# Halloween reading, anyone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 31, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-reading-anyone/328804 "2005-10-31T22:08:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-reading-anyone/328804/1 "2005-10-31T22:08:07Z")
Who’s got something appropriate for the season on their table? I’m reading H. P. Lovecraft for the first time ever! I read a couple of early stories, and then skipped straight to the Cthulhu stuff. (I have here the “Library of America” edition.) Question: was that dumb movie _The reanimator_ ripped off from the Lovecraft story? Obviously I never realized that before, having never read it. Today I picked up one of Jan Brunvand’s UL collections off the Halloween shelf at the library. Those are always fun, though I read every single one years ago. Share your creepy thrills here! 🆒 :o 🆒 ^jack-o-lanterns^ ---
**Author:** ![blackhobyah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blackhobyah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blackhobyah)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-reading-anyone/328804/2 "2005-10-31T22:22:50Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > Share your creepy thrills here! [“The Ghost Stories of M R James”](http://www.encompass.net/~ctyson/ghost.htm) I find these stories really creepy and a couple of them have haunted my bad dreams since the first time I read them as a teenager. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-reading-anyone/328804/3 "2005-10-31T22:42:51Z")
**The Priest of Blood** , a vampire novel by Doug Clegg, came in today’s mail. I’m trying really hard to like the new horror writers, and Clegg’s probably the best of them. Usually I re-read **Something Wicked This Way Comes** for Halloween, but somebody borrowed it. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-reading-anyone/328804/4 "2005-10-31T22:58:12Z")
_The Halloween Tree_, also by Ray Bradbury makes a pretty good read, particularly if you’re reading it to kids. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-reading-anyone/328804/5 "2005-10-31T23:30:10Z")
Not quite traditional spooky stories, but I just picked up George Saunders “Civil War Land in Bad Repair”, “Pastoralia” and “The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil” Genetic Mutations, Human Zoos, people torn apart and made monster-like by greed and want. Spooky for other reasons than ghosts, but nobody writes about an American Dystopia like Saunders does. Alternatingly funny and heartbreaking. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-reading-anyone/328804/6 "2005-11-01T01:11:36Z")
[A Night In The Lonesome October](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0688125085/qid=1130807378/sr=1-11/ref=sr_1_11/002-8460347-4782466?v=glance&s=books) Very fun, & written as chapters listing October one day (or two) at a time. ---
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-reading-anyone/328804/7 "2005-11-01T11:46:41Z")
I, too, spent Halloween curled up with the new Library of America Lovecraft. Beautiful book. My favorite is “Pickman’s Model.” ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-reading-anyone/328804/8 "2005-11-01T13:54:41Z")
Hmm… let me check my recent reading list. Lord of the Rings - not really scary, except in a totalitarian way The Vision of the Anointed - very scary. evil liberals. 😉 The Wealth and Pverty of Nations - yeah, fear isn’t a word I would not here The Appearance of Impropriety - god book, not scary. Sorry, no scariness here. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-reading-anyone/328804/9 "2005-11-01T14:14:05Z")
I pulled out **The Annotated Frankenstein** and **The Annotated Dracula** several days ago, and have been glancing over them. While I was waiting for Trick-or-Treaters last night, I poppede the 1970 film **Count Dracula** in the VCR and read through **The Frankenstein Omnibus** (ed. Peter Haining). It has two of Mary Shelley’s short stories, and excerpt from P. Webb’s fascinating but forgotten 1820s science fiction novel “The Mummy”, and lots of other random goodies. **dangermom** , once you’ve read Lovecraft, I recommend S.T. Joshi’s **Annotated Lovecraft**. There are two volumes published by (I think) Del Rey, but I also have an annotated “Shadow Over Innsmouth” by him published by some small press. Interesting insights, although I don’t always agree with them. As for **Re-Animator** , that was supposed to be based on his series of short stories "Herbert West – Reanimator’ (Which is in the Haining book, interestingly). Even Lovecraft wasn’t fond of this series. Lovecraft has never fared very well in the cinema, and this is no exception. They went for outrageous, unsubtle, gory, and some erotic – traits you won’t find in Lovecraft’s writing. And they almost totally jettisoned his story. ---
**Author:** ![Trion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Trion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trion)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-reading-anyone/328804/10 "2005-11-01T14:22:56Z")
Every year I try to read one “classic” horror novel for Halloween. This year it was Shirley Jackson’s _The Haunting of Hill House_. Me like.