Springfield-Greene County Library District discussion

Summer Scares is a reading program, created by the Horror Writers Association, United for Libraries, Book Riot, and Library Journal/School Library Journal, that provides libraries with a list of recommended horror titles to include in summer reading. So our theme for July is horror!

The official 2021 Summer Scares list is a great place to start if you're looking for a horror title to read this month, and you can find it here: bookriot.com/2021-summer-scares/. The list includes titles for adults, teens, and kids, from a variety of horror sub-genres.

A few other lists to check out:

The Library's "Horror" bookshelf

20 Horror Books By Authors of Color via BookRiot

13 Perfect-For-Halloween Books With Female Heroines via Bustle


First question for discussion: What are your all-time favorite horror books?

I admit, I am really easily scared, and there are certain types of horror I just don't read. But I do enjoy horror with an element of comedy, and I can handle zombies and other science-fiction-adjacent horror. 

Along those lines, one of my favorite horror novels is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith. I think the juxtaposition of those seemingly unrelated things--proper English society and flesh-eating monsters--is really funny, and I love how cool and tough the Bennet sisters are. It's surprising how much was not changed from the original Pride and Prejudice. I read a few of the other Austen/monster mashups and didn't think they were as funny; it's sort of a joke that only works once. But I really enjoyed that first one.

A more serious horror story I enjoyed was the Rot & Ruin series by Jonathan Maberry. It's a young adult series about a teen named Benny who lives in a post-apocalyptic world with his older brother, Tom, since his parents were lost in the zombie outbreak that happened when he was a baby. All of the kids in their town have to take up an apprenticeship when they turn 15, and Benny decides to learn zombie-hunting from his brother, even though they have some big issues to work through from their past. It's a pretty standard zombie story--there are human bad guys they have to stop, and some teen angst and romance as well. But I really liked the characters and some twists that surprised me throughout the series. 

If anyone has any good suggestions of horror titles for people who can't handle anything too terrifying, I'd love to hear them!

I can recommend Horrid by Katrina Leno! It’s a gothic-style YA horror novel where the plot focuses more on the mystery of what happened and building up the dread of something bad you know is coming. It’s not gory and there are no descriptions of gross dead stuff, though the house the MC and her mom move in to seems pretty haunted, but it’s all kept pretty ambiguous. I don’t usually like gothic style horror, which tends to be more atmospheric spookiness than gripping terror, but I liked the characters and style of this one enough to forgive it.
For people who are who might be into something with a little more teeth and who like sci-fi, the best horror novel I read all year was The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling. It’s set in a cave on an alien planet with only two characters, a caver and her handler. There’s lots of claustrophobia in this one so beware of that, but it’s a fantastic character-driven story about grief and obsession that had me riveted.

Heather wrote: "I admit, I am really easily scared, and there are certain types of horror I just don't read. But I do enjoy horror with an element of comedy, and I can handle zombies and other science-fiction-adja..."

Heather, you might like Foe by Iain Reid. The horror aspect of it is more of a sinister mood rather than any scary scenes or situations. It's set in the near future with plenty of interesting, but subtle, sci-fi elements. I read it during lockdown and and it suited my weird dream-state at the time. :)

Thank you both for the suggestions! I'm going to add all of them to my list. I have enjoyed the gothic-style books I've read, and since YA is usually (not always!) more tame, "Horrid" sounds like a great pick. I read the longer Goodreads description of "Foe" and I'm totally intrigued by that one, too. Anything that explores "what it means to be (or not to be) a person" sounds fascinating to me.

I picked up Bird Box by Josh Malerman for my horror title this month, though I haven't started it quite yet. I managed to make it this long without any spoilers, despite how popular it was a few years ago. Has anyone read it? Is it going to terrorize me?

Anyone else reading a new-to-them horror book this month?

I’m feeling the spirit of Summer Scares in a big way this month. I finished the YA anthology Vampires Never Get Old, ripped through Night of the Mannequins as my first Stephen Graham Jones work, and started the haunted house book within a book Home Before Dark by Riley Sager.
I will definitely be picking up more Stephen Graham Jones! I was worried about the gore, but I’ve read worse from worse writers and this was so good.
So far Home Before Dark is not impressing me, but I’m going to press on for the major Netflix Haunting of Hill House vibes because I crave more of that deep family drama but with ghosts.

Those sounds like some great picks, Iggi! I have been intrigued by Stephen Graham Jones but was unsure if it would be too much for me, but now I think I can try it. Did you finish "Home Before Dark"? Did it redeem itself in the end? I have Sager's thriller Survive the Night on hold; I didn't realize that he has written paranormal horror as well.

I finished "Bird Box" and really enjoyed it! It did creep me out, but in more of a suspenseful way that I could handle. The story alternates from the present, when the protagonist is trying to find a safe place, and four to five years prior, when everything was going bad. I thought that was a good format; it was interesting to try to piece together what had gone down with clues from the present. I was fascinated by the nature of the entity that caused the destruction and the characters' different theories about it. I didn't expect that I'd want to read the sequel, Malorie, but I have already checked it out so I can find out what happens next.

I've read all of Riley Sager's books and I gotta say that I liked Survive the Night the least! I find that with a lot of thriller writers, I enjoy their debut the most and Sager's Final Girls is no exception.

I've also really been enjoying Stephen Graham Jones! Night of the Mannequins is still on my list, but I just finished My Heart Is a Chainsaw and really dug it. It was a very slow burn... slow enough that I think a lot of horror readers are getting thrown off by it because the action slows down to a plod for a majority of the story. I thought the big ending was an appropriate payoff!

Looking back on this thread, I'm reminded that I've had The Luminous Dead on my list since I saw Iggi's review of it quite a long time ago--I must bump it up on my list immediately!

I did finish Home Before Dark and it was a real rollercoaster, but I can't say I thought it was very good, haha. At the very end there are twists on twists on twists and I felt pretty baffled by it all.
Also, Miranda, I've been looking forward to reading My Heart is a Chainsaw and that slow burn aspect with a good payoff sounds excellent to me!

Thanks for updating us, Iggi! It's too bad Home Before Dark didn't improve. When a book has twist after twist and they're not well done, it feels gimmicky. I think it depends on my mood, too. Sometimes I'll read something with over-the-top twists and be really into it. Other times, it will make me frustrated.

My Heart is a Chainsaw is going on my list, too!