Spooky Tales For October
What are your favourite Halloween reads?
Every fall, I tend to gravitate towards stories about witches, vampires and ghosts. Aside from being entertaining, these stories contain messages on societal ideas about women, sexuality and death. I love that autumn’s weather adds even more atmosphere to these tales. There’s just something really eerie about fog rolling across a moonlit sky in October.
So grab your favourite warm beverage and settle in for the recommendations below. Feel free to share your book recommendations for fall in the comments.
The Ex Hex
The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling is a cute contemporary book about a witch named Vivienne who puts a curse on her ex-boyfriend, Rhys with a scented candle, thinking it won’t cause any harm to him. However, when Rhys returns to Graves Glen, Georgia from Wales nine years later, one disaster after the next hits him. The town comes alive with wind-up toys, a ghost and a talking cat. Vivienne and Rhys are forced together as they try to figure out how to break the curse.
This was a fun read. It was cozy without feeling like a cheesy Hallmark movie. There’s also something comforting when reading about a small town in autumn, touched by magic. I usually read intense fantasy or science fiction, so reading a light-hearted book like this was a nice change. Unlike some other books about witches, this book painted women witches in a positive light.
Dracula
Dracula by Bram Stoker is a classic Halloween read. It’s been a while since I’ve read this, but I’m glad I did. Written as a series of letters, it makes for a unique reading experience. Through the letters, you find out that all of the chilling events occurring in London coincide with the arrival of Jonathan Harker’s client, Dracula, who is house-hunting in London.
There have been so many movies about Dracula, so it’s nice to go back to the source material and have a sense of this character’s origins. You also get a sense through reading Dracula that vampires are symbols of repressed sexuality. Having been written during the Victorian Era, Dracula represents the darker side of sexuality and desire in Victorian society.
The Shining
The Shining by Stephen King is another popular horror. The story is about Jack Torrance and his family living in the Overlook Hotel during winter as Jack takes a job as an off-season caretaker. The hope is that he’ll reconnect with his family while writing his book. However, as the winter settles in, the hotel starts to feel sinister and his son, Danny Torrance starts noticing supernatural events happening within the hotel.
It’s interesting to see people debate whether there were ghosts in The Shining or not, speculating whether it was a hallucination on the family’s part as they all get “cabin fever.” No matter if the ghosts are literal or figurative, it’s a perfect tale for Halloween as King creates an atmosphere that makes the house itself feel very haunted. This book made me jumpy. I loved it!
Do you have any recommendations for books to read during the fall? I’m always open to hearing about people’s favourite reads.
Have a Happy Halloween,
Angela 🧙🏾♀️🧛🏼👻🎃
