Halloween is fast-approaching. If you haven’t already, it’s time to get in the Halloween mood, which means watching a scary movie (like Nightmare on Elm Street), going to a haunted house, and in some cases, reading a “scary” book. I’m not one for reading to get in the Halloween mood. Whenever I do read a scary book, it’s very reluctantly. Let’s just say that I find no joy in getting goosebumps, especially from a book. Movies I can somewhat handle. Yes, they can stay in your head long after they’re finished, but –with books—there is a certain sense of deeper psychological investment. With reading a book, you spend much more than two hours as with a movie. Reading a book is a multi-hour investment, which can sometimes mean a book has a more long-lasting effect.
Yet, there are a few “scary” writers who many of us read, the most iconic being Stephen King and Edgar Allan Poe (Some might think of R.L. Stine as well). Yes, both of these writers are just brimming with “Scary Classics,” such as It, “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” The Shining, Carrie, the list goes on and on. So, for this blog post, I’ve decided to provide you with 3 books you could read for the Halloween season that you may not be familiar with (or maybe you are). These 3 books are creepy, disturbing, gross, and chilling in all of their own unique ways. Moreover, they are from 3 different centuries and provide 3 different flavors to make your Halloween complete.
1. The House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (2000)
Best Word/Phrase to Describe novel: Mind-Bending
Excerpt from The House of Leaves – Notice how the text is not always linear.
If you are not familiar with The House of Leaves, there may be no possible way to capture the experience of this book in words (ironically). It’s just one of those things that you need to experience for yourself. Nevertheless, just to give you an idea of what to expect: take a look at the picture to your left. As you can see from this excerpt, The House of Leaves moves beyond the conventional creepy story line of a stormy night in a mildew-filled basement and gets under your skin in a deeper, more psychological way — through blank pages, words that ascend/descend, and other means of postmodern experimentation.
Beyond just its postmodern flavor, the story line of The House of Leaves left me truly creeped out. The book centers on a photojournalist’s encounter with a supernatural house, a house that, for example, has measurable differences in dimension when standing outside as opposed to inside. Such bizarre images and layered visuals make for a book that can be described simply as an exploitation of your mind.
2) The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (1898)
Best Word/Phrase to Describe novel: A Ghost Story
Book Cover for The Turn of the Screw
A governess is hired to take care of two children in the mansion of their wealthy uncle. She begins to discover, though, that strange phenomenon haunt the house and have ultimately haunted the two small children.
From its basic summary, it doesn’t sound like much, but the way Henry James presents the story is sure to leave you feeling a little “weirded out,” mainly due to its ambiguous layers. If you are not a little disturbed by the end of the novel, you will at least be asking a million questions by the end of it.
This is why in the academia world, more scholars and professors have ardently debated this book, through written articles and books, than any other work in the history of literature (even more so than Hamlet). Why? Because The Turn of the Screw explores that fine line between psychological paranoia and supernatural ghosts, and in turn, delivers a story where the ghost story takes on a new form, one that leaves you with grotesque images and fallen-innocence.
3) The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis (1796)
Best Word/Phrase to Describe novel: Demonic
Book cover for The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis
Don’t let the title fool you. The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis is even disturbing for 2012, let alone 1796. Lewis wrote the title when he was only 20 years old in a 10 week period. Because of its “first-draft” status, we get somewhat of a book that is unorganized and frankly a little messy.
With that being said, once you read The Monk, you will always remember the book. The basic storyline: Ambrosio, a monk, slowly falls into the hands of evil when he is seduced by another monk who poses as a boy but is actually a girl. Ambrosio gets more than he bargains for when he ends up facing Lucifer himself and has to make the decision between selling his soul to the Devil or begging God for salvation. The sexual promiscuity and the demonic visions are not even the tip of the iceberg – this novel is just downright hellish.
The plot may sound a little off to you, but what you get is a scary book that will oftentimes leave your imagination running wild (believe it or not).
So, what about you? What “scary” books/novels have you read that may not be as well-known?
-Breaking Beau
Tags: Halloween books, Henry James, House of Leaves, Scary books, The Monk