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Spooky reads to celebrate your Halloween
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Halloween is about candy and dressing up for kids and sometimes for adults, but there are some bibliophiles out there looking for more this holiday. Why not dress up, get together, bring some great food and desserts, and read ghost stories, horror books, poetry, and bring out the goosebumps and screams in the dark.
Edgar Allan Poe is often the first author selected for these occasions from creepy poetic renditions such as The Raven and A Cask of Amontillado. Even if partygoers are shy and don't want to read aloud, snag the computer and call up videos of famous actors and more reading Poe aloud. Click here to view Vincent Price reading The Raven or Christopher Walken reading The Raven. Take turns in a round robin style and speak in various intonements.
Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was a successful Johnny Depp movie, but it's an even better book. Ichabod Crane makes his way to the town of Sleepy Hollow and with another of Katrina Van Tassel's suitors for her hand, but he ends up walking at night where he becomes pursued by the Headless Horseman. Unlike the movie, The Headless Horseman is a legend in the town, and it's power over Ichabod Crane is crippling.
Other great classics to include this Halloween are The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Dracula by Bram Stoker, and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. There are some contemporary books that should be considered as well, including Stephen King's IT, Carrie, The Shining, and Salem's Lot and Thomas Harris' The Silence of the Lambs. For those looking for lighter fare, please check out The Widow's Season by Laura Brodie and Haunting Bombay by Shilpa Agarwal.
