Wednesday reading experience #24

Try some good horror novels or supernatural thrillers.

I have enjoyed:
Shirley Jackson: The Haunting of Hill House
Henry James: The Turn of the Screw
Edgar Allan Poe's short stories
Algernon Blackwood's short stories and novellas, e.g. "The Willows" and "The Wendigo"
H.P. Lovecraft’s short stories
Sheridan Le Fanu’s “Carmilla”
Bram Stoker: Dracula
Mary Shelley: Frankenstein
Robert Louis Stevenson: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
William Blatty: The Exorcist (the last horror novel I read that kept me up awake at night)
Stephen King’s short story collection Skeleton Crew and his novel The Shining
Clive Barker: Cabal
Peter Ackroyd: Hawksmoor
Iain Banks: The Wasp Factory
Anne Rice: Interview with the Vampire (I haven’t read any of her other books, but I am told that the Vampire Chronicles get increasingly more tedious as the series wears on)
Laurell G. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series up to The Killing Dance. From then on it degenerates into horror porn, which does not interest me.

I’m looking forwards to reading some of Poppy Z. Brite’s books, and I have at least one horror novel lined up in the Top Mysteries challenge, Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin. I am also planning to read some of M. R. James's ghost stories.

Other possible authors include Richard Matheson, Peter Straub, Dean Koontz, John Saul and Barbara Vine.

I also recommend Noël Carroll’s The Philosophy of Horror, a great study of horror literature and movies and why we enjoy it.

Finally, here are some websites to guide you in choosing an appropriate books or books:
A Guide for Horror Lovers
A Guide to Supernatural Fiction
The Literary Gothic
Sweet Despise

Please post your own suggestions for enjoyable horror novels in the comments.

P.S. If you're Icelandic: Gleðilega þjóðhátíð!

Comments

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