View Full Version : All Hallows Eve reads
I for one love Halloween and it's ghost storys and haunted tales of witches gouls and goblins..
discuss your favorite halloween reads or stories or maybe your favorite part of Halloween.
Perdita
10-18-2008, 04:56 PM
When I want to get nice and scared I like the ghost stores of M R James.. they're real spine tinglers. You have to read them at dusk with the curtains drawn and a little lamp on, and it has to be raining outside. A chocolate biscuit is optional!
I just saw a book I might order, Bathory: Memoirs of a Countess, it's supposed to be an accurate tale of her life. I'll order it next week or so.
leading up to Halloween my daughters and I tell ghost stories with all the lights off and a few candles burning and eating s'mores or candy corn, they Love it! or we watch all the good halloween movies that are on all month long.
Volgadon
10-18-2008, 07:40 PM
I've just rediscovered James Collier! Brilliant tales of the macabre, with lots of black humour. Gogol is good too, though when he writes the supernatural it is funny rather than spooky. Oh, and if one feels like a big book, then there is Bulgakov's Master and Margarita.
Misfit
10-18-2008, 08:03 PM
I've had The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton (http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Stories-Edith-Wharton/dp/0684842572/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224359998&sr=1-1) on my TBR pile for a few months now. Might be a good time of the year to drag it out. I'm not 100% sure if they are real or made up ghost stories.
I'm of a mind with Perdita - M.R. James is great and yes, you need the rain and a chocolate biscuit and a steaming mug!
I try to read Stephen King's The Shining at least once every couple of years and I think it's just about time - it's a superb ghost story. First time I read it I was almost too scared to turn the pages at one particular scene.
I also enjoyed Susan Hill's ghost stories - The Woman in Black and The Mist in the Mirror.
I think publishers Penguin and Virago both do compendiums of ghost stories.
Thomas Tryon wrote some good scary novels - can't remember the titles. Burnt Offerings? Gordon Honeycombe wrote one about a Viking burial - Dragon Under the Hill. That used to give me the shivers.
As to films. I love Disney's Hocus Pocus - See Sarah Jessica Parker in an earlier role as one of the witches. I can watch the scene at 'Master's House' again and again.
Sleepy Hollow with Johnny Depp is a great one too. I like scary but not too scary! The Others is a bit claustrophobic but I quite like it.
Divia
10-18-2008, 08:43 PM
I was reading Spirit, but man that book sucked. So I"ll just watch ghost hunters and listen to Art Bell and get scared.
Michelle2
10-18-2008, 08:44 PM
I hope to read Dracula around Halloween. I haven't read it before!
Misfit
10-18-2008, 09:44 PM
So I"ll just watch ghost hunters and listen to Art Bell and get scared.
There's always the Travel Channel. They always drag out those repeats of America's Most Haunted, Haunted Hotels, etc. It gives me the willies to watch them late at night, especially when they do one on a hotel/B&B that I've stayed at or thought about staying at :rolleyes:
Divia
10-18-2008, 10:39 PM
I hope to read Dracula around Halloween. I haven't read it before!
I wasnt overly fond of Dracula. If I remember correctly its told in letter format.
Vanessa
10-18-2008, 10:44 PM
I'm just about to start The Evil Seed by Joanne Harris, which is supposed to be a ghost story/creepy read! It's her debut novel which has recently been republished. She also wrote Chocolat.
I don't like to be scared (which is why my parents forbid me to watch Outer Limits - I had nightmares for a week), so rarely read Horror or the Macabre (sp?). But there are a few books that are supposed to be spooky, that I just found amazingly well written and entertaining: Ghost Written by David Mitchell, the short story collection Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman, Asylum by Patrick McGrath (I actually have enjoyed all of his stories), Make Death Love me and Unadapted Eye by Ruth Rendell.
Devil's Seed reminds me of another spooky one: Bad Seed. Don't see the movie with its Hollywood ending. Read the book. Alone in the house
When we were 12 or so, my best friend and I read a series of spooky short stories. One was about a night at the fair, with a very spooky clown. The image on the cover has stayed with me all my life. I'm not afraid of clowns as some others are, but I've seen enough movies to know that clowns are not always happy golucky creatures....( Lon Chaney was a sinister clown in many silent movies)
Halloween for me is not to be scared, but to enjoy the fall season, and to have fun. Its really a kids holiday for me, so we have great fun at school (fortunately I do not live in a place that bans the celebration - yet)
I hope to read Dracula around Halloween. I haven't read it before!
Don't forget to read Frankenstein as well; I was amazed, when reading it for a book group, how many levels and themes it had.
Oh, favorite Dracula movie that I was tricked into seeing (I love silent movies) - Nosferatu.
Misfit
10-19-2008, 12:16 AM
I wasnt overly fond of Dracula. If I remember correctly its told in letter format.
I'd rather read about the real thing. The Travel Channel has an episode on Vlad Dracula and I found it quite fascinating.
I love Disney's Hocus Pocus - See Sarah Jessica Parker in an earlier role as one of the witches.* I can watch the scene at 'Master's House' again and again.Sleepy Hollow with Johnny Depp is a great one too.* I like scary but not too scary!I love Sleepy Hollow, Depp was perfect for that role and so was Ricci. Hocus Pocus was such a cute Halloween movie.
Oh, favorite Dracula movie that I was tricked into seeing (I love silent movies) - Nosferatu.
Has anyone seen The Dark Prince:the true story of Vlad Dracula, Oh I love it history and myth!
diamondlil
10-19-2008, 12:40 AM
CC Humphreys has a new book out about Vlad.
CW Gortner interviewed him about it recently here (http://historicalboys.blogspot.com/2008/10/intrerview-with-cc-humphreys-author-of.html)
I forgot about Sleepy Hollow, another childhood favorite. The cartoon was on every year. We were in Hudson Valley a few summers back and got to see Irving's house, called Sunnyside, which was interesting.
CC Humphreys has a new book out about Vlad.
CW Gortner interviewed him about it recently here (http://historicalboys.blogspot.com/2008/10/intrerview-with-cc-humphreys-author-of.html)
thanks for the link, and another good book by the look of it.
Vanessa
10-19-2008, 12:49 PM
Has anyone read Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian? I'm sure that mentions Vlad the Impaler! I actually loved this book which seems to be a bit of a marmite book - you either love it or hate it.
My current read, The Evil Seed by Joanne Harris (http://www.joanne-harris.co.uk/pages/bookpages/evilseed.html), is a good one for this genre. I think it's a ghost come vampire story. I'm enjoying it so far. It's a book which has been republished recently. It was out of print but due to readers asking for a re-issue, JH eventually did a small re-edit and voila! Apparently her mother hated the book.
Has anyone read Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian? I'm sure that mentions Vlad the Impaler! I actually loved this book which seems to be a bit of a marmite book - you either love it or hate it.
LOL re the marmite Vanessa (which I love). The Historian was a DNF for me. I really liked it at the start; it had that cosy Victorian Gothic feel, but I faltered mid book and the cookery magazines started coming out.:rolleyes: So it went back to the library uncompleted.:(
Vanessa
10-19-2008, 12:57 PM
Yes, I love marmite, too!:D
oh the Historian, I agree with most that it did get dull for a chapter or two but then it picked up again, I didn't think i would like it but ended up loving it.
I'm waiting till friday to order it but Bathory: Memoirs of a Countess is supposed to be an accurate telling of Elizabeth Bathory and her some 600 virgin victims, I read a page or two and my gosh if she truely witnessed what she did as a child no wonder her elevator didn't go to the top floor! you kinda feel sorry for her.
Madeleine
10-19-2008, 04:39 PM
It's true The Historian does sag a bit in the middle (too much description of post-war Hungary) but it does pick up again and overall I enjoyed it, and some of it was quite creepy! I wasn't that keen on the original novel of Dracula, but love the Gary Oldman film - it has its flaws I know but it looks great and GO is brilliant as Dracula, I also like Sleepy Hollow because it's creepy and gruesome but also quite funny, and JD is great in it of course.
My Halloween read was going to be The Man in the Picture by Susan Hill, but as I've been sent The Heretic's Daughter to review I'll probably be starting that around the 31st, still it is about witches!
Carine
10-19-2008, 05:12 PM
Yes, I read the Historian as well and it did drag a bit at some point, but there was something there that kept me reading anyway and I did love it overall.
Sleepy Hollow was great and so was The Others !
I have a good "ghost" film ready for Halloween, it's called The Haunting. I hope it'll be good.
I like a good "ghost" film aslong as it's not with "the devil" ! When I was a lot younger I went to see The Exorcist in the cinema and, ridiculous as it may sound (!!), it scared me ! Since then no more "devil" films for me !!
Michelle2
10-19-2008, 06:33 PM
Don't forget to read Frankenstein as well; I was amazed, when reading it for a book group, how many levels and themes it had.
Oh, favorite Dracula movie that I was tricked into seeing (I love silent movies) - Nosferatu.
Frankenstein.....I was so looking forward to it. I hated it. Couldn't finish it.
Count me as one who didn't like The Historian, either. Did not finish.
I haven't read Stephen King since high school. I may get a few of his books to freak me out in the Halloween season.
princess garnet
10-19-2008, 06:36 PM
I've read Among the Shadows by LM Montgomery. This collection of short stories has a darker tone, unlike her other novels or short story collections.
Divia
10-19-2008, 07:14 PM
oh interesting. I never heard of those. Hmm may have to put it on the every growing list!
Ludmilla
10-20-2008, 12:35 AM
I have a good "ghost" film ready for Halloween, it's called The Haunting. I hope it'll be good.
I like a good "ghost" film aslong as it's not with "the devil" ! When I was a lot younger I went to see The Exorcist in the cinema and, ridiculous as it may sound (!!), it scared me ! Since then no more "devil" films for me !!
I hope you have the 1963 version of The Haunting with Julie Harris and Clarie Bloom. It's so much better that the more recent version with Catherine Zeta Jones. However, nothing quite compares to Shirley Jackson's book (one of my favorites; I re-read every five years or so).
The only time I've ever seen the Exorcist my friends (in the throes of hormonally driven teenage love) left me alone in the middle so they could make out. I never forgave them! Imagine -- alone in a dark room watching that.
I like to read short stories this time of year. Usually I can make time for them when I can't for a novel. This year, I've picked out Ambrose Bierce's haunted civil war stories and several others by Algernon Blackwood.
An American Haunting is really good, kinda creepy in a way. The Amittyville Horror with Ryan Gosling gives the viewer the Eebby-Gebbies or was that just me?
Misfit
10-20-2008, 02:05 AM
I haven't read Stephen King since high school. I may get a few of his books to freak me out in the Halloween season.
It's funny I loved The Stand when I first read it and however many years ago bought the new expanded version of the book and I just could not get into it.
Anyone ever read Henry James Turn of the Screw? An unusual read, although I still think the movie with Deborah Kerr was creepy as h***.
cw gortner
10-20-2008, 02:30 AM
My favorite All Hallows reads:
1) The Witching Hour by Anne Rice. When this was first published, my father bought it for me as a gift. As things turned out, I got a nasty flu the day of Halloween so I stayed home alone while my roommates went out and got drunk. I started the book and couldn't put it down. By 3 am, I was totally freaked out and locked every door and window. I'd never been so happy to see my drunken roommates as I was that night. It's a very creepy book.
2) The Blood Countess by Andre Cudrescu (not sure if sp is right!) About a modern day writer's search for Elizabeth Bathory, interspersed with her story. Literary and spine-tingling, this is a highly recommended Halloween read. The part where her ghost is conjured is very eerie, and of course there are all those vats of virgins' blood. The fact that she actually existed makes it all the more scary.
SonjaMarie
10-20-2008, 02:33 AM
I have a good "ghost" film ready for Halloween, it's called The Haunting. I hope it'll be good.
Is that the one with Liam Neeson?
SM
SonjaMarie
10-20-2008, 02:39 AM
I read Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches trilogy ages ago but I don't recall if it scared me as much as you CW.
I liked "The Haunting" with Liam and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Maybe because it didn't scare me as much as maybe the original one might have. I don't like horror movies.
"The Sixth Sense", "The Others", "The Lady In White", "From Hell", and "Sleepy Hollow" are my favourite scary kind of movies. Ok "From Hell" isn't a ghost story but it's down right creepy in bits!
SM
SonjaMarie
10-20-2008, 02:42 AM
My favorite All Hallows reads:
2) The Blood Countess by Andre Cudrescu (not sure if sp is right!) About a modern day writer's search for Elizabeth Bathory, interspersed with her story. Literary and spine-tingling, this is a highly recommended Halloween read. The part where her ghost is conjured is very eerie, and of course there are all those vats of virgins' blood. The fact that she actually existed makes it all the more scary.
I looked that up on Amazon and the ratings were so-so, it got some 5 stars, it goes stars in between and a lot of 1 stars. Not sure if I want to check it out or not when it shows up on BF.
SM
Carine
10-20-2008, 06:20 AM
Is that the one with Liam Neeson?
SM
No, it isn't the one with Liam Neeson and Catherine Zeta Jones, I had that one for last year's Halloween.
I'm now at work, but I'll have a look this afternoon at home which one it is.
Carine
10-20-2008, 06:22 AM
My favorite All Hallows reads:
1) The Witching Hour by Anne Rice. When this was first published, my father bought it for me as a gift. As things turned out, I got a nasty flu the day of Halloween so I stayed home alone while my roommates went out and got drunk. I started the book and couldn't put it down. By 3 am, I was totally freaked out and locked every door and window. I'd never been so happy to see my drunken roommates as I was that night. It's a very creepy book.
2) The Blood Countess by Andre Cudrescu (not sure if sp is right!) About a modern day writer's search for Elizabeth Bathory, interspersed with her story. Literary and spine-tingling, this is a highly recommended Halloween read. The part where her ghost is conjured is very eerie, and of course there are all those vats of virgins' blood. The fact that she actually existed makes it all the more scary.
Woaw, these two books sound really good C.W. !
SonjaMarie
10-20-2008, 06:34 AM
Woaw, these two books sound really good C.W. !
The Mayfair Trilogy includes:
"The Witching Hour"
"Lasher" and
"Taltos"
SM
Rowan
10-20-2008, 12:52 PM
Frankenstein - read it in college, still one of my favourites. :D
The Historian - loved it!!!
I have to admit, though, that the best and creepiest book I've ever read was a non-fiction account of the only tour company who takes people inside George "Bluidy" MacKenzie's tomb in Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh. The story is mainly about the guy who lived in a flat which overlooked the cemetery and how he got the idea to start taking people on tours, but it's also sprinkled with first hand accounts of visitors' paranormal experiences while on the tour. They got scratched or were horribly sick until they were moved out of the area of the tomb.
For anyone interested, the book is called The Ghost That Haunted Itself by Jan-Andrew Henderson. Still have no idea how the title relates to the story, but there you go. :)
Misfit
10-20-2008, 03:11 PM
Did anyone know Dumas wrote a book (http://www.amazon.com/One-Thousand-Ghosts-Hesperus-Classics/dp/1843910829/ref=sr_11_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1224515337&sr=11-1) of ghost stories?
Leyland
10-20-2008, 03:34 PM
Robert McCammon has become my favorite horror/fantasy writer in the last few years, so I'll probably pull Usher's Passing out of the keepers and give it a second read for Halloween.
http://www.amazon.com/Ushers-Passing-Robert-McCammon/dp/0671769928/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224516610&sr=1-1
It's really great gothic stuff!
Carine
10-20-2008, 04:59 PM
Is that the one with Liam Neeson?
SM
I was wrong it's not called The Haunting, it's called Haunted, it's a movie from 1995 and it's with Aidan Quinn and Kate Beckinsale. Writer of the book of whick the film is made is James Herbert.
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