I love Halloween. To get in the spirit, I like to pick up a book or two that fits the season. Here are a few books I read recently that got me in the haunting mood.
The Grave Yard by Neil Gaiman
As a baby, Bod survives the murder of his family when he wanders from his crib, out the front door and into the protective if ghostly arms of the residents of the local cemetery. It's a clever derivative of The Jungle Book and has some sweet illustrations. You can find out more about it here.
Anything else by Gaiman
Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke
A collection of short stories featuring the mysterious haunts of Olde english magic.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Perfect depiction of the the struggles of Halloweening as a greedy 11 year old.
Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock
The book I'm about to start. A satire of the gothic novel written in 1818. I have it from an excellent source that it's great fun. Here's an excerpt:
Scythrop ... threw himself into his arm-chair, crossed his left foot over his right knee, placed the hollow of his left hand on the interior ancle of his left leg, rested his right elbow on the elbow of the chair, placed the ball of his right thumb against his right temple, curved the forefinger along the upper part of his forehead, rested the point of the middle finger on the bridge of his nose, and the points of the two others on the lower part of the palm, fixed his eyes intently on the veins in the back of his left hand, and sat in this position like the immoveable Theseus, who, as is well known to many who have not been at college, and to some few who have, sedet, æternumque sedebit. We hope the admirers of the minutiæ in poetry and romance will appreciate this accurate description of a pensive attitude.
There are plenty of others: Welles, Shelley, Baudelaire, Poe.
Anyone else have a good Halloween read?
1 comment:
o i need to read a scary story or at least watch a scary movie. i guess i am reading a book about wwi, and that's pretty scary...
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