Spooky Reads for October

Looking for a good book to curl up with on a cool fall night? Flip on your gas fireplace, grab a cuppa tea (or a glass of red wine, I'm not judging), and curl up with one of these:

Dracula by Bram Stoker
I'm teaching this to my English Novel class right now and it's so much fun. If you haven't ever read it, I can tell you that it's probably not what you expect (and is actually so much better!). It's a sort of epistolary novel, a collection of different documents telling the story of vampires that's really all about the anxiety of foreigners buying London real estate and women expressing sexual desire and independence. You know, the things that REALLY scare people. #kiddingnotkidding

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Such a perfect gothic novel, heavy with all of the gothic tropes, but still manages to be creepy and surprising in a very original way. I first read this book while we were vacationing in London and it was so good it enhanced my vacation experience.

In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware
I just read this a couple weekends ago. And when a book is good enough that I manage to get it read in one weekend, that is really saying something, my friends. I basically neglected my children to read this book. That's how engrossing it is. If I were in a book club, I would want the club to read this book because I want to talk about the characters (and the structure and the pacing and the plot) with other people. It was really a fun read.

Sister by Rosamund Lupton
I really got into this story, although I'll warn you that it has a babyloss element in it. I read it a few years ago and it didn't feel like a grief trigger to me--it wasn't central to the story, but it wasn't lightly tossed in as an aside, either. The mystery is engaging and obviously the book is memorable enough that I'm recommending it years after reading, so it has that going for it.

The Farm by Tom Rob Smith
This is so creepy! These are the kind of Swedish novels that people must read to scare themselves when it's dark and cold all winter long. It's also great because the unreliable narration keeps you guessing and second-guessing who should be believed throughout the narrative. It's not as grisly as The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo books, but it's pretty freaky.