Cult film director and horror expert Guillermo del Toro has only just joined Twitter but he’s already treating followers to a bunch of book recommendations. So far he’s focused on vampires and dark fairy tale fiction, news which won’t surprise anyone who has seen Pan’s Labyrinth or Cronos.

Here’s a round-up of the titles that the dark lord has recommended so far, all of which are now on my TBR. If I’m going to marry a handsome vampire someday it’s only polite to learn a bit about his culture.

I’m hoping Guillermo del Toro will continue to suggest more, he’s promising one book and one film suggestion a day, so keep an eye on his Twitter feed here.

And if you’re at all a fan of Guillermo del Toro or his style then definitely run to your bookseller of choice and order Guillermo del Toro Cabinet of Curiosities: My Notebooks, Collections, and Other Obsessions right away. (I mean, the guy has a life size figure of HP Lovecraft in his library, he’s definitely one of us.)

Fiction

The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas

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Werewolf of Paris: A Novel by Guy Endore

Doug Bradley’s Spinechillers Audio Books, Volume 1: Classic Horror Stories

The King In The Golden Mask by Marcel Schwob (Out of print, but still available for crazy money online)

Hilda and the Midnight Giant by Luke Pearson

The Mysteries of Udolpho

The Complete Fairy Books of Andrew Lang by Andrew Lang

Embarrassments by Henry James (Specifically the stories The Way it Came and The Friends of My Friends)

Uncle Silas by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Non-fiction

The Science of Fairy Tales An Inquiry into Fairy Mythology by Edwin Sidney Hartland

Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality by Paul Barber

Passport to the Supernatural: An Occult Compendium from All Ages and Many Lands by Bernhardt J. Hurwood (Sadly out of print but available second-hand)

The Vampire in Europe: A Critical Edition edited by John Edgar Browning

The Vampire, His Kith and Kin by Montague Summers

The Natural History of the Vampire by Anthony Masters

The Phantom World – or, The philosophy of spirits, apparitions, &c, &c

by Augustin Calmet

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