Spooky stories seems like the PERFECT theme to re-vive my “5 for Friday” blog post series, especially since Halloween is next week! Below is a list of five books that I want to read this Halloween season – it’s a mix of ghost stories, urban fantasy, and gothic.
Since it’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these posts, here’s a quick reminder of what it’s all about:
Every Friday, I write a quick blog post sharing five things that have caught my interest – from my favourite book blog posts to my favourite bookstagram accounts, from random book lists I’ve put together to my current shopping list of bookish gifts. Have an idea for a future “5 for Friday” post? Leave a comment and let me know!
The Ghost Woods by C.J. Cooke
In the midst of the woods stands a house called Lichen Hall. This place is shrouded in folklore – old stories of ghosts, of witches, of a child who is not quite a child.
Now the woods are creeping closer, and something has been unleashed.
Pearl Gorham arrives in 1965, one of a string of young women sent to Lichen Hall to give birth. And she soon suspects the proprietors are hiding something. Then she meets the mysterious mother and young boy who live in the grounds – and together they begin to unpick the secrets of this place.
As the truth comes to the surface and the darkness moves in, Pearl must rethink everything she knew – and risk what she holds most dear.
The Witch and Other Tales of the American Gothic by Jessica Hobbs
An accused witch is banished from her home in Portland, Maine. A young socialite in New Orleans dabbles in magic to get rid of a rival. An acrobat in a traveling circus learns her greatest enemy lives in the mirror. An Irish immigrant may have brought malevolent faeries with her to the New World. A lumberjack in the Pacific Northwest suspects a monster lurks behind the enormous trees. A Colorado gold miner finds himself trapped in the bowels of the earth, no matter how many times he tries to dig his way out. A psychiatrist in Chicago suffers from insomnia and loses track of where reality ends and his nightmares begin.
Written in the literary tradition of gothic horror, The Witch: And Other Tales of the American Gothic is a collection of strange occurrences in 19th century America.
Holly Trinity and the Ghosts of York Ben Sawyer
Yesterday, Mira Chaudhri was a perfectly ordinary inhabitant of the historical city of York. Tonight, she’s going to learn that every scary story ever told about her city is true, and many more besides. But only one woman knows them all…
Holly Trinity has protected the city for longer than she’d care to admit. A lifetime spent battling supernatural horrors, patrolling the boundaries of the spirit world, and fighting off hell itself with nothing but an umbrella and a Kate Bush mixtape.
But now Holly needs a helping hand, and Mira’s about to become her new best friend.
Welcome to York. Where owt’s possible.
Damnable Tales: A Folk Horror Anthology selected and illustrated by Richard Wells
These 22 stories take the reader into the isolated and untamed wilderness of unholy rights, witches’ curses, sinister village traditions and ancient horrors―with beautiful illustrations They stalk the moors at night, the deep forests, cornered fields and dusky churchyards, the narrow lanes and old ways of these ancient places, drawing upon the haunted landscapes of folk-horror… This richly illustrated anthology gathers together classic short stories from masters of supernatural fiction including Shirely Jackson, M. R. James, Edith Nesbit, Thomas Hardy, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sheridan Le Fanu and Arthur Machen, alongside lesser-known voices in the field including Eleanor Scott and Margery Lawrence, and popular writers less bound to the horror genre, such as Thomas Hardy and E. F. Benson.
The Folklore of Wales: Ghosts by by Delyth Badder & Mark Norman
A vast wealth of ghost stories that includes fantastical animals, flickering death omens, and unseen things that go bump in the night. Whether these tales are based on true events, or are the creations of active imaginations, is known only to those who have experienced them—but what is certain is that their power to delight and scare us remains undimmed to this day. Renowned folklorists Delyth Badder and Mark Norman (host of The Folklore Podcast) present a captivating compilation of ghostly accounts, illuminating key themes, and giving insights into the history and culture of Wales’s varied regions and communities. With original Welsh texts, many of which have been translated into English for the first time, the authors present a wide panorama of stories and first-hand accounts that will be new to even the most seasoned folklore reader.
So that’s it for this Friday! If you’ve read any of the books I’ve mentioned , what did you think of them? Or do you have another spooky favourite that I should add to my TBR?
The folk horror anthology sounds interesting to me. Myths can be frightening, and I like to learn the origins of old myths.
I love reading old myths as well (I minored in Greek mythology in university) and it’s interesting because there are so many modern retellings currently. I’ve been trying to “expand my horizons” to myths from other countries now.