Halloween Reads (or other entertainments)

[DrPusey]

Every year I reread old favorite books that I associate with Halloween, either because they have Halloween settings or because they're spooky. I'm looking to expand my repertoire.

 

Some of my favorites are Rosemary Edghill's Bast mysteries, Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, M. R. James and E. F. Benson's ghost stories, and Leslie Meier's Halloween mysteries.

 

Help me expand my Halloween reading list! What do you like to read at this time of year?

 

I'm also looking for good recommendations for Halloween themed podcasts or radio mysteries. I know about the original broadcast of "The War of the Worlds," of course. What else can people recommend?

[PennySycamore]

How about some short stories by Edgar Allen Poe or Stephen King? You might like Shirley Jackson's short story The Lottery. too.

[keen23]

I associate Alice Hoffman with Halloween. There's something magical in most of her books. I really like Practical Magic and Blackbird House (a collection of inter-connected short stories, rather than a full novel).

The Lottery was required 10th grade reading at my high school. It was made into a movie too.

[crazyforkate]

Halfway through The Shining, and introducing some Poe to my English students. Should be fun!

[PennySycamore]

Halfway through The Shining, and introducing some Poe to my English students. Should be fun!

I still remember my 9th grade English teacher reading The Cask of Amontillado aloud to our class after almost 45 years. I've never read The Shining (seen the TV movie) although I have read a good bit of Stephen King. I did find Salem's Lot to be appropriately creepy for this time of year. I'll look through my short story collections and post some suggestions tomorrow.

ETA: Decided to add a few suggestions this evening. Everything's Eventual and Hearts in Atlantis are both good collections of King's short stories. LT's Theory of Pets, Riding the Bullet, The Road Virus Heads North and Autopsy Room Four are all in Everything's Eventual and all are really good and LT's Theory of Pets is rather funny.

[DrPusey]

Thanks for the suggestions so far! I haven't revisited Poe (or "The Lottery") in a while. I've read Practical Magic but not Blackbird House, so will look into that one.

I might check out Salem's Lot too.

Is anybody familiar with Night Vale radio? Several people on my Twitter feed rave about it. I tried the first episode but didn't find it compelling enough to continue. Does it get better?

[micatite]

Late now, but perhaps for next year: The Halloween Tree.

And if you're into movies, I'm always amazed how scary Disney can be. There's Something Wicked This Way Comes and my personal Halloween party favorite, The Watcher in the Woods.

[Rita]

Is anybody familiar with Night Vale radio? Several people on my Twitter feed rave about it. I tried the first episode but didn't find it compelling enough to continue. Does it get better?

I listened to the first couple, and am now saving them up for a roadtrip next spring. They don't take long, so I'd try another episode.

A short story that just scared me is HP Lovecraft's The Tomb.

[NellieBell]

My favorite short story collection of King's is Full Dark No Stars. I finished both Joyland and Dr. Sleep in the past two months and loved them both. Also Susan Hill's Woman In Black was good.