Thread: October Reading List

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My tradition has simply been to read the Halloween Tree (R. Bradbury) the week prior to Halloween; I'd like to see what everyone else reads during the haunting season.

For me, the Halloween Tree is the quintessential Halloween book. Dracula, certain poems by Poe, and some of the short stories by Lovecraft (The Unnamable and The Outsider) exemplify the season for me.

So my question is what do you consider to be essential October reading fare. Adult books, children's books, short stories, I'd like to hear it all!

A few years back I found a book at Barnes and Noble called The Little Big Book of Chills and Thrills and it is my favorite, inside is recipes, spells, classic stories, urban legends and vintage Halloween prints that I just love. I also like to read books that have short stories of hauntings. My kid always brings home scholastic order forms before Halloween and of course I order young readers Halloween books. Sometimes if the mood strikes I break out Goosebumps. Funny thing is during October I like shorter stories, nothing too heavy or long. The rest of the year I will read True Crime or Stephen King. We are lovers of books and I have a whole room full of them!!!!!!

Originally Posted by Tinaspaintedlady

Sometimes if the mood strikes I break out Goosebumps.

Can't blame you there! Sometimes I break out my boxes of childhood books and read a Goosebumps, SpineTingler or FrightTime to revist the Octobers of yester-year.

I always read poe and usually fall asleep to the Basil Rathbone LPs of his works as well. The kids go to bed at night to various character childrens halloween stories (curious george, clifford, etc) and poems of halloween from the set of colliers young folks shelf of books that belonged first to my mom when she was only 6 years old. Its nice to think of all the generations, past and present reading the same poems and shorts year after year. I recently purchased 1-13 of RL Stine's "reader beware, you choose the scare" books for my budding little readers. They will be introduced Oct 1 with their yearly "Halloween baskets" the great pumpkin brings.

The Legend of Sleepy Hallow
Dracula
Frankenstein
Bag of Bones

I find myself reading lots of old comic books...The Tomb of Dracula is obe of my favs

I try to read a classic novel, contempory novel, and a short story collection during the Halloween season which for me starts around September 1 and ends hopefully before the New Year (I'm a slow reader). Contempory for me usually means anything written in the 20th or 21 Century. However the closer to the 19th a book gets it may overlap with classic, two for one so to speak.

13 HORRORS OF HALLOWEEN is the best anthology I've read. OCTOBER DREAMS from Cemetery Dance is a huge omnibus, edited by my friend Robert Morrish. THE HALLOWEEN TREE is another classic, and don't forget THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. Norm Partidge's DARK HARVEST is exellent, and you might want to look up a few of my own, including FRIGHTFUL OCTOBER, A HAUNTED HALLOWEEN, MISCHIEF NIGHT, A HALLOWEEN HARVEST, DARK HARVEST, THE WATCHING, and I'll have a few new releases this fall. Did I mention I write Halloween books?

Paul.

Not related to Halloween, but Dean Kootnz has a series out called "Frankenstien" that features a contemporary twist to the old Legend and characters. A good, amusing read.

"A Night in the Lonesome October," by Roger Zelazny.
Whenever Halloween falls on a full moon, Lovecraftian elder gods try to break through the portals into our world, and eventually sorcerers from all over gather together to do whatever they can to affect the outcome... although they're not all on the same side, obviously. Also, they all have talking animal familiars and it takes place in a Hammer-horror version of Victorian England, with pretty much every character archetype you would expect there. It's narrated by Jack the Ripper's dog, Snuff, and has one chapter for each day of the month.
Every year I try to actually READ it at the rate of one chapter a day, but it never quite works out. Either something happens to delay me for a day or two, or I say "screw it" and re-read whatever's left of the book in one sitting. Or both.