We are 10 days away from Halloween: The countdown has begun!
While autumn has so much to offer with its cooler days and beautiful foliage, Halloween provides yet another reason to love this time of the year. While my Halloween adventures have slowly been dwindling as I’ve been getting older, I still love all the spookiness and creativity of costumes. One of the reasons I am such a bookwork is because of how much I love falling into another world and getting engulfed in it. Halloween presents the same kind of opportunity, but in the real world. What’s there not to love about that?
So as my neighbours start decorating their porches and driveways, I start tailoring my reading list to match the season. I have always been a mood reader, my TBR being dictated by the weather, atmosphere, upcoming event or holiday. So of course, I had to make a list of some of my favourite Halloween appropriate books picks!
Here are my 5 Halloween picks from my bookshelf:
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks
If any of you follow our instagram you’ll know I recently picked up World War Z. I am obsessed! I had heard a lot about this book before from friends and family and I can’t believe it has taken me so long to get around to it. The book is set up in a series of interview conducted by an unnamed journalist who wants to tell the history of the zombie apocalypse through the tales of individuals from around the world. Organised chronologically, the book describes the outbreak, epidemic, and subsequent war through the eyes of numerous characters. Some who had important roles in fighting the war and others who merely sought to survive.
For a novel about zombies, they feature much less than one would expect. Rather, through the tales of the characters interviewed, the reader gets an overview of how the world reacted, and what survival looked like for different people. Aside from being a great writer, Brooks has proven a highly intelligent author as he takes aspects of real world politics and social contexts to suggest very realistic scenarios of how countries would react in the case of an actual zombie war. It is this realism that makes the book so compelling and a must read!
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
For a touch of intrigue and magic on this list, Morgenstern romantic, dream-esq carnival was the perfect choice. Trained since childhood to battle each other in a duel of magic, two young magicians fall in love. Populated with magicians, sorcerers, fortune-tellers and so much more, the novel is a beautifully enchanting reading experience that is perfectly on trend with dark fairy and unicorn Halloween themes. Morgenstern is a wonderful writer with an incredible ability to make romance feel luxurious.
Dracula by Bram Stoker
What is Halloween without a couple of vampires running about. I could not miss out this classic gothic horror story. This novel has inspired so many tales about Dracula and vampires and really establish the conventional understanding of vampires. The story of an age old vampire, Dracula, living in Transylvania attempted to leave its shores for England. However, he is hunted by the suitors of a young woman he fed on and killed, along with the young solicitor who was initially in charge of his real estate purchases in England. The entire novel is written in an epistolary format, told through a series of journal entries, ships logs or letters. A highly exciting read, it is a perfect book for the Halloween season.
Damned by Chuck Palahniuk
I have to admit, that I slightly cheated with these next two, which technically speaking weren’t from my bookshelf, but my brother’s. Family share, right? Either way, I knew if I was going to tick off all the boxes, I had to get the devil involved in this list somehow. And that’s where Palahniuk comes in. After Madison dies, she wakes up in hell and shares a cell with a cheerleader, a jock, a nerd, and a punk rocker. This is Fight Club meets the Breakfast Club. Literally, and it’s amazing.
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger by Stephen King
Of course, no list would be complete without the ‘King’ of horror himself. I realise that most people would either choose The Shining or IT for a Halloween appropriate King novel, but honestly, I’m terrified of clowns. So to save my peace of mind, I took the fantasy approach and went with The Dark Tower. The last of his kind, the gunslinger hunts down The Man in Black who has taken everything from his and is trying to bring evil into the world. A wonderfully created fantasy world, this King novel truly engulfs you into this new universe.
What have been some of your Halloween book picks this year or in past years? Let me know in the comments and we can have a chat!
~S~
