Interestingly, I blogged about Halloween movies in my last post on October 13 (the date wasn't intentional). Appropriately, I have to blog about Halloween books today, thirteen days after my last post (also not intentional; I just happen to have a few spare moments on the perch before tomorrow's Halloween party).
The Ancient Greeks had the right idea about blood, guts, and gore--anything violent happened offstage in their dramas because they believed 1) the audience shouldn't be visually assaulted and 2) whatever the audience imagined could be far worse than anything presented on the stage (try telling that to the Romans, though). The point I'm trying to make is that with books, you can turn up or turn down the macabre in your mind. The author may suggest the idea, but it's up to you, the reader, to decide how far you're willing to go with it. Maybe that's why I'm generally less spooked by Halloween books than by Halloween movies.
Nevertheless, allow me to share with you some of my favorite Halloween reads. If there was ever a great Halloween story, Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is it. Now I admit that I'm a little biased with this work of literature. I was born in the Sleepy Hollow (back then it was called North Tarrytown), and growing up in that part of New York it was hard to avoid hearing the real local lore or being taken to Irving's estate, Sunnyside, on a school trip. Heck, even the high school athletes in Sleepy Hollow are known as the Headless Horsemen. Aside from all this, however, Irving's tale is full of intrigue, suspense, and a healthy dash of fear without being overdone. I love returning to this story on a cold, windy, fall night.
I can't say I'm a big fan of the original Dracula, but I do enjoy Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian, which balances Stoker's character with the real Dracula, Vlad the Impaler. There aren't many books in English that are set in Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey, and this book entertainingly and interestingly tells the different legends surrounding the iconic historical figure against these geographical backdrops in the present time. I loved getting a non-preachy lesson in history and culture while also having my heart race reading some of the book's scary plot twists. It kept my imagination to the end and beyond.
Now, I have a confession to make. I'm a bit of romantic, and I've been in love with Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera since I was a teenager (I was/am also in love with the Broadway musical based on the book). A young opera singer is loved by a genius composer/musician/architect who is also her singing teacher, her "Angel of Music." So what if he has no looks and wears a mask? So what if he has a great house that has it's own lake in the basement of the Paris Opera? So what that he terrorizes the Opera management and its principal singers? The woman has a guy who loves, worships, and adores her. A twisted romance, maybe, but a good Halloween read.
Whether you read one of my picks or a pick by Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, Anne Rice, or any other author, have a great Hallowread!
Hauntingly yours from the perch! :-0
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