Top Ten Tuesday 10/23/2012: Books To Get In The Halloween Spirit

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

This week we're discussing Halloween reads!  I LOVE horror, so this is a really fun topic.  Let's discuss!


1.  Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz - These books were my OBSESSION as a kid.  I probably checked them out of the library about a hundred times.  Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a collection of short stories and poems with some of the freakiest drawings I've ever seen.  I read these books in fourth grade and they still stick with me.


Seriously?  What the hell is this doing in a kids book!?

2.  Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake - I read Anna Dressed in Blood last year around Halloween time and loved it!  It has a great basis in real pagan/witchcraft practices that I found really refreshing.

3.  Velveteen by Daniel Marks - Velveteen is a 2012 debut and really awesome!  It's a story about about a girl who was murdered by a serial killer and is now trapped in purgatory but is determined to get revenge.  The writing is fantastic and if you're a fan of Kat Dennings you will love the sarcastic humour. 

4.  A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness - Horror is a very visual genre and A Monster Calls has some of the most beautiful illustrations I've ever seen.  It's a brilliant book that is best read in one sitting.  Just block off a few hours and settle in.  Be prepared for some waterworks though, this one has a surprisingly emotional connection.

Beautiful.

5.  Misery by Stephen King - I'm reading this one right now and oh my goodness, it is so fantastic.  It's probably my most favorite Stephen King work, and I would highly recommend the movie as well.  I'd say the movie is one of the best book to movie adaptations I've ever seen (plus Kathy Bates won the best actress oscar which almost never happens for a horror film).


6.  And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie and Ten by Gretchen McNeil -  I read And Then There Were None in middle school and I think it just may be the best murder mystery of all time.  I absolutely love it and in my opinion it belongs on the classics shelf.  More recently is a modern YA adaptation Ten by Gretchen McNeil that just came out earlier this year.  I am very interested to see how she changes the original work to fit a modern teen audience and I plan on reading Ten very very soon.

7.  The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls by Emilie Autumn -  As a large coffee table sized book with full color pages, The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls by Emilie Autumn is one of the most beautifully presented books.  Part fantasy part auto-biography, Emilie Autumn blends journal entries, photographs, and drawings from different eras together into a chilling novel.

8.  The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith - The Marbury Lens is arguably one of the weirdest novels I've ever read, and I question it's YA label.  This novel doesn't hold back and fully immerses you in one of the most graphic and strange worlds in the YA genre.

9.  World War Z by Max Brooks - Listen to the audio book for this one, you won't regret it.  World War Z is told in a series of interviews about the zombie apocalypse.  I absolutely loved the complete picture that develops through first hand accounts of horrors experienced around the world. 

10.  Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton - Jurassic Park is another classic from my childhood.  Anyone who grew up in the 90s saw Jurassic Park and if you're liked me, absolutely loved it.  I read the novel in middle school and I found it to be just as exciting and frightening as the movie. 

So there  you go!  These are my top ten novels to get into the Halloween spirit.  What are you selections?  (stay tuned for a top ten movie list!)