Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

BoooOOOoooo! It's spooky season! And what better way to get in the frame of mind than by picking up a book related to ghostly beings?

The book can be related to ghosts, spirits, phantoms, or specters any way that you want. Maybe it's in the title or on the cover. Maybe it's about a haunting. Maybe it's by a ghostwriter. Maybe it's about the metaphorical ghosts of the past. You can take this in any direction you want, and to any genre. What are you reading for this prompt? What recommendations do you have for other readers?

ATY Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

If you're not in the mood for a traditional, spooky ghost story, I would highly recommend Katalin Street by Magda Szabó. Szabó was one of the best known Hungarian novelists but only a few of her books have been translated into English. Katalin Street is historical fiction about Budapest in the years following WWII, it's absolutely beautifully written, and it is written partly from the perspective of a young Jewish girl who died during the war. She's a ghost, essentially, who spends her time watching the characters who are still living and constructing a kind of nostalgic past for herself in the afterlife, where she can return to her life as it was before she died. It sounds odd and it was, but it really worked for me and I found it to be a very clever and emotionally compelling way to tell this story. Highly recommended!

Ghost stories aren't my usual kind of thing, so I'm looking forward to watching this thread for ideas! The only thing that comes to mind off my TBR would be The Haunting of Hill House.

I'm getting around to The Sentence. The scariest ghost story I've read is The Woman in Black. I enjoyed The Winter Guest.

Here's hoping Simone St. James comes out with a new book in 2023!

Some recommendations for those who don't like super dark horror books:

The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton
Solar Bones by Mike McCormack
The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan
Creatures of Passage by Morowa Yejide
Hotel World by Ali Smith

I definitely recommend Other Birds for those who don't like scary books. Twenties Girl was also very good and not scary.

I have The Haunting of Maddy Clare down for this. Emily I love Simone St. James, and plan to read The Broken Girls for another prompt.

I do not read scary books, and Simone St. James tests my limits on the creepy. I haven't read Maddy Clare yet but I noticed that it was being rereleased and I've been seeing it everywhere lately!

Emily wrote: "I do not read scary books, and Simone St. James tests my limits on the creepy. I haven't read Maddy Clare yet but I noticed that it was being rereleased and I've been seeing it everywhere lately!"

I should add Maddy Clare too. I loved The Broken Girls, and I read her last two books even though they were too scary for me. I just couldn't put them down!

Short books for Halloween:
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
The Turn of the Screw

I loved The Night Tiger, by Yangsze Choo. The story is engrossing and different from other fantasy books I've read. The ghost parts are actually quite beautiful. It's set in Malaysia and works for Tropics too. I might read The Ghost Bride by the same author.

Some Native American books treat ghosts as messengers, comfort, or troublesome, but not necessarily scary. I liked The Sentence, The Night Watchman, and I plan to read more by Louise Erdrich.

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward -about a family road trip, is both gritty and dreamy. This gave me a book high.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman is a very moving and well written story about a cellist. It's considered realistic fiction, but the character has an experience that works nicely for this prompt.

If you don't mind romance and are trying to avoid scary ghosts, The Dead Romantics is about a ghostwriter who can also talk to ghosts.

I am going with kit lit for this one: Wait Till Helen Comes

I also don't read scary books but have added A Christmas Carol and The Thirteenth Tale

Oh, ,I forgot about A Christmas Carol, I love that book.
Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost is also a favourite.
I have We Have Always Lived in The Castle for this one.

Shannon SA wrote: "Oh, ,I forgot about A Christmas Carol, I love that book.
Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost is also a favourite.
I have We Have Always Lived in The Castle for this one."

I also love A Christmas Carol. :) and I have just added The Canterville Ghost to my TBR. :)

I'm not sure what I'm going to read for this one yet, but I do have a few recommendations:

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Grace by Natashia Deon
The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

I figure you can't go wrong with Neil Gaiman. I'm planning to read The Graveyard Book.

Another recommendation: The Comet Seekers, by Helen Sedgwick. This is magical realism partly about a family who sees the ghosts of their ancestors, but only when a comet is in the sky. I loved this book, which I found beautifully and lyrically written and exactly the sort of strange and mysterious style that I like in a magical realism novel. My only warning: there is a romantic relationship between two first cousins in this book that is presented as romantic and tragic, so if that will skeeve you out, definitely skip it.

I'm planning to read The Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu.

For recommendations I'd suggest Rivers of London (or Midnight Riot if you're in the US, no clue why!), The Sun Down Motel and The Graveyard Book. If you want to go for something that stretches the prompt a bit, Six of Crows has a character called the Wraith.

Jaime wrote: "I figure you can't go wrong with Neil Gaiman. I'm planning to read The Graveyard Book."

I'm listening to that now, it has plenty of ghosts, ghouls, witches, etc but since it is for kids, it never gets too scary.

Another option is magical realism where a dead person may appear, even something like Sing, Unburied, Sing where a dead character narrates part of the book.

Hannah - Thanks for the suggestion for The Comet Seekers! I won it as a GR giveaway years ago but never read it.So, I will plan to read it for this prompt.

From what I have available now I'll be reading either A Head Full of Ghosts OR Pet Sematary

I found an interesting-looking mid-grade novel, at the library, that I’m considering for this prompt - Temple Alley Summer by Sachiko Kashiwaba. I checked it out but don’t have time to read it so I’ll save it for next year!

I recommend The Diviners or Rebecca or Home Before Dark

Neither of them are horror level scary, though Home Before Dark is provably the scariest of the 3. Rebecca is a classic more about the figurative Haunting of her husband's ex wife, and The Diviners is a great sci/fi and supernatural book about young adults with supernatural abilities, but it's AMAZING and definitely fits this theme.

I'm not that into ghost stories, they almost never scare me. But I have a few books on my TBR, so I'll pick one out of these:

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune
City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab
House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
Long Live the Pumpkin Queen: Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas by Shea Ernshaw
Toilet-bound Hanako-kun, Vol. 1 by AidaIro

I will probably read Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje. I picked up a copy at a library book bag sale. My other option is Ghosts by César Aire, which at 144 pages, also works for the Novella prompt.

The Ghost Bride

I am currently reading The Sentence by Louise Erdrich for this one. I'm about 40% through it, and so far it is fantastic. It is delightfully weird.

I decided to use Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung for this prompt. It's a Korean short story collection that was shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize. Most of the stories involve ghosts or specters of some sort or another.

I recommended Katalin Street and The Comet Seekers already, and I'll also suggest Beloved by Toni Morrison, an incredible twist on a ghost story.

Does anyone know if Kingdom of the Wicked would work for this topic?

I read a Children's middle grade novel, City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab. It was a fun look at the ghosts in Edinburgh.

I'd suggest The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, and The Woman in Black by Susan Hill.

I read The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, about a young widow and the ghost of a sea captain. It's more of a love story than a horror tale.

I read The Best of Me Dawson sees a spectre that he believes is keeping him safe.

For this prompt, I read a book that contains "spirit animals:"

The Bear by Andrew Krivak - 4* - My Review

I’m currently reading The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton and at 1/3 through I think this book might fit this prompt. Does anyone agree?

I read a middle grade graphic novel called Séance Tea Party.

I read Prelude for Lost Souls by Helene Dunbar for this prompt. It had no shortage of qualifying beings!

What are you reading for this prompt?
I read The Ghost Fields by Elly Griffiths Wasn't really very ghosty

I read Craven Manor by Darcy Coates. Very predictable.

If you like middle grade books, I would highly recommend Ghost Boys, it is a story of a young black boy killed by a police officer and he meets Emmett Till in the afterlife while they watch the rest of the world struggle with the fallout.

A YA book that tackles race and gun violence that I would highly recommend is Long Way Down.

I just read Year of the Reaper by Makiia Lucier and recommend it! The main character can see ghosts. It's fantasy, with a YA slant but I dislike YA and really liked this book.

For Round 2 I read Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger. An indigenous teenager can bring ghosts of animals to life. She tries to bring her uncle's killer to justice. On the light side, she teachers her ghost dog lots of cute tricks.

Emily wrote: "I do not read scary books, and Simone St. James tests my limits on the creepy. I haven't read Maddy Clare yet but I noticed that it was being rereleased and I've been seeing it everywhere lately!"

This might be a bit late but>>>I read Takes From the Cafe for this prompt, the second book in the Before The Coffee Gets Cold series (which you could also use for this prompt). One of the "rules" of time traveling is you can only use one seat, which is occupied by a ghost for all but a few minutes per day. So the ghost is prominent and important to the story, but not scary at all.

I read Katalin Street by M Szabo, another book where the ghost is not at all frightening.

The ghost is that of a young Jewish girl killed almost accidentally in the Second World War, who has a strange sort of afterlife in which she observes the families she grew up among in Katalin Street. The book is also about the history of Hungary from before the war and during communist times. Those who remain alive are as much trapped in their pasts as the ghost girl, Henriette.

I would recommend: The Sentence; The Woman in Black for a scary read, also any story by M R James.

I read A Lullaby for Witches

I would recommend any of the Tradd or Royal books by Karen White.

I read Ghost Bride

I don't read a lot of ghost books but had been kind of curious about Horrorstör so this was a good chance to check it out. I really enjoyed the first half but was a little less enthusiastic about the second.

I would recommend Ghosts, it is a cute an not scary graphic novel.

Another ghost story I would recommend is The Sun Down Motel.

I think I'm stretching it a bit, but I decided to put Flamer here. There is a spirit at the end of the book (view spoiler)[ his own life force that refuses to let him die when he has decided to kill himself (hide spoiler)].

Second time around, I read Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola.

Here the 'ghost' which haunts a couple is more a manifestation of inner guilt - though I once saw a television adaption in which he appeared pretty 'real' and gruesome.

I thought the writing was much more melodramatic than I had expected, although it was one of the author's earliest novels. There also seemed to a hint that Therese's passion was partly due to her being the daughter of a native Algerian woman - shades (no pun intended) of Bertha Mason.

The novel did succeed in portraying the claustrophobic life of lower middle class Paris in the nineteenth century.

A ghost features prominently in


An Irish Country Girl – Patrick Taylor – 3***
On Christmas Eve, Mrs Kinky Kincaid, Dr O’Reilly’s unflappable housekeeper, welcomes a group of young carolers into the doctor’s house to warm up. While they enjoy a hot drink, Mrs Kincaid tells them a tale of her girlhood, and how she found her gift of “sight.” Taylor has written a very atmospheric book. I could practically feel the cold of a snowy day, smell the smoke of a welcoming fire, and hear the banshee’s wails or the eerie sounds of bagpipes.
LINK to my full review

If anyone doesn't feel like reading a spooky book, I just finished a romance called Will They or Won't They and both the main characters play a ghost in a long-running television show. I didn't know that going in, but it was a fun and unexpected way to fulfill this prompt.