Halloween is going to look quite a bit different this year. Certainly, wearing a mask has a different context now that they a regular part of our collective countenance!

I always look forward to October as a chance to indulge in my darker side—taking a turn toward reading choices that careen into the horrific. What is your own tolerance for terror? Do you gleefully embrace the grisly and gory, or shudder at the mere idea of reading or viewing anything even remotely sinister? There is such a vast array of offerings within the Horror Genre that even those who are timid or have delicate sensibilities can find something that satisfies without too much discomfort.

For this month’s blog, I put together some reading suggestions based on what I am calling “The Scare Continuum."

This evaluation is obviously highly subjective, but I am going to attempt to list some recent books (with links to reviews, so you can steel yourself appropriately) in order from least to most hair-raising. The books at the beginning have a huge dose of humor along with their chills, and the last ones are a bit more “visceral.” Some of these titles also have movie/tv adaptations available as well. I typically recommend reading the book before watching interpretations, since the screen-based renditions can vary greatly in resemblance to the original and quality.

So: Where do you fall along the line?

1= Mildly Macabre ———————————————7 = Perfectly Petrifying

	The Gates John Connolly
	2. Meddling Kids Edgar Cantero
	3. House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski
	4. The Outsider Stephen King
	5. Imaginary Friend Stephen Chbosky
	6. Baby Teeth Zoje Stage
	7. Heart-Shaped Box Joe Hill

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For those who like to keep things at a more analytical remove, here are a few titles from the nonfiction section:

Horror : a very short introduction by Darryl Jones

Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction edited by Lisa Kröger and Melanie Anderson

Some of you might also like to check out some prestigious award-winners. These are judged to be the best new releases from 2019, and are typically great picks to start with—especially if you are a neophyte to the genre:

Bram Stoker Award Winners
Shirley Jackson Awards

Recent Readings

I was recently fortunate enough to get my hands on the super-popular Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I thought it was fantastic and worthy of all its rave reviews. It has a richly sensual atmosphere, saturated with a creeping sense of dread and a classic but completely original plot. I highly recommend it to anyone who falls in the middle of the “Scare Continuum.”

Right now, I am currently listening to a funny, tongue-in-cheek horror pick by Grady Hendrix: The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires. I am also reading Lethal White, the fourth in Robert Galbraith’s (pseudonym of J.K. Rowling) Cormoran Strike series; and Becoming Duchess Goldblatt, an anonymous memoir about a fictional Twitter personality that has taken on a life of its own.

As always, I would love to hear from you (jnmegan@gpl.org)! If you read any of the above titles, did they give you delicious thrills or regretful nightmares? Have any other ideas of tales I should peek at on page or screen to quench my thirst for the gruesome?

Until next time: Be well and be well-read!

Joelle

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So, who am I, anyway? I am a resident of West Groton, with a husband, 4 teen aged children and a Samoyed puppy—all of whom are systematically destroying our house during the COVID crisis. I am currently working part time at the Groton Public Library and in a former life I was employed as a Director or PR/Marketing at a high-tech consulting firm. My BA is in Psychology, but most of my time was spent in college earning a Concentration on the Novel. That is all to say that I make no claims at being an expert of any kind and my thoughts, opinions and mistakes are solely my own. I am just a person whose passion for books has continued to grow from the moment I was first able to grip and gnaw on them, and I have been devouring them ever since.