Literally Dead Book Club discussion

I'm loving jumping between new releases and backlisted or previously released work, and I think something to consider for the future could be more "classic" horror to introduce more people to the genre. (I'm very passionate about horror)

-We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
-The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
-Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (which she wrote when she was 18!)
-Dracula by Bram Stoker
-The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

There's a lot of classic horror that could benefit from modern conversation, and those are just some popular ones.

Here's some nonfiction about horror history:
-If you're looking for information about classic horror and speculative fiction, I'd recommend checking out Monster, She Wrote edited by Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson.
-If you're looking for information about pulp horror (70's & 80's horror) I highly recommend Paperbacks from Hell by Grady Hendrix, which is about that period of time and the weird and unique horror it produced.

If you're not super into classic horror, here's some "modern" horror recommendations!
-Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix (honestly anything by Grady Hendrix, but Horrorstör is my favorite. There's also My Best Friend's Exorcism, We Sold Our Souls, and The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires) (Adult)
-John Dies at the End by David Wong (Adult)
-Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand (YA)
-Wilder Girls by Rory Power (YA)
-The Grownup by Gillian Flynn (Adult, and very short!)
-Alice Isn't Dead by Joseph Fink (Adult)
-Severance by Ling Ma (Adult)
-Bunny by Mona Awad (Adult)
-Obviously Stephen King, Joe Hill, Nick Cutter etc could fall into this category as well.

Anyway. I love horror! If you have any questions let me know, I'll chat your ear off about it (or I guess your eyeballs? Since you're reading this?)

Great idea. I agree!

I love all of these idea, I wish I hadn't already read almost all of them haha!!

I’ll try and find some more obscure recommendations to post!

I love the idea of reading some classic horror novels. Here's a few that might be interesting to consider:

Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
The Trial by Franz Kafka
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
At The Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft

Another idea is exploring book to movie adaptations. Personally, I'm let down 99% of the time by these types of adaptations because the real horror in a story is psychological (to me) and that's harder to portray in a film. But there are some great horror movies that truly scared me where I haven't read the book. Some of my examples are:

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin
Ring by Koji Suzuki
Whispers by Dean Koontz

Could be fun to read in a group. And not gonna lie, probably better for my mental health if I'm not reading these "alone"!

I love that you included some short stories as well! Thank you for the recommendation

Roxanne wrote: "I love the idea of reading some classic horror novels. Here's a few that might be interesting to consider:

Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
The Trial by Franz Kafka
The Yellow Wallpaper by Char..." Yellow Wallpaper is intriguing and I have Rosemary's Baby but I haven't read it yet.

Christine wrote: "Roxanne wrote: "I love the idea of reading some classic horror novels. Here's a few that might be interesting to consider:

Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
The Trial by Franz Kafka
The Yellow W..."

Here's some weirdness. I went onto the Book Depository website last night and the FIRST result of over 21,000 books was Rosemary's Baby. Things that make you go Hmmm...

Don't forget Jaws. I never knew it was a book and clearly it's either a horror film for people who are scared of sharks or for the rest of us who are shark lovers. No one wins in the film or book.

I will say that I was raised on horror films, early 80's baby, so it did translate into my reading. My two favorite books are The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, a classic, and The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova which is about Dracula or really Vlad Tempes.

I still haven't read any classic horror like The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Dracula by Bram Stoker. I love Nick Cutter. The Troop was so good and I am reading Little Heaven now.

Erika wrote: "Don't forget Jaws. I never knew it was a book and clearly it's either a horror film for people who are scared of sharks or for the rest of us who are shark lovers. No one wins in the film or book..."

Jaws is a great addition to this list! I need to remember to read that one soon haha.

Christine wrote: "I still haven't read any classic horror like The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Dracula by Bram Stoker. I love Nick Cutter. The Troop was so good and I ..."

Frankenstein and Dracula are classics for a reason. I'm very behind on my Shirley Jackson as well, but I'm working on it!

Me three, I have them and have seen many film versions, but I think I will save them for October.

Oh boy, I don't think I would recomend Ring by Koji Suzuki. Or at least I would recomend to avoid its sequels like the plague. The first book is ok the sequels are... not. I think my main complaint is the pseudo-science that is trying to explain the paranormal. The first book was stretching my disbelief to the max but the sequels - not even "jumping the shark" is enough to describe what happens in them.

Christine wrote: "I still haven't read any classic horror like The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Dracula by Bram Stoker. I love Nick Cutter. The Troop was so good and I ..."

Frankenstein is something that I've read several times. Highly recommend! Dracula I've started on several occasions, but have trouble with the journal entry format of the story. I do plan to push through and read it at some point.

So I'm pushing through my difficulty with Dracula's format and really enjoying the story so far. The entire thing just oozes classic horror and is a lot of fun! Can't wait to go through the rest of it.

I recently read, and LOVED, The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson. It has easily become my favorite book that I’ve read this year! I didn’t watch the movies until after finishing the novel, and I hated them. So, if you haven’t seen the movies, or you’ve seen them but didn’t like them, then I encourage you to give the book a go! It was released in ‘78, but is definitely considered a horror classic.

I just started the Complete HP Lovecraft Collection. Interesting little tales so far. Heralded as a classic so I finally gave in to read it!

A book that I loved that I think might be a horror classic is The Woman in Black by Susan Hill. Honestly it's a very simple and classic ghost story but if you want a short and atmospheric book it's really fun. (Also Frankenstein is one of my all-time favorites!!)

I shelved Lovecraft, but started the HG Well collection. I'm a little passed halfway point of the Invisible Man. It's a lot of fun and jumps right into things from the start. Definitely worth a read!

I read through the rest of the Invisible Man and The Time Machine. I enjoyed both a great deal and would recommend to anyone looking for a canon classic.

Peter wrote: "I just started the Complete HP Lovecraft Collection. Interesting little tales so far. Heralded as a classic so I finally gave in to read it!"

Is your collection chronological like mine? Which stories did you like?

I always loved the work of M R James, he had some great stories, truly creepy stuff

RennyWest wrote: "Peter wrote: "I just started the Complete HP Lovecraft Collection. Interesting little tales so far. Heralded as a classic so I finally gave in to read it!"

Is your collection chronological like mi..."

I'm not sure if it is or not. It is as follows;

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

I'm through The Time Machine and The Invisible Man so far. About half way through War of the Worlds. I like them all, but thought very highly of Invisible Man. Possibly because the style of the story closely mirrored how I wrote my Preternatural series.