It’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the wonderful blog at The Broke and the Bookish! This week’s topic: Top Ten Books to read for Halloween
Well. I don’t read scary books. You know this. So I’m just going to tell you my personal, fun Halloween picks or “Halloween Books for the Less-Horror Inclined”… And as usual, I’m not following the rules and I’m giving you many, many choices instead of just ten!
The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman
THE GRAVEYARD BOOK is a perfect Halloween read. Ghosts, ghouls, night gaunts, witches, and all within a graveyard. It’s also positively delightful (and really not scary for you fellow scaredy cats) and the audio read by Neil Gaiman himself is absolutely fantastic!
The Madman’s Daughter (The Madman’s Daughter #1) – Megan Shepherd
THE MADMAN’S DAUGHTER is a nice HORROR read. I feel like horror is often combined with paranormal nowadays so it was really interesting to see this retelling of The Island of Dr. Moreau and yes, there is a bit of “science” involved so I guess you could call it science-fiction? But I think it’s more horror!
The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern
THE NIGHT CIRCUS is another non-scary but perfect for Halloween book. We’ve got REAL magic masquerading as illusion and so, so, so much amazing imagery in this book! Wonderful characters, a beautiful setting, and a dash of mystery!
Paper Valentine – Brenna Yovanoff
PAPER VALENTINE was definitely interesting. The main character is seeing the ghost of her best friend who recently died and unrelated to her friend’s death, there are serial killings going on all over town. With the help of her friend’s ghost, she ends up on the case of solving the murders.
Something Strange and Deadly (Something Strange and Deadly #1) – Susan Dennard
I read SOMETHING STRANGE AND DEADLY last year for Halloween and it was so much fun! If you’re looking for a good zombie book with a steampunk twist, this is it! I’m slacking and still haven’t read book two yet, but I can’t wait to get to it. Oh, and Susan Dennard is positively wonderful and incredibly sweet!
Born Wicked (The Cahill Witch Chronicles #1) – Jessica Spotswood
BORN WICKED was another one I read last year for Halloween and it was SO good. Real witches in a sort of alternate history… It was just so interesting! Another series I still haven’t continued YET but believe me, I will!!! And hopefully soon.
TEN reminded me of the slasher movies of the 90s in a really fun way! It’s a retelling of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None and it was just creepy enough that it wasn’t TOO scary haha. It’s totally a perfect Halloween read!
Frostbite || Shadow Kiss || Blood Promise || Spirit Bound || Last Sacrifice
I always think vampires make for good Halloween subjects and I really loved the originality of VAMPIRE ACADEMY. I wasn’t sure I’d like the series before I picked up the books, but it really ended up turning into one of my favorites!
Shadowlands (Shadowlands #1) – Kate Brian
Hereafter (Shadowlands #2) – Kate Brian
SHADOWLANDS has a serial killer that is positively CREEPTASTIC. I really enjoyed book one and it totally kept me on my toes! Definitely one to read at night. In the dark. Snuggle up!
Sweet Evil (Sweet Trilogy #1) – Wendy Higgins
Sweet Peril (Sweet Trilogy #2) – Wendy Higgins
This series has some demons, both good and evil. Angels too, which I wasn’t sure I’d like but ya know… I really enjoy the darker side of it haha.
12 thoughts on “Top Ten Tuesday – October 29, 2013: Top Ten Books to read for Halloween”
The only book that I’ve read on this list is Something Strange and Deadly, and I LOVED that book, as you know. Your other suggestions sound pretty darn great too, so I’m going to have to check them out. I’m particularly excited for The Madman’s Daughter, which I haven’t read yet.
Thanks for sharing your recommendations 🙂 I am not really into books that will traumatize me so I appreciate the “not so scary” YA books too. The Night Circus sounds fantastic; I love YA mysteries and thrillers (minus the guts and gore). I thought I would share my recent mystery find, “The Riddle of Prague” by author Laura DeBruce. The book is about 18 year old Hana Silna and her adventure in Prague trying to find the elixir of immortality. Hana and her friend Alex are being chased throughout Prague by, ” by an immortal psycho killer” (Hana’s words, not mine…”) and must decipher the clues in an old notebook that Hana discovered in her ancestor’s home that will lead them to the elixir. The book is full of suspense and mystery with a lot of fantastic plot twists and turns. I would say it fits the “spooky” Halloween theme but won’t scare the reader half to death either 🙂 I highly recommend it and I hope you will give it a read.
Ooooh very interesting! I’ll have to check it out! 🙂 I definitely will look into it! Thanks so much for the suggestion!
Your picks are basically the epitome of perfection. I can never think of things to recommend (hence why I chose to do covers instead), but I am so using this list to give recommendations to others!
Something Strange and Deadly…loved that book (and the sequel). And the Vampire Academy series…one of my favorites! Shadowlands was such a trippy book, I never saw it coming. Great picks for Halloween!
I don’t read a lot of scary books either, but I see a few I liked on your list, like Born Wicked, VA, and Strange and Deadly. Thank you for not scaring me too much! I think I can handle The Night Circus and Sweet Evil sometime. Happy spooky reading!
Great list of Halloween reads. I still haven’t read The Graveyard Book but maybe I will this week if I can squeeze it in 🙂 Pretty amazing how many creepy reads there are in YA. I honestly hadn’t really noticed since they are typically what I’m reading. 🙂
I just read 3:59 by Gretchen McNeil and really liked it. I should try Ten. I still haven’t read VA. Fail. I need to get on it. Anything with vampires makes for a great Halloween read. Have you read the Coldest Girl in Coldtown? That one was really good. 🙂
Great list! I was going to put The Graveyard Book on my list too, because it has a spooky cover and is a spooky story.
We have some shared picks! I really want to read The Madman’s Daughter soon it has been in my TBR for a while and this is the perfect time to hop to it!
I had a couple of these on my list too! I still haven’t read Madman’s Daughter yet– on my shelf– but eeeeeek… you are right, definitely a good book for this time of year!!!
Ooh, this list is perfect for me! I don’t do scary very well either, though I have been dipping my toes into some more horror-esque books lately. I think I’ve realized that I’m okay with some pretty creepy stuff, but I just can’t stand when things get too graphic or the main one, GOREY. I freakin’ hate gore. Gross gross gross.
I haven’t read many of these books(I think the only one I’ve read was The Madman’s Daughter–and I liked it, but I don’t think I could handle anything more gorey than that. I definitely skimmed some of the descriptions), but so many on my TBR. Born Wicked! Something Strange and Deadly! The Graveyard Book!(which I’m actually a bit surprised I haven’t read all ready).