Looking for something sinister to read to get you in the mood for Halloween? The D’Youville Library is here to help! Here are some titles from our collection selected to keep you up at night.
Saramago’s chilling thriller about an epidemic of white blindness that affects everyone in its path is a truly remarkable tale of loss and a metaphor for the horrors of humankind. With such a large and varying cast of characters including young children, a mother and an elderly man, narrator Jonathan Davis gives a truly rousing performance and displays his wide-ranging ability. Each character is original and believable in the face of this unbelievable epidemic. Davis’s reading puts his audience in a bright white place, where little is visual save for the listeners’ imaginations running wild. Davis’s voice paints a vivid portrait. (Review from Publisher’s Weekly)
Jack Torrance’s new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he’ll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote . . . and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old. (book description from publisher)
“A complex and powerful exploration of the lives of a victim, a killer and their families and friends . . . Set in the sterile world of online dating and love hotels, Villain is a moving and disturbing novel about loneliness, lies and the gap between expectation and reality. Highly recommended.” (review from The Guardian)
First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a “haunting”; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own. (book description from publisher)
“The Turn of the Screw”, one of Henry James’s most popular novellas, is an intense psychological tale of terror. In an old house on Christmas Eve a Governess comes to live with and take care of two young children. The Governess loves her new position in charge of the children, however she is soon disturbed when she begins to see ghosts. (book description from publisher)
All of these books are available from the D’Youville Library collection. We have included a link to the “Turn of the Screw” ebook download. Contact the library if you would some additional reading recommendations.
