October book suggestions

October 1, 2009 12:52 PM

Woohoo, it's October! Lets get some Autumn/Halloween reading suggestions!

There was this from last year and I thought it was a decent thread but hopefully we can get a few more suggestions.

I'll start off with a few -
Dracula - Bram Stoker
House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski - Although the Leaves in the title doesn't relate to autumn, I kept envisioning it taking place during the fall. And not to mention it is a terrifying novel that will scare you for the Halloween season.

posted by CZMR to media & arts (18 answers total)

Something Wicked this Way Comes -- Ray Bradbury
posted by Allee Katze at 1:15 PM on October 1, 2009 [3 favorites]

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving, if you don't mind a short story instead of a novel?
posted by Jelly at 1:16 PM on October 1, 2009 [1 favorite]

The short story Mr. Dark's Carnival by Glen Hirshberg from The Two Sams takes place on Halloween, and is one of my favorite short stories, ever.
posted by moonshine at 1:20 PM on October 1, 2009

For me, autumn reading needs to be spooky and/or cozy or both.

Anything Neil Gaiman's ever written.
White Apples by Jonathan Carroll.
The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell.
The Damnation Game by Clive Barker.
Anything Ray Bradbury's ever written but most especially From the Dust Returned (a story about a boy who grows up in a houseful of Hallowe'en creatures.)
The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien.
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien.
A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny (narrated by Jack the Ripper's dog!)
The Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries by Dorothy Sayers.
The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyaneko.
Possession by AS Byatt.
The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Anything HP Lovecraft or Poe, of course.
The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix.
Any of Robin McKinley's retelling of fairy-tales: Beauty, Rose Daughter, The Outlaws of Sherwood, Deerskin, Spindle's End -- they're all absolutely fantastic.
Tithe by Holly Black
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull.

And if you're looking for pure fluff, I find Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse novels to be mildly entertaining and very seasonal (vampires! Werewolves!), but don't go in expecting quality writing because you will be sadly disappointed.
posted by WidgetAlley at 1:24 PM on October 1, 2009 [1 favorite]

The Secret History by Donna Tartt
posted by something something at 1:32 PM on October 1, 2009

It may be "juvenile fiction" but I've loved it ever since my 4th grade teacher Miss Scott read it to us: The House With a Clock in its Walls by John Bellairs - key events in the book happen in the fall, and that's when I always seem to take it off the shelf again.

Also, it's been a little while since I last read 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King, but I seem to recall a lot of great autumn imagery in that one, too.
posted by usonian at 1:52 PM on October 1, 2009

Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves
posted by oinopaponton at 1:58 PM on October 1, 2009

Dammit, should have actually read below the fold. Sorry.
posted by oinopaponton at 1:58 PM on October 1, 2009

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

And, not in keeping with the above, Boccaccio's Decameron.

Also, seconding Something Wicked.
posted by codswallop at 2:03 PM on October 1, 2009

Try any 'Treasury of Victorian Murder' graphic novel by Rick Geary. They are all extremely good!
posted by dragonette1 at 2:05 PM on October 1, 2009

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
posted by threeturtles at 2:43 PM on October 1, 2009

anything by Don Delillo or Cynthia Ozick
anything by JD Salinger
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
Max's Wonderful Delicatessen by Winifred Madison

Jeffty is Five (short story) by Harlan Ellison

anything by Roald Dahl, but especially Danny, Champion of the World and all of his work for adult readers

Little, Big by John Crowley (if you read anything off this list, read this one during Autumn).
Against The Day, by Thomas Pynchon
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 3:04 PM on October 1, 2009

I cannot Nth Something Wicked This Way Comes enough times. The ultimate book for when the air (and your mind) turns chilly. Possibly just the ultimate book, period. Also, Bradbury's Halloween Tree and From the Dust Returned (which is a result of his work with Charles Addams...they went their separate ways and each created similar families of characters).

To me Bradbury is as autumn as you can get. No one else has ever captured youth, decay, and the strange things that happen in the borderlands between the two as well as he does.
posted by Roman Graves at 4:43 PM on October 1, 2009

2nding a good portion of WidgetAlley's list. Thanks for reminding me that today is October 1st - Time to bust out A Night In The Lonesome October for my annual reading. I always intend to read each chapter on its given day, but it's such a quick read I usually just plow through it. Love that book. Not really "spooky", but I think "cozy" applies, in an odd way.

Also Nthing The Graveyard Book and anything else by Gaiman.

And now that I've seen House of Leaves recommended for the thousandth time, I really need to go out and pick that up. I guess this thread is as good a reason as any.
posted by Roommate at 4:44 PM on October 1, 2009

Something Wicked This Way Comes, of course, as others have said -- ain't nothing better. I defy you to not get the chills when the Dust Witch comes snuffling along in her balloon... brrrrrrrr!
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 4:48 PM on October 1, 2009

The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane by Laird Koenig.
posted by Ouisch at 5:31 PM on October 1, 2009

Every Halloween (or thereabouts) I read my favorite H.P. Lovecraft story, The Picture In The House.

Also, The Green Man by Kingsley Amis.
posted by Mael Oui at 8:35 PM on October 1, 2009

Yet another nthing of The Graveyard Book.
posted by jeri at 10:40 PM on October 1, 2009