There are books you read and quickly forget, and then there are books that stay with you because of how eerie they are. Here’s my list of the Top 5 Most Haunting Books I’ve read.

5. All the Names – Jose Saramago’s book about a clerk who becomes obsessed with finding out more information about a woman after seeing her name on a document. A compelling blend of loneliness and chance make this Saramago at his best.


4. Into the Wild – Krakauer’s nonfiction about Christopher McCandless, a young man who disappeared one day and whose body was found months later in the Alaskan wilderness. Krakauer creates a portrait of a disturbed man looking to get away from society, a person we end up realizing is closer to ourselves than we might have wanted to admit.


3. A Perfect Day for Bananafish – J.D. Salinger’s short story about a man at the beach. I remember reading this, getting to the end, and feeling like I’d just had the wind knocked out of me. After you read it, you can’t help but look at Salinger in a completely different way and wonder if he shared any of the protagonist’s dysfunctions.


2. Night Film – Pessl’s book reminded me of ‘Twin Peaks’ and the mystery of ‘who killed Laura Palmer?’ if it took place in a seedy off-Hollywood setting. Pessl has a great voice as a writer and immediately draws you into a world where you’re never quite sure what is truth and what is fiction. A really good book with some great writing. More importantly, it is filled with tragic characters you can’t easily forget.


1. The Fates Will Find Their Way – This is the most haunting book I’ve ever read and my favorite book of 2011. Pittard’s story centers around a girl who vanishes and the boys who are never able, even as adults, to stop wondering what happened to her. It shares a lot of similarities with ‘The Virgin Suicides’ but I think Pittard’s books is the better of the two. Read this and try not to keep thinking about it long after you’ve read it.