Alexandra appeared miraculously dry, not a hair on her massive braid out of place, not a patch of her brocaded green jacket damp. It was such unverifiable impressions that spread among us in Eastwick the rumor of witchcraft. — John Updike, The Witches of Eastwick

I am a voracious reader and list-maker. I love giving myself goals and then (attempting) to accomplish them. It’s a great feeling when I can put a strong checkmark by the ones I finish. Some goals are obviously harder than others: exercise goals are much harder for me than, say, “get more drinks with friends.”

But my favorite goals are always reading-oriented. I started the 52 Book Challenge (r/52book) on Reddit and used to have a LibraryThing account when it just started up. I have a million challenges that I’ve failed on GoodReads. I average around 54–60 books a year thanks to these challenges, and now I’m using them to diversify my reading material.

Books by POC, women, and non-Western authors were where I started (and will be explored in another article), but I was also such a stunted reader that I forgot to curate the books I was reading to my environment. So I became hyper-vigilant about connecting personally to my choices. I started picking up sci-fi books in different countries and literary fiction that matched my mood. I began flipping through comics by kids and/or long-deceased authors, read webcomic manga with great character development, and started reading for the season…

Halloween truly speaks to me. Spiders are my spirit animal, I find death fascinating, and I truly believe my husband is a root-magic practicioner (you should taste his cooking; it can’t be natural). I love the color orange, Christine McConnell, horror stories, and terrible B movies where blood rushes out in an artificial spray. So when my curation skills were suddenly applied to books and my environment, I realized I needed a SOLID book list.

Now, I love the horror classics: Stephen King, Rosemary’s Baby, Edgar Allan Poe, Beloved and The Lottery. But here are five books perfect for Halloween that are the newest on my list, and which I recommend whole-heartedly.

The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike

The wonderful thing about The Witches of Eastwick is that the prose is bounteous and descriptive, fluid in a way that both draws you in and freaks you out a little. Something is building up from the very first page, and you never quite escape the feeling that you are approaching danger. Updike is a fabulous writer, and I have to admit that my MA thesis of short stories was inspired mostly by his own short story career.

Updike’s depiction of this cultish group of women in Rhode Island is not a generalization. He didn’t write this book as if he were writing about “women as witches”. His writing is personal, each woman is both relatable and yet somehow disconnected from the audience. I felt immediately like I was thrown into Halloweentown…but maybe with a tiny bit more violence.

2. Los Niños by Carolina Sańin

Here’s how great of a writer I am. My first draft to describe this book included a sentence that said: “This book, man. Goddamn.” So, yeah, that’s why I’m so successful at capturing a feeling on the page. But, seriously, it is so hard to define the genre and nature of this book. If I had to choose one word to describe it, it would be: haunting.

If you like an emotional read that will have you changing your mind every five minutes (“Where does evil originate?” “Can someone be blamed for despair?” “Do I still want to have children?”), this book is for you. It’s also great if you love classic scary-children horror themes.

3. You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine by Alexandra Kleeman

This book has become one of my favorites of all time. Surrealist literature at its finest, this novel is about a girl who slowly loses her identity and has to rely on a cult of snack-food eating maniacs to find her way back to herself. It’s a weird romp, it’s a delightful narrative, and I can’t tell if I like it mostly because I want to make it into a comic book or because when I finished I was pissed I couldn’t read more.

4. The Passage by Justin Cronin

Shout out to my best friend who loves this book and convinced me to read it even though I was disillusioned by the television series. I have only read the first installment of this series, but I couldn’t put it down after I started.

This book takes many classic horror archetypes: a rapidly-spreading virus, government experiments, the downfall of civilization, and gives them an extra depth. I truly enjoyed reliving these archetypes in a new way.

(Many people argue that the book becomes too slow by the end, but I believe this is a work of literature and the slow-down allows us to mourn characters we’ve lost. Some of the greatest horror novels aren’t all action. The slow parts allowed me to appreciate humans’ capacity for survival.)

5. Shiver by Junji Ito

I would be remiss if I didn’t include Ito on this list. He is one of the most popular and influential horror masters of all time, and this compilation of horror comics (which also include drafting notes, etc.) is both frightening and genius.

There is a story in this compilation for everyone: music lovers, those who love the grotesque (spoiler alert: one story in particular about oil and pus will make you gag), and the eerie.

If you are new to manga/comics but you love horror, this is a great place to start. The stories are short but poignant, and there’s a lot to unpack in both the writing and the art.

Happy Halloween and Happy Reading!!!

Also, if you have more suggestions for horror novels or just want to chat about your favorite novel, please comment.