I cannot hold out any longer! I know I was going to do the rereading thing, and not get any new books out of the library, but I cannot maintain in the face of everyone on my blogroll going on and on about the thousands of amazing spooky books they are thinking of reading, and having the pretty picture of the girl, and putting up covers of beautiful books all the time. I AM ONLY HUMAN.
Eee, I’m excited. I can totally read four spooky books by the end of October! (she said optimistically)
Definitely I am going to read Her Fearful Symmetry. I am extremely excited about Her Fearful Symmetry. And then here are the others I am considering which I have culled from my own reading list and also from the lists of the rest of the everyone that is playing.
The Girl in a Swing, Richard Adams – I want to read this anyway because yes, it is that Richard Adams, author of Watership Down, the most badass story about rabbits anyone is ever going to write. Apparently a young psychic porcelain dealer falls in love with a German woman, and at first they’re all with the smoochy love, and then he gradually begins to realize that Something Is Not Right. I love stories where people realize that Something Is Not Right, and Richard Adams is, as we already know, a legend.
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, Kate Summerscale – When I read the words “true crime” I make a face and back away a few paces. But this, my friends, is Victorian true crime. Catnip to Jenny.
The Seance, John Harwood – A ruined mansion in Britain; a packet of papers that might reveal a mystery; seances; candles – need I go on?
Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood – Okay, part of me is just using this challenge as an excuse to read Alias Grace although I said I wasn’t going to read it right now. But I really really want to read it! It’s a fictionalization of a true story about an accused murderess in Victorian times. I mean it’s Victorian times, and I’ve just read one of Margaret Atwood’s tales and am itching to read another.
The Magicians, Lev Grossman – I don’t know if this is dark enough to count. But it’s essentially about how some kids obsessed with what’s obviously Narnia (only they fictionalize that and call it Fillory) get to go to a magic school and learn magic and important life lessons. And I think there’s a lot of darkness up in there too. We shall see.
Let the Right One In, John Ajvide Lindqvist – About the spoooky little vampiiiiiires. I hear about it everywhere! I need to read it at last!
The Ask and the Answer, Patrick Ness – I WANT TO READ THIS SO MUCH OMIGOD.
The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins – Just because everyone else is reading it, and it’s been years since I have. So I think the time is right for a good sound rereading. And I might read The Moonstone too. The Moonstone always makes me smile.
The Ghost Orchid, Carol Goodman – A writer goes to an artists’ retreat in a spooky Victorian mansion. The mansion, it’s spooky and Victorian, and I think there’s some parallel storylines and such madness. If I haven’t made it clear yet, I am ALL ABOUT spooky Victorian mansions.
The Unseen, Alexandra Sokoloff – Amazon called it a “serviceable thriller” – damned with faint praise if ever anything was, but I am still adding it to my list, because it’s about psychology professors going to check out a haunted house. The last book I read along these same lines was amazing.
I’m Looking Through You, Jennifer Finney Boylan – a memoir about a transgendered woman growing up in a haunted house. I think gender studies are fascinating, I love memoirs (sort of! I have a tortured love-hate relationship with memoirs!), and I love haunted house stories! It’s a match made in heaven.
Now that I’ve been totally peer-pressured into this, I am rather excited about it.