October's Chilling Reads: Halloween Reads Part I

 

  

From "Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley

Little Orphant Annie's come to our house to stay,
An' wash the cups an' saucers up, an' brush the crumbs away,
An' shoo the chickens off the porch, an' dust the hearth, an' sweep,
An' make the fire, an' bake the bread, an' earn her board-an'-keep;
An' all us other childern, when the supper things is done,
We set around the kitchen fire an' has the mostest fun
A-list'nin' to the witch-tales 'at Annie tells about,
An' the Gobble-uns 'at gits you
             Ef you
                Don't
                   Watch
                      Out!

 

 

I'm sure we all have our favorite stories and poems we associate with Halloween, and we readers love to combine our favorites of old with new tales to make us shiver on an October evening as we read and reread those books and stories. There is, of course, no comprehensive list, as tastes are so individual.  But, I've gathered some of my old favorites with some newer books that I hope can help you celebrate this deliciously creepy month of ghosts and goblins and mysteries.     

This post today is Part I of my Halloween Reads topic.  Part II will be selections made by some of your favorite bloggers. 

 

Short Story Collections and Short Stories: 

When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson

Ghostly Tales: Spine-Chilling Stories of the Victorian Age (Includes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, F. Marion Crawford, Charles Dickens, Amelia B. Edwards, Elizabeth Gaskell, M.R. James, and Roberte Louis Stevenson), Illustrations by Bill Bragg

The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton

What October Brings: A Lovecraftian Celebration of Halloween 

The Complete Stories and Poems Of Edgar Allan Poe

American Gothic Tales, edited by Joyce Carol Oates

Ghostly: A Collection of Ghost Stories, Introduced and Illustrated by Audrey Niffenegger

Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories by Roald Dahl

The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft, Edited by Leslie S. Klinger

Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson 

The Best of Richard Matheson, edited by Victor LaValle

The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories, edited by Michael Newton

 

 

 

Classic Short Story Singles:

The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs

The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins

The Landlady by Roald Dahl

Miss Mary Pask by Edith Wharton

Patient Zero by Tananarive Due

 

Poems of Fright:

Poems Bewitched and Haunted , John Hollander, Editor (Random House)

Little Orphant Annie by James Whitcomb Riley

Hallowe'en in a Suburb by H.P. Lovecraft

Goblin Feet by J.R.R. Tolkien

Phantasmagoria by Lewis Carroll  

 

 

Books to Keep You on the Edge of Your Seat:

Recent Publications:

Reprieve by James Han Mattson  

The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

Death Rang the Bell (Blackwell and Watson Time Travel Mysteries #3) by Carol Pouloit

Fledgling by Octavia Butler

This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno  

Strangers at the Gate by Catriona McPherson

The Terror by Dan Simmons

The Hunger by Alma Katsu

We Are All the Same in the Dark by Julia H

Wonderland by Jennifer Hillier

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Boy's Life by Robert McCammon

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

The Witch Elm by Tana French 

Blood and Brume by Maki Morris

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager (all Riley Sager)

The Shining by Stephen King (all Stephen King)

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill

The Good House by Tananarive Due

The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo

I Remember You: A Ghost Story by Yrsa Sigurdardottir

Classics:

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie

The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury

The October Boys by Adam Millard

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

 

For kids:

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

The Witches by Roald Dahl

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Howliday Inn by James Howe

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The House with a Clock in Its Walls by John Bellairs