recommendations, which include Anne Rivers Siddons’s cult hit The House Next Door and Michael McDowell’s Southern Gothic novel The Elementals.
The Scariest Books, recommended by Xavier Aldana Reyes
Whether you’re scared most by graphic body horror, the uncategorisable, or the blurring of boundaries between supernatural menace and psychological unraveling, this list will have something for you. Reflecting on the complex nature of fear, Xavier Aldana Reyes surveys the best modern horror and explores whether the genre might offer consolation as well as terror.
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1
'The Same Dog' in Cold Hand in Mine
by Robert Aickman -
2
'Home' in Dark Tales
by Shirley Jackson -
3
'Animals' in You Should Come With Me Now
by M. John Harrison -
4
'The Book' in The Virago Book of Ghost Stories
by Margaret Irwin -
5
'Blind Man's Buff' in The Oxford Book of 20th-Century Ghost Stories
by H. Russell Wakefield
The Best Ghost Stories, recommended by Will Maclean
The Best Ghost Stories, recommended by Will Maclean
If you love to get scared silly then we have reading recommendations for you. Will Maclean, author of the unsettling new novel The Apparition Phase, selects the best ghost stories to read at Halloween, including writing from the queen of screams Shirley Jackson, and a four-page, pitch-black nightmare that might just be the perfect ghost story.
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1
Poe: Poetry, Tales, and Selected Essays
by Edgar Allan Poe -
2
The Detective Stories of Edgar Allan Poe: Three Tales Featuring C. Auguste Dupin
by Edgar Allan Poe -
3
Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography
by Arthur Hobson Quinn -
4
Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe
by Daniel Hoffman -
5
Pym: A Novel
by Mat Johnson
The Best Edgar Allan Poe Books, recommended by Shawn Rosenheim
The Best Edgar Allan Poe Books, recommended by Shawn Rosenheim
You can’t turn on a television or pass an airport bookstore without seeing the influence of America’s most generative writer, Edgar Allan Poe. He orginated true life crime and detective fiction, sci-fi and horror story tropes, and wrote unforgettable poems. Poe expert Shawn Rosenheim, a professor at Williams College, recommends where to start with Poe, as well as the best books about his influence.
Best Horror Novels for 9-12 Year Olds, recommended by Jennifer Killick
Adults sometimes worry that horror novels are too scary for children, but children’s author Jennifer Killick is a fan. Here she picks out five fantastic horror books for 9-12 year olds and explains that in addition to the sheer fun of reading a thriller, horror books can help kids develop courage and often appeal to reluctant readers.
The Scariest Books for Kids, recommended by Jack Meggitt-Phillips
Scary children’s books give kids the pleasure of immersing themselves in an exciting page-turner, and are an excellent way to get reluctant readers to read novels. As long as you pay attention to individual children’s sensibilities, it shouldn’t be hard to find books that give them thrills rather than nightmares. Children’s author Jack Meggitt-Phillips talks us through his favourite scary books for kids.
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Red Shift
by Alan Garner -
2
The Viking Way: Magic and Mind in Late Iron Age Scandinavia
by Neil Price -
3
Soul Hunters: Hunting, Animism, and Personhood among the Siberian Yukaghirs
by Rane Willerslev -
4
The Annotated Collected Poems
Edward Thomas (ed. by Edna Longley) -
5
The Poems of Emily Brontë
Emily Brontë (ed. by Derek Roper)
The best books on Witches and Witchcraft, recommended by Diane Purkiss
The best books on Witches and Witchcraft, recommended by Diane Purkiss
For centuries, the witch has been an index not only of what we fear most in others, but also what we cannot cope with—the powerfully abnormal, strange and often irrational elements—in ourselves. And the best way to understand the history of witches and witchcraft is to first understand the supernatural, according to Diane Purkiss, Professor at Keble College, Oxford and author of the lauded book The Witch in History.