Did I miss last year? Yes. Yes, I did. It was a whale of a year, and I’m not surprised. But I’m baaaack! With another great list of spooky reads. I honestly love doing this list, so I’m determined to get this together and post it this year!
I’m going to eventually post my 2022 Halloween Reads, so I won’t mention those here. There are enough new books to be getting on with! So let’s get started. At the end of this post, you can find the links to all of my previous Halloween Reads posts, so you are sure to find something you like!
Mystery
Yes, we love a good mystery! And I am continuing to enjoy Miss Fisher and the British Library Crime Series. I have finished all of the Agatha Christie mysteries, so now we are reading her Mary Westmacott stories, but that’s another post. (Yes, when I said Reading All of Agatha, I meant ALL!) I have delved deeper into the golden age mysteries, and definitely found some favorites.
Jumping Jenny by Anthony Berkeley
If you are looking for something that is just this side of macabre, with the most bizarre setting and the most excellent ending, look no further! This one was a treat. I cannot rave about it enough. Really. I keep resharing my IG post because people just don’t seem to realize. It is clever and bizarre and just strange enough to feel like fun. I read this months ago and it has stuck in my head (in a good way). This is a classic inverted mystery – with a twist. Twisty twisty, in more ways than one! The linchpin in this whole setup rests on the décor. Jumping Jenny refers to someone who has been hung. It was most often a jumping Jack, as this was the common form of capital punishment at the time. Though women were hung, it was rare. The party atmosphere is the antithesis to the murder, but eerie in its own way – a costume party where guests come dressed as famous murderers or their victims. It starts slow, but stay with it. Another gem from the British Library Crime Classics series.
Take Two at Bedtime by Margery Allingham
Perfectly bite-sized morsels will give you a dose of mystery before bedtime. These are both amazing, intricate, and entirely original. I loved “Someone Innocent,” the first story. It really kept me guessing, and had a great ending. It was my favorite of the two. The second one, “Last Act,” was well done and satisfying. This was a great little nightcap that makes me even more eager to gobble up more Allingham. This was only my second book by her. Lovely. If you love golden age mystery, you have to try some Allingham. This was first published as Deadly Duo.
The Only One Left by Riley Sager
I kept hearing good things about this, so I had to bite. It is my first Riley Sager. I know he does a lot of horror, and that’s not my speed. But I had heard this was related to Lizzie Borden, my favorite true crime case (if that’s a thing), and it is somewhat similar. It is like if Lizzie Borden were very rich, and grew old, and needed a caregiver. Plus, lived in a crumbling mansion, and the caregiver had a secret of her own, that she was eager not to reveal. There’s even a playground rhyme that torments the caregiver. This had so many twists and turns, no way did I see that ending coming! It had that gothic, atmospheric bent to it that works really well this time of year. Plus, I can never resist when the house itself becomes part of the story. I’d recommend this if you have been too chicken to pick up any of Sager’s previous work. It had tense moments, but there were also little love stories and mysterious bumps in the night. Let me know if you think the creep factor of this one is similar to his other works. Maybe I’ve been avoiding them unnecessarily.
Witchy Reads
Forget it, I’m just going all in on the witches this year. Coven up! Where are my people? These fall into two categories: witchy romcoms, which appears to be something I need, and truly terrifying witches.
Witch of Wild Things by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
Simply lovely. This is Practical Magic meets A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon. Down to the attic room in the house, the sisters (plus one), the auntie (minus one), and the magic (in this case, elemental). Then add romance, spice and witches living in plain sight. The story has high stakes, but feels plausible. I loved the MC Sage. She may have felt bad about herself, but she also spent time telling herself that she was not wrong, that it wasn’t fair, and that she was not always the one to blame. She stood up for herself. There was a good balance here that made her very relatable. This is a wonderful story of family, of second chances, of starting over. It’s got happy and sad, and midnight moonshine. The love of mother earth shines through, but in a much more believable way than, say, The Nature of Witches. It doesn’t get up on a soap box and lecture you, but quietly states truths. If you are any kind of hedge witch, you will love this. There is such a fantastic message here, about what’s important, the value of truth, and how the earth deserves our care because it cares for us. It isn’t a big showdown, but just one small human thing, one small surprise, one small heartache, one small bit of love after another.
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
I would dearly love to return to this world again. Why isn’t there a sequel? There are many familiar elements in here – a witch in plain sight, hiding her gifts, and then starting over. This is a story about what happens when you have to keep your light under a bushel. This book takes things up a notch with a whole witch governing system, and the one who runs it. The history of the world makes this stand out. I loved Nowhere House, and everything about its inhabitants. Plus, there’s a library. With a hot librarian. ‘Nuff said. If you like grumpy/sunshine and second chance tropes, you will like this. There was also some good solid talk about trauma, and a lot of good witchy potion talk, and a fantastic Solstice celebration (yay for normalizing THIS). The underlying themes of found family and recovery helped ease some of the character stereotypes.
Weyward by Emilia Hart
A friend of mine told me that this was empowering, and man, if that isn’t a fact. This is part historical drama, part witchy women doing life. A multiple-POV story through time – I was on the edge of my seat for all three of our witches. All the threads were tightly wrapped, and all the characters felt good and true. I loved the way the affinity for nature was expressed, and I loved the little cottage (who wouldn’t?). TW for domestic violence. Oh and rape. There’s some ugly here, and a lot of tense moments, but there is so much beauty too. This goes down as one of my top reads of the year. Highly recommend.
A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley
While this wasn’t as good as Witch of Wild Things, it had similar themes and a vibe, though it felt a little more cutesy. I think it would definitely scratch that itch. I loved how our MC accidentally summoned a demon! And I love the demon. You don’t see enough of them in literature these days. That gets my vote right there.
One for My Enemy by Olivie Blake
Wow. This is gritty, dark, stabby and bloody, but also sweet and lovely and full of family and loyalty and heart. This seems to be a vague retelling of Romeo and Juliet (complete with Shakespeare quotes at the beginning of each section), but it also has hints of The Godfather. Think modern day New York City, but almost always at night, and drug running and other hooligan activities amongst two witch families, but the drugs are magical and the witches can kill just by pointing. And then, and then, it gets even weirder. If you liked Empire of the Vampire, this might be for you.
Classic
And finally, a bit of classic lit, because we all love that.
Dracula by Bram Stoker
I realized that my previous review of this was really just more of a recommendation, so I wanted to give it better coverage. This is an epistolary novel, told in a series of diary entries, letters and memorandums. This works really well because it gives the story the immediacy it needs to keep you on the edge of your seat. Because of this format, there are several POVs, which is also good, because lo and behold we get a woman’s perspective, through Mina’s journals. I really liked Mina, and would even have liked to have seen more of her. The story is highest stakes, and the ensemble cast is handled well. You will need to have patience with Van Helsing’s dialect, but it is not too difficult to overcome. Stoker is such a good writer, he can pull it off. I always imagine this as being read by the original readers, when they didn’t have all the baggage of the Dracula pop culture to dull their senses. Also, imagine reading this by flickering gaslight, with all the shadows in the corners. Wonderful! It is not the first vampire novel, but it ignited a phenom that reverberates to this day.
Thank you for reading this far! I hope you find something to enjoy in these recs. I am excited to be back, and hopefully that will continue. But one thing I have learned over the past couple of years is that you can never predict what will happen. Man makes plans, and the gods laugh.
Here are the links to all my previous Halloween posts. I have been writing a Halloween Reads post since 2011. The early ones were on a different platform, that is now defunct, so I have reposted them here. I see I missed posting the 2015 selections here, which were originally posted on my other website, which went away. So that will be coming soon, along with my 2022 post. In the meantime, enjoy these recs!
I posted in 2021 and 2020 and 2019. You can find posts for 2018, 2017 and 2016. In 2020, I also reposted my earliest Halloween Reads, from 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.
First, the comfort reads. This was a tough year. I had a really hard time with the civil unrest in Minneapolis, starting in late May, for many reasons (on top of pandemic lockdown). I only read four books in June, and most of them were by Agatha Christie. JK Rowling’s despicable behavior (another stress factor) kept me away from my usual comfort reads, and I found Agatha to be a lovely replacement. The books I read in June were not my favorites, however. My new very favorite Agatha titles are The Hollow (part of my read-through of all of Poirot) and They Came to Baghdad, which was not one of her regular detectives but a very espionage-type thriller. The thing that I love about it is the setting and the danger. It was really excellent! I am partial to her archaeological stories, and this was the best one yet. I also read her memoir Come, Tell Me How You Live, which I highly recommend (more archaeology).
I found a new favorite Shakespeare. I know, right? I did a readalong of As You Like It in November, and I just loved it! I had somehow never read or seen this one. I loved Rosalind, and the whole situation and storyline was just so interesting and, well, easy to follow. I mean, my old favorite has always been Macbeth, with its moving forests and witches, but that story is a bit obtuse. This one is a very clear narrative, mostly makes sense in places, and had a wonderful roster of characters. Rosalind is just about the best thing ever. I would love to see it performed!
And then there’s Maria Dahvana Headley. I discovered her early in the year when I found out she was releasing a new translation of Beowulf, which came out in August. While I was waiting, I picked up her previous novel, based on it, called The Mere Wife. It was absolutely stunning! Split my head wide open! Then I was able to follow along on a read-aloud of the Beowulf translation in December. It is, as one might expect, epic. After all, this is how it was meant to be heard! Aside from the performers, the translation itself was just so wonderful. It is clear, yet modern, full of slang, yet relatable situations. The end brought a tear to my eye! If you are interested in Beowulf, or even if you are not, you definitely ought to hunt it down. I am now off to hunt down all of Maria’s previous work, and try to get my hand on a copy of The Mere Wife for my very own.
The third in a great new MG trilogy released in March, which rounded out nicely the Wizard for Hire series by Obert Skye. I loved this series! I thought this final book did just a great job of wrapping everything up – one of the most satisfying endings to a series that I can think of. It is just such a magical story, and the characters are so wonderful. I enjoyed every book in this series, and highly recommend it for anyone looking for something to replace Harry Potter. It’s got everything. I am now on a mission to find his other work, too. Don’t you love it when you find a gateway drug?
I got a chance to read an early copy of Tales from the Hinterland by Melissa Albert, and even though it didn’t come out until January, I am including it here, so that you can all go get it and maybe if you need to catch up on this stunning YA fantasy series you can do that (and this post is oh so late). This is an absolutely amazing collection of tales, sort of like Language of Thorns, if you are familiar with that work by Leigh Bardugo, in that it peoples a world of background tales (background to the original book, The Hazel Wood). Fairytales? If you will. The Night Country was the sequel. I loved that book. But the tales themselves? Blew. Me. Away. Here is this nice seemingly normal lady author, writing these dark, nasty, nearly horrifying tales of wronged brides, lost girls and other macabre imaginings. I cannot wait to see the gorgeous final copy, too. Thanks to the publisher, FlatIron Books, for inviting me to read this on NetGAlley. (I read it on my PHONE, which tells you how good it is.)
And finally, I owe it to my Book Aunt for letting me borrow her copy of A Gentleman in Moscow! I simply adored this historical novel. Wow. What a tour de force. To encompass this great historical epoch within the walls of a hotel room? Oh my gosh. And the food! Lord have mercy. I need a chef. All I’m saying is, if you want to take a trip without ever having left your chair, through time and space, go read this beautiful, bittersweet, heart-warming story. It is beyond. And couldn’t we all use that right now?
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Mystery
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
My Plain Jane (The Lady Janies #2) by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows and Brodi Ashton
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake
It’s time for another installment of spooky reads, folks! If you are looking to get some chills and thrills from your reading, look no further. However, note that I don’t do horror, so you probably won’t get any jump scares out of these selections.
I enjoyed some wonderful readalongs in 2018. I found it helps to keep me on track, and it is more rewarding than reading a book by myself, especially if it is a complex or very long book. I haven’t been making it to book club much over the past two years, and the books they’ve chosen do not appeal to me very often. With readalongs, I can join or not join. And this way I get to read some books I might have always wanted to read. Don’t get me wrong – I have joined readalongs for books that are not typically in my stack, too. I’m not against reading outside my zone. That is one thing that I really enjoyed about my IRL book club. But the meetings weren’t working for me.
Recent Comments