With only 3 days until Halloween I can't think of a better time to pick up a spooky novel and give yourself a little scare! I love horror movies but unfortunately my partner doesn't (:: sad face ::) so books are the perfect alternative; only one of us is scared senseless and it's by my own choice haha.
Despite my bubbly exterior I've always been a little.. "morbidly inclined" - a lover of vampires, demons and macabre. I remember often flicking through a lovely illustrated book that my father owned, The Encyclopedia of Horror and later, Picture book of Devils, Demon and Witchcraft when I was around 10 and thinking "gee this is the bees knees." - haha I should have been reading the Saddle Club!
My favourite spoooooky books/series through the ages
♥ In early childhood my first "horror" book was The Werewolf of Fever Swamp from R.L Stine's Goosebumps series. I don't know any 90's child who didn't love Goosebumps. I remember taking Fever Swamp to school when I was around 6 years old and comparing which titles each of my friends owned. R.L Stine's books were fantastic in the way that they got children reading, collecting and then talking about their favourite stories. I wasn't a massive book-worm but I owned 20+ Goosebumps books and used to read them quite a lot at school. Goosebumps were the first books I remember being "cool to own" (in the same way as Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games - but of a much younger age-group of course!) Other favourites from the Goosebumps series include: the Curse of the Mummy's Tomb, Vampire Breath, Monster Blood, Night of the Living Dummy.
♥ Pet Sematary was the first Stephen King book I ever read and oh what a cracker to start with. I read Pet Sematary while on a family holiday in Mildura when I was in year 9 (ish). I stayed up extra late and ended up reading it REALLY quickly. If you haven't read King's Pet Sematary I would definitely, definitely recommend it.. I don't want to give away too much but it's very creepy but not scary enough to give you nightmares and the ending is amaaazing. I have since read the following Stephen King books: Salem's Lot, Carrie, The Tommyknockers and The Green Mile. With such an extensive bibliography I would like to read more Stephen King books in the future starting with The Shining. What other books would you recommend?
♥ Edgar Allan Poe, ah you have to love this cheery fellow! An author/poet fascinated by all things dark and supernatural often wrote about death, mourning, heart break and mental downfalls. My favourite tale by far is The Masque of the Red Death. With Death and disease on his doorstep what is Prince Prospero to do? Host a party with one thousand of his closest and light-hearted friends of course! But when an uninvited guest appears, Prospero's masquerade ball turns into a chilling blood bath. This short story (that can be read in full here) quickly takes you into Prospero's world of luxury and excess, but will leave you numb by the time the story concludes. The Masque's closing paragraph is one of my favourites, I'll simply say "He had come like a thief in the night..."
Image found via tumblr, if anyone knows the correct source I'd be super appreciative!
Some spooky tunes to get you in the Halloween mood!
