Top Ten Tuesday – Reads to Pick Up This Halloween!
Hello everybody, and welcome to my Top Ten Tuesday post, with recommendations for books to pick up this Halloween! If you’re not sure what you want to read this spooky season, I have ten recommendations for books that I have read and I think would make excellent reading. There is quite a variety of books in this selection, so there should be something here that meets your needs.
Where I have a live review of each book on my blog, I’ve provided a link to that if you want more information.
So, let’s jump into my recommendations!
The Stand
I’m starting off with some of Stephen King’s most iconic books. Aside from The Green Mile, The Stand was one of the first books I read of Stephen King’s. I actually listened to this epic on audiobook due to its size.
If you are uncomfortable with the idea of a premise that is a more extreme version of the pandemic we have just lived through, then maybe this one isn’t for you. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this post-apocalyptic narrative.
IT
Another Stephen King novel I read and really enjoyed is IT. I read this one physically, and I have no doubt that I’ll be going back to my copy on my bookshelf at some point! I really enjoyed the dual-timeline narrative, and at just under 1400 pages, this is the longest book I have ever read. Despite that, I managed to read IT in a couple of weeks.
Pet Sematary
If you want to try a Stephen King novel that won’t (quite) knock somebody out if you throw it at them, Pet Sematary is shorter than the previous books listed, yet is still brilliant.
I had no idea this book was going to end the way it did. However, it encapsulates the horror genre brilliantly.
Imaginary Friend
Moving away from Stephen King, I have a number of books on this recommendation list from other authors.
I read Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chboksy in October 2019. This is also quite a sizable horror, but well worth the investment! Even though I read a good portion of this book on holiday, the narrative was chilling and unnerving enough to give all the autumnal, spooky vibes!
The Dark Chorus
If you want to pick up a fairly short read this Halloween, then The Dark Chorus may just be the book for you. The narrative focuses on a young boy who can see lost souls. The narrative has a spiritual emphasis and involves this young boy committing terrible, ritualistic murders, towards his end goal.
It was a very creepy read, but one I rated very highly!
Empire of the Vampire
If you like to read more towards the fantasy genre, Empire of the Vampire is a strong recommendation for you. I read this book by Jay Kristoff on holiday this year. As the name would suggest, this book is about vampires, but also about our main character, who is a vampire slayer.
Empire of the Vampire is a very Gothic style fantasy, with elements such as religion and the undead being at war with each other. I personally cannot wait to pick up the sequel to this book, whenever it is published. In the meantime, I can only recommend Empire of the Vampire to you!
The Chalk Man
Coming in at 280 pages, The Chalk Man is a very approachable reader for anybody. With a dual-timeline split between Eddie’s childhood, and his return to his hometown as an adult, a very dark story unfolds.
The benign language a group of friends used to communicate with each other leads to the discovery of a body, and nothing is ever the same again.
The Taking of Annie Thorne
The Taking of Annie Thorne is another fairly short, but very sinister read. This was the second book. I read by CJ Tudor, and she is an author I will go back to for this kind of read in the future. It is brilliantly paced, the characters are engaging, and the storyline is something else.
This was a five-star read, and now I’m recommending it to you in the hopes that it will be for you too.
Bell, Book and Candle (To Snare a Witch)
If you are a bit pressed for time this Halloween, maybe a series of short stories would be better suited to you?
I read these short stories back in October 2019 and they are a great way of delving into the dark and sinister without too much investment. They are also very easy to read, and you can read as many or a few of them as you like. The good thing about short stories is that they are very approachable!
Mort
Lastly, if you’re not much into the Halloween genre and want to read something more satirical, I can recommend Mort by Terry Pratchett. It has a loose tie to the genre in that one of the main characters of this book is Death. In this first instalment of the Discworld series, Death decides to take an apprentice – Mort.
So, those are my Top Ten Tuesday recommendations for books to pick up this Halloween! Have you read any of the books listed today? Would you recommend any of them to others?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
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