Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books To Get In The Halloween Spirit

A meme from the Broke and the Bookish.

I thought I would have issues with this one until I started writing things down!

1. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Dave McKean

This is the one that immediately came to mind.  Ghosts and murderers and wonderful illustrations.  I need to read this again and write a better review.

2. Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride

What is more Halloween than a Necromancer?  Well and there is a very nice zombie.  Not so scary but lots of excellent supernatural bit.

3. Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

Now this is a zombie book.  The world as we know it is over most of the world belongs to the zombies, but how people see the zombies varies.

4. A Living Nightmare by Darren Shan

A trip to the dark and dangerous Cirque du Freak ends with an apprenticeship to the vampire, but it is just the beginning of Darren’s adventures.

5. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

It is definitely worth it to read Dracula by Bram Stoker as well.  The format is similar but the anticipation is much greater.  The modern characters draw you in.

6. The Aviary by Kathleen O’Dell

A house that seems cursed.  Birds that are smarter than they should be.  There is a mystery here and a bit of creepy too.

7. Coraline by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by P. Craig Russell

The graphic novel version, someday I want to read the original to see which is creepier.  The illustrations in this book are definitely Halloween worthy.

8. The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter

This is another that definitely popped into my head as Halloween yes!  I mean in the end it isn’t what you expect but the suspense of a mystery that really keeps you guessing is definite.

9. The Librarian from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler, illustrated by Jared Lee

A picture book!  I don’t have a lot of picture books that I have read that recently but this one definitely  has Halloween written all over it like I might have read it around Halloween as a kid.  I do think somewhere I still have my copy of Halloween Cats by Jean Marzollo, illustrated by Hans Wilhelm, maybe I need to pull it out.

10. Children of the Night by Mercedes Lackey

This was a toss up with some of the other supernatural investigator type books I have read but something about the conflict in this one won out as more Halloween to me.  I’m pretty sure Halloween even occurs in the course of the book.

What are your favorite Halloween reads?  I haven’t read much spooky or horror, so what should I be reading?  Oh! Someone tell me where to start with Stephen King!