Fall is FINALLY here at UNC. The leaves are about to change, the temperatures will (hopefully) drop and, most importantly, it’s spooky season!
Now, I’ll be honest, I scare super easily. I get nightmares from watching shows like American Horror Story or The Walking Dead, so instead of watching frightening tv shows or films, I gravitate toward books!
Here are seven books that are perfect for this Halloween season!
“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Okay, so this isn’t a book, but it’s a short story! If you are not the biggest reader, this is perfect for you! Plus, the short story is online. Simply Google the story, and you’ll find several pdf versions. I recommend this pdf. Our main character is trapped in a room and keeps seeing random people outside and in the wallpaper of her room. Is she going crazy? Is the house haunted? Learn more to find out…There’re even pictures to suit your spooky mood!
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Ah, a classic horror novel! I read this last year for a class, and I actually really liked it. If you couldn’t tell from the title, the book centers around a haunted house. Maybe read this and then indulge in a movie that scared me so much as a kid, Monster House!
Macbeth by Shakespeare
Okay, okay, I know what you’re thinking—why would I ever read Shakespeare if I didn’t have to for a class? Well, if you aren’t reading Shakespeare for a class, his plays are quite entertaining! Macbeth has ghosts, a femme fatale, murders and a protagonist who may or may not be crazy. For what more can you ask? Also, if you have trouble understanding Shakespeare, you can always read the play side by side with a modern translation on Sparknotes!
Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Meagan Spooner
If I’d remembered to bring this book from my hometown to my dorm, there is a very strong chance that I would be rereading this novel this month! While the size might be daunting (602 pages), lluminae is told in mixed media. There are IMs, drawings, an AI’s internal thoughts, etc. There aren’t a ton of pages with full text, as you’d see with normal novels, so the book is actually a quick read! Illuminae takes place in space, after Kady Grant’s home planet is attacked. She and hundreds of refugees are on board a spaceship, but are in hot pursuit of the terrorists who bombed their planet. However, that isn’t the only frightening thing happening; there is a virus going around the ship that leads to zombies (yes, zombies!!), and the AI that controls the ship might be developing a personality and turning on the crew. Prepare for a wild ride!
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
In the YA (young adult) world, this book is HUGE, and for good reason. Anna Dressed in Blood is a YA novel about a young man, Cas Lowood, who hunts ghosts for a living. His latest job is to find a ghost that locals call “Anna Dressed in Blood,” who has killed every person who has entered the house she resided in when she was living. Yet for some reason, Anna spares Cas’ life. This book didn’t outright scare me when I read it, but I was pretty unsettled! If you’re a fan of ghosts, or maybe the show Supernatural, you’d probably like this one.
Dr. Franklin’s Island by Ann Halam
I first read Dr. Franklin’s Island in middle school, and, since then, have reread it twice. Dr. Franklin’s Island is inspired by H.G. Wells’ novel The Island of Doctor Moreau. In Ann Halam’s novel, three young teens are the sole survivors of a plane crash that leaves them stranded on an island, where a mad scientist devises to use them in his super creepy genetic engineering tests.
Contagion by Erin Bowman
Set in space, a skeleton crew hears a distress call and decides to answer it, only to find themselves in much deeper waters than they imagined. What is meant to be a quick rescue mission turns out to be much more sinister when the crew finds everyone dead, except one young man. When I was reading Contagion, I was creeped out in the best way possible. I never knew who to trust, and there were some great twists. Plus, there are space zombies. Need I say more?
If none of those books catch your eye, here are some others I’ve heard are amazing, but I haven’t read. **Cue the reader shame**
Literally anything by Steven King
They don’t call Steven King a master of the horror genre for nothing! As a self-proclaimed scaredy-cat, I’ll have to have some mental preparation before I pick up Carrie, It, The Shining or really anything King has ever written. But hey, if you want to read all 1,000+ pages of It this October, I commend you!!
You by Caroline Kepnes
Everyone I know who has read this book loved it! You is told in second-person POV from our main character, Joe Goldberg, who is just your casual neighborhood stalker and (sometimes) murderer. In You, he stalks Guinevere Beck, a young woman whom he is enraptured by when she enters the bookstore at which he works. Though Joe is stalking Guinevere and manipulating her so that she falls in love with him, since the book is in second person, it’s more like Joe is stalking you, the reader. *Cue full body chills.* If that sounds too intense, hop over to Lifetime and watch their new tv show based on the book, which stars Penn Badgley, who you might know as Dan from Gossip Girl!
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
I’m pretty sure I’m the only person in the world who hasn’t read Gone Girl. At least, that’s what it feels like! Gone Girl is a thriller that took the world by storm when it released in 2012, and then again in 2014, when the movie adaptation premiered. All I know about this is that our main character’s wife, Amy, is missing. He seems suspect, but everything is not as it seems… Does that not scream spooky to you?
I hope you have a wonderfully spooky time this October and get to read some wonderful novels! Have fun!