Though my schedule has had me a lot busier these past few months, over October I participated as much as I could in Frighteningly Good Reads, a laid back readathon hosted by Molly at Silver Button Books. Be sure to check out her wrap-up post too!

Ideally, I would have chosen a few more books to get through for the spooky season, but I tried to be a little more realistic for the amount of time I have for reading lately. As it turns out, results were oddly familiar to previous years anyway.

My Selection

I normally split a selection of novels and graphic novels, but since there were only three this year, I decided to present them all together.

The Grip of It by Jac Jemc was actually a selection from last year that I unfortunately didn’t end up having time to start, so it had to languish yet another year. It’s amazing how long books can sit and wait, yet it doesn’t feel like I’ve owned the book all that long at all. Though I had some problems with the ending, it was a great haunted house story with strong characters and intense, creeping atmosphere. The sense of dread it conjured was immaculate for most of the reading experience, and if you’re fine with books that leave a lot to your interpretation, I suggest picking this one up.

The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by I.N.J. Culbard is an adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft story of the same name, which I read a few years ago in the book Dreams of Terror and Death. I enjoyed how this graphic novel brought the story to life in ways that Lovecraft’s prose could not, but since it is a confluence of many Dream Cycle stories by Lovecraft, I do wish more than just this tale had been adapted. Nevertheless, it is worth checking out if you’re curious about his work from more of a dark fantasy perspective.

‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King is the novel I didn’t actually expect to get through, and I was right. As it turns out, I often pick books to read for October that end up bleeding into November, though, so I’m trying not to give myself too hard of a time about it. I’m enjoying King’s small-town American twist on vampire fiction so far; I know a lot of the vague details about the story, but I’m excited to see how everything slowly goes to hell. I’m especially enjoying how much he is making this vampire feel like a genuinely evil monster, which is something that plenty of fiction has distanced itself from in the past 20 years.

Did you read any spooky books in October? Let me know in the comments, I’d love to hear about them. Thank you for reading! 🎃