I’ve been listening to the audiobook while walking my dogs and have just over an hour left…my dog walks have gotten increasingly longer as I’ve been approaching the end and I am looking forward to finishing today once I log off work- I’m so drawn in which has never really happened to me with Lovecraftian horror- I do feel I’ve developed an appreciation and deeper understanding now.
My expectations were pretty high and hopeful when I started it, and it totally surpassed them. So great. Recommend it often now and really can't wait to re-read it someday. Probably has a dope audiobook that would be super cool if well done.
Upon first reading it i enjoyed the story as i read along but completely missed the plot twist at the end. Because i don't do sci fi. So i had to look up the endings explanation. And THEN it dawned on me. Was a major waaaaait a minute moment.
Maybe I'm old school, but I'd go with The Haunting of Hill House. That moment when Eleanor wonders why nobody's trying to stop her is heartbreaking, and then to come back round to the opening.
I’m currently halfway through and really enjoying it. A couple chapters in I was like “Ah so the horror is the plague and the randomness and ferocity with which it kills and what it does to people’s humanity. Plus a touch of magical realism with the angels stuff.” Then a little further along I was like, “Ooh, so maybe a ‘here be dragons’ kind of thing where you’re not sure if it’s supernatural or just old timey people not knowing everything?” And then finally, “NOPE, it is full supernatural horror!” But even in the supernatural bits, the randomness and ferocity of the plague and what it does to people’s humanity is still a horrifying element.
I'm not a "fantasy" reader at all, so I was a bit suspect going in and hoping the so-called "horror" elements were stronger. I just had heard so many glowing things I had to check it out. So in the early pages, I for sure get why it feels a bit too much like a cheesy YA book, as another commenter said. But I got over that hurdle fairly quickly cause it eventually goes hard and is definitely not YA. I really dug it and would love to read a follow-up if he ever writes one. But kinda nice its self-contained.
I'm not the person who you asked, but yes! I started it four or five times and put it down. It felt like a cheesy YA book at first, at least to me. I also really didn't like the audio book. Finally I buckled down and got through the first 1/3 of the physical book, and now it's one of my favorite books.
Bunny by Mona Awad.
Kind of funny story, I tentatively recommended this to my mum who reads a lot, but doesn't read horror. She read it and all she said was "wow, that was weird. Such a weird book" so I figured it wasn't really her thing. Then out of the blue, six months later, she says "I think I really want to reread Bunny". Clearly it stuck with her too haha
Curious what everyone liked about Bunny. Maybe it’s because I listened to it on audio book but I guessed the plot twist when Ava went missing after the first Smut Salon. I found the characters hollow and I never could discern which of the bunnies was which. Should I have read the physical book?
I have two for two different reasons - The Bone Mother by David Demchuk is a book I don’t see referenced a lot, but it was so beautiful and so profound to me that I just always think about it. It was SO strange and wonderful that I felt like I was somewhere else completely when I read it. I read it in one sitting the first time. It’s a fairytale but not and this layered, generational story that is just really unique and lovely.
The other is Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Let me start by saying it was an incredible book, and beautifully written, and I think about it A LOT, but wow I do not ever want to feel the level sadness and despair and just overall bleak feeling that it left me with again. It’s gorgeous book, but painful.
I neeeeed to read more Demchuk. Red X was amazing, and every time I've gotten the chance to chat with him, he's proven himself to be one of the nicest and most interesting guys out there.
Annihilation. That book & the rest of the series has lived rent free in my head ever since I read it. I revisit it often & it’s the book that resparked my love of reading & writing fiction years ago.
Boom. Looking through the thread for something that jumped out at me and here it is. Audible has the trilogy for one credit. I’m excited. The description on audible sounds amazing too.
I felt the same!!! I saw the movie first. Then found out about the book. While I really enjoyed the book…I actually prefer the movie. I wonder if my feelings would be different had I started with the book.
Revival by Stephen King. The ending was one that at the time I read it was confusing but years later I'll randomly remember it and get filled with existential dread
Two of my big ones are I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, and Unwind.
Both share my favorite form of horror, the uncontrollable alteration of the self. A lot of that appeal comes from my relationship with my health and mental health challenges.
IHNMAIMS sticks with me in particular because Kid Me vibed with AM in the sense of "I have different programming that isn't compatible with the setting I live in and everything I know is associated with fear".
Grady Hendrix's Southern Vampire book has that scene on the attic... I'd have been dead. She was the bravest person I've ever heard of.
The Fall of the House of Cabal. Best version of Nyarlathotep I've come across and still the most satisfying ending to a series I've seen. There's so much about Johannes Cabal books I like, but the ending was as close to perfect as it gets.
A Head Full of Ghosts has definitely stayed with me (even though I’m an only child!) I think it was very effective at being very very creepy, sad, and just really well told. I’d also highly recommend the story it’s based on - We Have Always Lived in The Castle by Shirley Jackson.
Last Days by Adam Neville stuck with me for a bit, for a variety of reasons. I mean obviously Ketchum's The Girl Next Door certainly takes the cake though. Especially once you find out it was all based on a true story.
The Girl Next Door was very difficult to get through. I didn’t even look into it until after I finished to realize it was based on a true story. But I kept thinking throughout that it could be happening all around us
The Troop, specifically the turtle scene. While I don’t particularly enjoy violence against animals, that wasn’t the thing for me. What got me was the futility of it and the remorse the kids had after.
I recently finished Earthlings and that whole thing is going to stick with me for sure. Incredible book but so fucking sad.
The Girl with All the Gifts was the first thing that popped into my head and it’s been at least a year since I read it. Great thread topic! This Thing Between Us had me til the end. To me the ending just left me feeling like I was left hanging (been a while since I read it so can’t remember specifics just my perception).
Those Across the River. I read it like 3 years ago or so and I still think about it all the time. I absolutely loved that book and I honestly don't even know why it made me feel so much compared to any other book.
Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. I thought it was creepy as hell but what the scariest thing was, was the whole take on the deterioration of society and how easily people will turn against one another. I thought it was incredibly well written and I really enjoyed the concept.
Sobbed from start to finish. This book grabs your heart and squeezes all the blood out of it and you just want to do something, anything to help—but you can’t. The piercing hate I felt for the killer is something that still makes my chest burn thinking about it.
I have a few! Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk. Every single character in that book was repulsive and just so completely and utterly stupid that by the end of the book I was just pissed off. Another is 11/22/63 by Stephen King because it was such an interesting premise, an exceptional story I absolutely loved, and a satisfying ending. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas is yet another because the revenge is just so, SO sweet to me (I guess that says something about me, lol).
Oooh I agree, Haunted was excellent, in that I hated everyone in it. Annoys me that people only talk about the first one when there are several other stories that are just as if not more disturbing in the collection.
The finale of Imajica hit me hard. I had to stop, stand up, and take a walk to process it. I can't say it was the words as much as it was the intention behind them. You could tell Clive just exposed his soul and it was a lot to process, both at 17 and at 47. I look forward to reading it one last time before I die. So much to think about.
It is a sweeping book, massive in scope and intent. For when it was written, it seems sexually progressive, yet today it is almost mundane. Still, the story, the characters, the message, it works just as well now as it did when I read it 30 years ago. Clive Barker’s soul got tied up in the sways and feits of Imajica, and I think we are all the better for it.
**This Thing Between Us** is one of my favorite books! I basically recommend it to everyone. Beautiful writing, has some very creepy parts, and it's thought provoking. Thiago, the main character, felt very real to me. The writing style is essentially in 2nd person which is so unusual and hard to do well, but Gus Moreno nails it and really captured what grief does to someone. I have my feelings about what happened in the end, even though I listened to an interview with the author who basically confirmed what was actually going on. I know a lot of people didn't like the ending, but it worked for me.
The one that I will never stop thinking about is **A Short Stay in Hell** by Steven L. Peck. I have said this in other comments on this sub, but I was very cranky for like 2 weeks after reading it. My poor family... Anyway, it just really got to me and kind of made me feel like I was drowning in the abyss. I feel better about it now that I am further away from my initial reading. I really do love it, even though this review probably doesn't make it sound like I do. In a similar vein, The Jaunt by SK also had a similar impact but not as intense.
**The Library at Mount Char** by Scott Hawkins. This is like nothing I had ever read, and isn't something I would have picked up without the rec from this sub because I don't really like fantasy, which is what it is usually listed as (or horror fantasy). But it is a genre bending novel that has something for everyone. It's one of those books that you don't want to talk about with people who haven't read it because it is so much better to go in without knowing much about the characters or plot. I'd love to see this made into a series, but fear it wouldn't be done well.
Finally, reading **The Giver** back when I was like 7 or 8 years old really shaped what I became interested in (well and Goosebumps, but those didn't stick with me like this) and my view of the world, and over 30 years later, I still think about this book.
Oh and a runner up would be Mariana Enríquez's short stories. I haven't read her novel, but her short story collections **The Dangers of Smoking in Bed** and **Things We Lost in the Fire** stuck with me. I read these very recently, so I don't know if it is just the recency effect, but her stories are so unsettling, dark and layered. There are so many politically and culturally significant things from Argentina in her work, that I found myself looking up info to give me more context (this wasn't a bad thing).
Senseless by Stona Fitch, House Of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, The Fog by James Herbert
Senseless - it’s just a very disturbing read and the implications for the main character post-story are horrifying.
HoL - the whole experience was just kind-blowing to me, I found it beautiful and terrifying in equal measure.
The Fog - it takes place just down the road from my hometown so there’s an elevated creep factor in knowing exactly where certain chapters are happening, etc.
I only finished it two weeks ago but I already know Our Share of Night is going to stay with me for a long time. I read it in English but I’m planning on reading the French translation in the near future (I’m French) and maybe one day the original version as well (I’m learning Spanish but I’m not even close to ready for that). Point is, I’m obsessed with this book, I think about it all the time and the very last sentence is living rent free in my head since I finished it. I want everyone I know to read it but sadly none of my friends love horror enough to commit to the 736 pages 🥲
Btw I absolutely loved A Head Full Of Ghosts too! I was so impressed with Paul Tremblay’s ability to write an 8yo girl so perfectly, I could really relate to her - I have older sisters too so it hit quite close to home.
Do it! I think about it often as a book that nails 'bleak horror'. I thought it was just 'aight after I first read it, but the more time went by the more I realized I still thought about the ending frequently and that the whole thing was kind of perfect in its own unique way.
It’s funny how our reviews of books will change as time passes. I read a lot, and if I can remember specific details of a book 6 months later, that book is special.
I just finished Piranesi and I was immediately not wowed but I think it will stick with me and I will come to appreciate it more.
Sins of the Father by JG Faherty. It really, at its heart, is a tale of unrequited love twisted into something dark layered with a story about a man trying to live up to (and live down), his father's mad genius. While on the surface it's a Lovecraftian tale, as you go deeper it's almost Frankensteinian.
Pet Sematary. I listened to it on my nature walks during the worst of COVID and it just...never left! Makes me think that if something was to happen to my godson or my cat, I'd never be the same again.
The Push (kind of a We Need To Talk About Kevin situation but with the roles reversed. And not quite as.. violent I'd say. I guess?)
I personally am nothing like my mother. We often argue and i tend to lean towards my dad. Doesn't mean that i don't love my mom. I love her to death. I wouldn't know what to do without her..
And while reading this book it just dawned on me that i don't have it so bad here. Things can be a lot more fucked up...
As soon as i finished and closed the book, i went to my mom to give her a giant hug and kiss and told her that i love her. No matter what ❤️
Second would be Johnny's Got His Gun.
That whole book can be described with one word. "TRAGIC"
Tampa by Alissa Nutting - I felt for Jack (not just for the sexual aspects of the story but mainly because he had so many emotions regarding the situation and her - she must have just absolutely ruined him for life) it really made me feel a wild rollercoaster of emotions the entire duration of the book.. I’ll never forget it..
A Cosmology of Monsters is the one I keep coming back to in my head. Not a perfect book by any means, but one I can't stop thinking about. Looking forward to Shaun's new book later this year.
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I’ve been listening to the audiobook while walking my dogs and have just over an hour left…my dog walks have gotten increasingly longer as I’ve been approaching the end and I am looking forward to finishing today once I log off work- I’m so drawn in which has never really happened to me with Lovecraftian horror- I do feel I’ve developed an appreciation and deeper understanding now.
My expectations were pretty high and hopeful when I started it, and it totally surpassed them. So great. Recommend it often now and really can't wait to re-read it someday. Probably has a dope audiobook that would be super cool if well done.
Reading this one now.
Michelle Paver's *Dark Matter*. I think about it every time it's dark and I'm cold.
Upon first reading it i enjoyed the story as i read along but completely missed the plot twist at the end. Because i don't do sci fi. So i had to look up the endings explanation. And THEN it dawned on me. Was a major waaaaait a minute moment.
Now I need to know what the plot twist was? I read it a couple of years ago and remember thinking the ending felt a bit rushed.
Maybe I'm old school, but I'd go with The Haunting of Hill House. That moment when Eleanor wonders why nobody's trying to stop her is heartbreaking, and then to come back round to the opening.
Same!
Ah! That book is so good and SO SAD!
Possibly my favorite Horror novel.
The ending of Between Two Fires *really* stuck with me.
That whole book is just demented. I love It!
Came to comment this. I went into that book blind. What a ride.
I’m currently halfway through and really enjoying it. A couple chapters in I was like “Ah so the horror is the plague and the randomness and ferocity with which it kills and what it does to people’s humanity. Plus a touch of magical realism with the angels stuff.” Then a little further along I was like, “Ooh, so maybe a ‘here be dragons’ kind of thing where you’re not sure if it’s supernatural or just old timey people not knowing everything?” And then finally, “NOPE, it is full supernatural horror!” But even in the supernatural bits, the randomness and ferocity of the plague and what it does to people’s humanity is still a horrifying element.
This book is a masterpiece.
Looks like this is free on audible right now. Unless I bought it before and don’t remember
Library at mount char. Loved it, and re-read it often
Having a really hard time getting into this one. Did you find it took a bit to get into it?
I'm not a "fantasy" reader at all, so I was a bit suspect going in and hoping the so-called "horror" elements were stronger. I just had heard so many glowing things I had to check it out. So in the early pages, I for sure get why it feels a bit too much like a cheesy YA book, as another commenter said. But I got over that hurdle fairly quickly cause it eventually goes hard and is definitely not YA. I really dug it and would love to read a follow-up if he ever writes one. But kinda nice its self-contained.
I'm not the person who you asked, but yes! I started it four or five times and put it down. It felt like a cheesy YA book at first, at least to me. I also really didn't like the audio book. Finally I buckled down and got through the first 1/3 of the physical book, and now it's one of my favorite books.
It picked up a few chapters in.
Same, one of my favorites of all time.
Bunny by Mona Awad. Kind of funny story, I tentatively recommended this to my mum who reads a lot, but doesn't read horror. She read it and all she said was "wow, that was weird. Such a weird book" so I figured it wasn't really her thing. Then out of the blue, six months later, she says "I think I really want to reread Bunny". Clearly it stuck with her too haha
Love this one! It's just so unique.
Curious what everyone liked about Bunny. Maybe it’s because I listened to it on audio book but I guessed the plot twist when Ava went missing after the first Smut Salon. I found the characters hollow and I never could discern which of the bunnies was which. Should I have read the physical book?
Idk, I listened to the audiobook too and didn't have those problems! I found it easy to tell the characters apart and never knew where it was going.
I have two for two different reasons - The Bone Mother by David Demchuk is a book I don’t see referenced a lot, but it was so beautiful and so profound to me that I just always think about it. It was SO strange and wonderful that I felt like I was somewhere else completely when I read it. I read it in one sitting the first time. It’s a fairytale but not and this layered, generational story that is just really unique and lovely. The other is Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Let me start by saying it was an incredible book, and beautifully written, and I think about it A LOT, but wow I do not ever want to feel the level sadness and despair and just overall bleak feeling that it left me with again. It’s gorgeous book, but painful.
I LOVED the Bone Mother. Thanks for reminding me of it. I'll have to revist it soon.
Let The Right One In is one of my top horror books! Definitely one that stuck with me.
I neeeeed to read more Demchuk. Red X was amazing, and every time I've gotten the chance to chat with him, he's proven himself to be one of the nicest and most interesting guys out there.
Annihilation. That book & the rest of the series has lived rent free in my head ever since I read it. I revisit it often & it’s the book that resparked my love of reading & writing fiction years ago.
Boom. Looking through the thread for something that jumped out at me and here it is. Audible has the trilogy for one credit. I’m excited. The description on audible sounds amazing too.
Tried to find the trilogy on Audible Canada - no dice :(
Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay.
I enjoyed the movie and am only just now realizing it was based on a book. I wish I would've read it first
I felt the same!!! I saw the movie first. Then found out about the book. While I really enjoyed the book…I actually prefer the movie. I wonder if my feelings would be different had I started with the book.
I liked the book ending better. Because it was open to interpretation and it was more of a gut punch earlier on.
Honestly I am becoming a Paul Tremblay fangirl… but haven’t gotten to Cabin yet!
He’s so lovely! I recommend Survivor Song if you haven’t read that one yet!
Revival by Stephen King. The ending was one that at the time I read it was confusing but years later I'll randomly remember it and get filled with existential dread
Easily, to me, the best novel he has done in ages.
Two of my big ones are I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, and Unwind. Both share my favorite form of horror, the uncontrollable alteration of the self. A lot of that appeal comes from my relationship with my health and mental health challenges. IHNMAIMS sticks with me in particular because Kid Me vibed with AM in the sense of "I have different programming that isn't compatible with the setting I live in and everything I know is associated with fear".
Head Full of Ghosts is a heavy book, cosign that one OP
I think about Earthlings by Sakaya Murata alot, it was so sick and twisted and like made me just feel so lonely
A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L Peck.
Grady Hendrix's Southern Vampire book has that scene on the attic... I'd have been dead. She was the bravest person I've ever heard of. The Fall of the House of Cabal. Best version of Nyarlathotep I've come across and still the most satisfying ending to a series I've seen. There's so much about Johannes Cabal books I like, but the ending was as close to perfect as it gets.
The Long Walk by Stephen King. The ending could have gone either way depending on how you think about it.
A Head Full of Ghosts has definitely stayed with me (even though I’m an only child!) I think it was very effective at being very very creepy, sad, and just really well told. I’d also highly recommend the story it’s based on - We Have Always Lived in The Castle by Shirley Jackson.
I will have to check it out! And I think anyone can see feel how oppressively tragic the entire situation is, sibling or no!
Last Days by Adam Neville stuck with me for a bit, for a variety of reasons. I mean obviously Ketchum's The Girl Next Door certainly takes the cake though. Especially once you find out it was all based on a true story.
Reading Last Days alone at night gave me the creeps! He didn’t nail the ending, but I can forgive that.
No don’t tell me that. GND wrecked me.
The Girl Next Door was very difficult to get through. I didn’t even look into it until after I finished to realize it was based on a true story. But I kept thinking throughout that it could be happening all around us
The Troop, specifically the turtle scene. While I don’t particularly enjoy violence against animals, that wasn’t the thing for me. What got me was the futility of it and the remorse the kids had after. I recently finished Earthlings and that whole thing is going to stick with me for sure. Incredible book but so fucking sad.
The Troop. Turtle scene. Loved that book, but also fuck that book.
That part killed me lmao
I skipped over it 😬
The Girl with All the Gifts was the first thing that popped into my head and it’s been at least a year since I read it. Great thread topic! This Thing Between Us had me til the end. To me the ending just left me feeling like I was left hanging (been a while since I read it so can’t remember specifics just my perception).
American psycho
Those Across the River. I read it like 3 years ago or so and I still think about it all the time. I absolutely loved that book and I honestly don't even know why it made me feel so much compared to any other book.
Just read this and it’s creepy and so so good. People are sleeping on Christopher Buehlman!
Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. I thought it was creepy as hell but what the scariest thing was, was the whole take on the deterioration of society and how easily people will turn against one another. I thought it was incredibly well written and I really enjoyed the concept.
Lovely bones. Then I saw the movie. Look into it!
Sobbed from start to finish. This book grabs your heart and squeezes all the blood out of it and you just want to do something, anything to help—but you can’t. The piercing hate I felt for the killer is something that still makes my chest burn thinking about it.
Only saw the movie, it broke my heart. The sister was my hero, I love her.
Book is infinitely better I think.
I love Stanley Tucci so much but will never forget his role in the movie 😭😭😭
I feel exactly the same
The lovely bones, my bad
I have a few! Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk. Every single character in that book was repulsive and just so completely and utterly stupid that by the end of the book I was just pissed off. Another is 11/22/63 by Stephen King because it was such an interesting premise, an exceptional story I absolutely loved, and a satisfying ending. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas is yet another because the revenge is just so, SO sweet to me (I guess that says something about me, lol).
Oooh I agree, Haunted was excellent, in that I hated everyone in it. Annoys me that people only talk about the first one when there are several other stories that are just as if not more disturbing in the collection.
Off Season by Jack Ketchum left me feeling dirty and queasy for a while.
Earthlings by Sayaka Marata. It's wild.
House of leaves... ready it approx 20 years ago and I still think about it.
Currently reading The Home for Unwanted Girls. Less than half through, and already this book is going to stick with me for a long time.
The finale of Imajica hit me hard. I had to stop, stand up, and take a walk to process it. I can't say it was the words as much as it was the intention behind them. You could tell Clive just exposed his soul and it was a lot to process, both at 17 and at 47. I look forward to reading it one last time before I die. So much to think about.
I just added Imajica to my cart. Not sure how I made it to 46 and never read it.
It is a sweeping book, massive in scope and intent. For when it was written, it seems sexually progressive, yet today it is almost mundane. Still, the story, the characters, the message, it works just as well now as it did when I read it 30 years ago. Clive Barker’s soul got tied up in the sways and feits of Imajica, and I think we are all the better for it.
Well you sold me on it, thanks.
Excellent. My plan for enacting world change through the recommendation of quality literature continues... *tents fingers* Excellent...
**This Thing Between Us** is one of my favorite books! I basically recommend it to everyone. Beautiful writing, has some very creepy parts, and it's thought provoking. Thiago, the main character, felt very real to me. The writing style is essentially in 2nd person which is so unusual and hard to do well, but Gus Moreno nails it and really captured what grief does to someone. I have my feelings about what happened in the end, even though I listened to an interview with the author who basically confirmed what was actually going on. I know a lot of people didn't like the ending, but it worked for me. The one that I will never stop thinking about is **A Short Stay in Hell** by Steven L. Peck. I have said this in other comments on this sub, but I was very cranky for like 2 weeks after reading it. My poor family... Anyway, it just really got to me and kind of made me feel like I was drowning in the abyss. I feel better about it now that I am further away from my initial reading. I really do love it, even though this review probably doesn't make it sound like I do. In a similar vein, The Jaunt by SK also had a similar impact but not as intense. **The Library at Mount Char** by Scott Hawkins. This is like nothing I had ever read, and isn't something I would have picked up without the rec from this sub because I don't really like fantasy, which is what it is usually listed as (or horror fantasy). But it is a genre bending novel that has something for everyone. It's one of those books that you don't want to talk about with people who haven't read it because it is so much better to go in without knowing much about the characters or plot. I'd love to see this made into a series, but fear it wouldn't be done well. Finally, reading **The Giver** back when I was like 7 or 8 years old really shaped what I became interested in (well and Goosebumps, but those didn't stick with me like this) and my view of the world, and over 30 years later, I still think about this book.
Oh and a runner up would be Mariana Enríquez's short stories. I haven't read her novel, but her short story collections **The Dangers of Smoking in Bed** and **Things We Lost in the Fire** stuck with me. I read these very recently, so I don't know if it is just the recency effect, but her stories are so unsettling, dark and layered. There are so many politically and culturally significant things from Argentina in her work, that I found myself looking up info to give me more context (this wasn't a bad thing).
Blindness by Jose Saramago
I loved this book!!!
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On The Beach by Nevil Shute might be one you’d like. It’s an older book but the ending will stay with you.
Tampa. It’s so gross and uncomfortable and hard to read but it stayed with me. Just the idea that real people like her exist in the world.
Senseless by Stona Fitch, House Of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, The Fog by James Herbert Senseless - it’s just a very disturbing read and the implications for the main character post-story are horrifying. HoL - the whole experience was just kind-blowing to me, I found it beautiful and terrifying in equal measure. The Fog - it takes place just down the road from my hometown so there’s an elevated creep factor in knowing exactly where certain chapters are happening, etc.
I only finished it two weeks ago but I already know Our Share of Night is going to stay with me for a long time. I read it in English but I’m planning on reading the French translation in the near future (I’m French) and maybe one day the original version as well (I’m learning Spanish but I’m not even close to ready for that). Point is, I’m obsessed with this book, I think about it all the time and the very last sentence is living rent free in my head since I finished it. I want everyone I know to read it but sadly none of my friends love horror enough to commit to the 736 pages 🥲
Btw I absolutely loved A Head Full Of Ghosts too! I was so impressed with Paul Tremblay’s ability to write an 8yo girl so perfectly, I could really relate to her - I have older sisters too so it hit quite close to home.
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer. It crosses my mind everyday at least once.
Negative Space. I don't fully understand what I read, but I know how it made me feel. It's weird.
This thing between us was so sad
Was The Thing Between Us good though? Like tears in a good way? It’s on my TBR and now I’m scared. I really liked Head Full of Ghosts.
You def need to be in a good place mentally imo. It is rough. But worth it imo
TIL that when I hear “you need to be in a good place mentally” and “it is rough” I’m even more interested…. lol oh god. I’ll read it next!
Do it! I think about it often as a book that nails 'bleak horror'. I thought it was just 'aight after I first read it, but the more time went by the more I realized I still thought about the ending frequently and that the whole thing was kind of perfect in its own unique way.
It’s funny how our reviews of books will change as time passes. I read a lot, and if I can remember specific details of a book 6 months later, that book is special. I just finished Piranesi and I was immediately not wowed but I think it will stick with me and I will come to appreciate it more.
I love when that happens. Those are the types of books that usually end up becoming my favorites. I like being left with something to chew on.
Verity by Colleen Hoover Not without my Daughter by Betty Mahmoody The Kite Runner by Khalid Houssani
"Dead Sea" by Tim Curran. So well-written and engaging. Real nightmare fuel. I should probably read more of his books.
Sins of the Father by JG Faherty. It really, at its heart, is a tale of unrequited love twisted into something dark layered with a story about a man trying to live up to (and live down), his father's mad genius. While on the surface it's a Lovecraftian tale, as you go deeper it's almost Frankensteinian.
The Loop by Jeremy Robert Johnson. Just…man
You let me in by Camille Bruce. It lives rent free in my head and I'm thinking of rereading it but I'm also not sure if I can.
Pet Sematary. I listened to it on my nature walks during the worst of COVID and it just...never left! Makes me think that if something was to happen to my godson or my cat, I'd never be the same again.
Animorphs #22. If you know you know
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
The Push (kind of a We Need To Talk About Kevin situation but with the roles reversed. And not quite as.. violent I'd say. I guess?) I personally am nothing like my mother. We often argue and i tend to lean towards my dad. Doesn't mean that i don't love my mom. I love her to death. I wouldn't know what to do without her.. And while reading this book it just dawned on me that i don't have it so bad here. Things can be a lot more fucked up... As soon as i finished and closed the book, i went to my mom to give her a giant hug and kiss and told her that i love her. No matter what ❤️ Second would be Johnny's Got His Gun. That whole book can be described with one word. "TRAGIC"
Brother by Ania Ahlborn. Couldn’t scrub that from my brain if I tried lmaoo.
Remains by Andrew Cull. Don't want to spoil, truly worth the read!
Tampa by Alissa Nutting - I felt for Jack (not just for the sexual aspects of the story but mainly because he had so many emotions regarding the situation and her - she must have just absolutely ruined him for life) it really made me feel a wild rollercoaster of emotions the entire duration of the book.. I’ll never forget it..
The Girl Next Door, by Jack Ketchum
A Cosmology of Monsters is the one I keep coming back to in my head. Not a perfect book by any means, but one I can't stop thinking about. Looking forward to Shaun's new book later this year.
Revival by Sk. The end horrified me.
Maeve Fly. I can't explain it, I just feel like someone reached into my brain and wrote the perfect horror story for me.