I already talked about my autumn TBR in a Top 10 Tuesday post a couple of weeks back, but I've added a bit to my October TBR since then because there are so many books I want to read this month that fall under the "spooky" umbrella. Whether or not I actually will have the time to read them all is a different matter, but I will try.
Usually, I would make my October TBR purely horror but this year I realised that doing that kind of restricts exactly what kind of books I can read and something can be spooky without being horror. And I'm also a huge baby so I'm more likely to read horror books than watch horror movies. not that it stops me from trying.
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Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson - I have been studying Gothic literature since 2012 so if I don't read at least one Gothic book this month, I have failed as not only a student of Gothic, but as a spooky person who got introduced to the Goth subculture through the literature, and not the music like everyone else. Ahem. By the time this post goes live, I will hopefully have already read this book because it's really short and I could probably read it in one day. I hope.
Carrie by Stephen King - This the first of three Stephen King books that I have and I'm not exactly sure of where to place it on my TBR for this month. I was going to read it this week until I realised that there are only three extremely l o n g chapters in it, and that threw me off completely. I'm a strategic reader, if I can't read something the way that I usually do, then it's not going to go well for me. This is the shortest of King's books that I own and I figured it would be the best place to start, but we'll see where I put it.
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black - I haven't told myself that I'm going to finish this book as many times as I have with a couple of other books on this list, but this book is one that I've picked up and put down a couple of times. And that's kind of strange because I've been wanting to read this book ever since it came out. It's a vampire book, which is one of my favourite things ever, so it's pretty shocking that I still haven't finished it. Also, my copy is signed and personalised by Holly Black, so I really need to read it.
The Shining by Stephen King - Let's play a game. It's called 'How Many Times Have I Said That I'm Going to Finally Finish The Shining But Never Actually Do'. Every single October I make it a goal to finally finish this book, but I never do and I don't know why. Maybe I'm just impatient because the beginning is pretty damn slow and I never get to the actual scary things. I want to see what Joey Tribniani was so scared of, dammit. I also want to see why Stephen King hates the movie so much, and in order to do that, I have to read the book first.
Forever Odd by Dean Koontz - I bought most of the Odd Thomas books a couple of years ago, but so far I've still only read the first one, which I really did enjoy. I did have the intention of marathoning the series, but I never keep promises I make to myself so obviously, that didn't happen. I'm growing to like ghost stories a lot more these days because they are atmospheric, but they don't scare me as much as something featuring a physical monster would.
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty - Apparently, this is the scariest book ever written. Now, the last time I got scared by a book I was eight years old, and I was being read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by my Year 4 teacher, so I intend to see if that's true. And then I might watch the movie. If I can handle all of the flashing images, which is not fun for my eyes.
The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris - Here's another book that I've owned a physical copy of for a long time but still haven't gotten around to reading yet. I read Red Dragon in 2013 before the Hannibal TV show first aired in the UK (i think.) and I got a copy of The Silence of the Lambs not too long after, but I still haven't picked it up properly yet. I do have my concerns about the book though because the movie is pretty transphobic in the way it portrays Buffalo Bill, so that's probably something I should watch out for in the book.
The Dead Zone by Stephen King - What? Stephen King again? Yes, Stephen King again. I've actually read about half of this book, but that was eight years ago so I've pretty much forgotten everything apart from one passage about vaginal douching. Which is lovely. I remember the strangest things, I swear. I read this book when I was around fourteen or fifteen and I took it back to the library after renewing it about five times and then never got it out again, and then I went without a copy for years. But now I've had one for a couple of years and I'm going to finish it. Eight years after I started it.
Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - Whee, more vampires! I'd first heard of this book from Cait (whose blog you should totally visit because it's awesome) when she reviewed it on Goodreads, and obviously, I kicked myself for not hearing about it sooner. I've never heard of any vampire stories that aren't directly inspired by solely Eastern European folklore, and because this one is set in Mexico and has a primarily POC cast of characters, I obviously have to read this book. I want to see more POC vampires in fiction because there is no way in heck that out of a population of seven billion people on this planet, every single vampire would be white. I always say that vampires don't have to be realistic because they're not real, but having them only be white is incredibly unrealistic. I want more POC vampires, dammit.
Psycho by Robert Bloch - Psycho is one of my favourite movies ever, and the fact that I still haven't read the book (which is so short) is just terrible. How dare I. I've read a bit of it already so I know which bits are completely different from the movie and which are the same (old school hollywood really did not care for making their movie adaptations accurate) but I am determined to get this one finished too.
Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite - Oh, look. More vampires. I have heard a lot of good things not just about this book, but about Poppy Z. Brite's books in general (although he doesn't write anymore, which is a bit of a shame). I don't know very much about this book but I do know that it features a lot of LGBT+ characters, which is always a plus, as well as a lot of blood. Which is always another plus. You can't have vampires without blood, can you? Well, you can but they're made out of felt and teach children how to count.
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - Another classic Gothic book! I haven't read any of Oscar Wilde's books at all, so I know very little about them, but I have wanted to read The Picture of Dorian Gray for quite some time. Like I said, if I don't read at least one Gothic book before Halloween, I have failed as a spooky person.
Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay - Gahh, I haven't watched Dexter in so long and I've only read the first book in the series, so I'm definitely going to have to read the read of the series. Probably after I finish watching the TV show, though. Which is probably going to get me a slap on the wrist because it's the wrong way to do it, but whatever.
The Diviners by Libba Bray - Apparently opinions on this book are pretty divided, but I've had this book on my shelves for quite some time so onto the TBR it shall go. I mean, it's a paranormal story set during the Prohibition era? Um, yes. Of course I'd want to read it.
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice - Is it obvious that I really like vampires, yet? Because I do. Like, a lot. A lot a lot. To me, there are two books that any self-proclaimed vampire superfan should read at some point in their life. One is Dracula, which I can check off because I first read that when I was fourteen. It took me a year but I did it. The other is, of course, Interview with the Vampire which is still have not read. I'm a wee bit conflicted about Anne Rice as a person because from what I've read, she isn't exactly the most friendly towards fandoms, but hopefully, that doesn't show up in her writing. Also, this is a favourite of quite a lot of people, so my expectations are pretty high here.
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess - Technically, this is a sci-fi book, but genres can overlap, and the title of this post is "spooky, scary, and morbid books" and I would definitely classify this book as morbid. If you don't think a book about violent teenagers who break into peoples houses and rape women is morbid, then I don't want to know what you consider to be morbid. Jinkies.
The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco - I don't remember when I first heard about this book, but it must have been a couple of years ago because I kind of forgot that it existed. Oops. I've been looking for a good YA ghost story ever since I read the Anna Dressed in Blood series a few years ago, and this one looks really promising.
Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu - What's better than vampires? LGBT+ vampires. What would be even better than that? If queerness wasn't used to sensationalise a novel in an attempt to attract controversy, but this book was written in the 1800's so obviously that didn't happen. If you're worried about the number of vampire novels I read and take an interest in, don't be because I write about vampires so obviously I need to do my research.
Half Bad by Sally Green - I have read a surprisingly small amount of books that feature witchcraft in my life. The only ones I can think of are Harry Potter, Jinx by Meg Cabot, and The Raven Cycle. I've had this book for absolutely forever, so obviously it's about time that I read it soon. I don't exactly know when, but hopefully sooner rather than later.
This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab - I'm going to start a tally count of how many times I've put a Schwab book on one of these TBR lists because it's almost every single one. I'm sure that most of her books could be considered spooky, but the fact that I know there are monsters in This Savage Song places it straight onto this list.
What spooky books are on your TBR? What would you recommend? What do you plan to read this October?
