Ten Books to Tingle Your Spine

Greetings fellow readers and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

In the spirit of Halloween, I will be listing my top ten reads perfect for this season of foliage and frights. I've often found that reading beneath a tree slowly losing its leaves is often peaceful for reading, especially during the Fall. Even the air gets colder which adds more suspense to whatever story you have at hand. Throughout October, ghosts stories are usually read to heighten the Halloween mood. But my list is a compilation of the haunted, the beautiful, the imaginative, and the damned.

10) Paul is Undead by Alan Goldsher

The title is a play on the famous Beatles hoax of ‘Paul is Dead’ and tells the story of the Liverpool Lads through various Q & A sessions by those who knew them.  Keeping in tune with the past year’s zombie craze, all The Beatles are turned into zombies except for Ringo Starr who is the only ninja in the group.  The book touches on major and minor events this band experienced from the banned image where babies (organs in this case) are draped all over their bodies for an album cover to the Ed Sullivan Show.  It also shows how the band met and how one by one they created a group that would climb to the toppermost of the poppermost.

This book did its job by living up to the zombie hype and even customized the zombies by means of region and bodily functions. Here zombies weren't just walking moaning remains. Instead, they had the power to hypnotize for a specific amount of time and had many other abilities. The images at best were unnerving a bit while the writing was all right. If anything, the zombies were designed more for comedic humor and gross effects. It wasn't that scary but it was good for laughs.

9) Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H Winters

It’s a monster mash when the classic tale of Sense and Sensibility meets the minions of Lord Cthulu. Set in a Bioshock-esque setting of hidden secrets and untamed sea monsters, the Dashwood sisters set out on a quest to find true love. Following the original Sense and Sensibility plot, the only difference is the setting and the half human/half beasts.

This story lived up to the hype of combining a classic with something new and unique. It’s a common form of literature nowadays. This book is a bit unnerving, imagining beautiful girls dating savage unsavory sea beasts. The imagery paints a nautical romantic picture, sure to give your imagination quite a treat. It’s an okay read, perfect for  the chilly months to come.

8) Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz 

To be honest, there’s really nothing horrifying about the writing of this book. The stories are average at best and don’t really pack much fear factors behind them. The only story I can remember that confused me for the longest time until my college years was a witch turning a woman into a horse and riding her. Seriously, I do not see how that’s scary. If anything, it sounds like some lesbian porn gone wrong.

However, I will admit the pictures of this book still haunt me to this day. I have no idea what sort of drug the illustrator, Stephen Gammel, was on or what traumatic event occurred throughout his life to make them draw the things in this book. But good Lord, I have never seen anything so terrifying.

Some people are able to withstand the illustrations and to them I give my utmost respect. But for those like me who can’t, welcome to the club. If you want to know what I am talking about then Google the book yourself. I would post the illustrations here but I’m too mortified to do so.

7) Gill’s All Fright Diner by A Lee Martinez

Duke is your average werewolf and Earl is your every day vampire. While passing through Rockwood, they come across a diner, and decide to grab something to eat. However, no sooner they bite into their meals the trouble begins. With zombies on their heels, a ghost looking for love in their heads, and so many other otherworldly oddities, the duo are bound to one dynamic adventure.

This book is just like a cat: quirky and fun, even while it scratches up your arms. It has humor like that of Paul is Undead but with better writing and a goulash of fantastic concepts. While there are no illustrations scattered throughout the pages, none are needed. This book provides enough ghoulishly glorious imagery to satisfy your imagination.

6) Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

It’s a beautiful Fall day in a Midwestern town and it just so happens that the carnival is in town. But this isn't your typical carnival of shimmering lights and specialty foods. It’s a carnival from the other side where the owner bears tattoos of his victims, a carousel has the ability to progress your age or decrease it, and unusual beings roam the grounds.

Two boys, Jim Nightshade and William Halloway, are drawn to this mysterious carnival. With every visit to the fairground they find themselves more attracted to the strange, the beautiful, and the dangerous. Not only does this story boggle the mind and raise some goosebumps with its terrifying imagery and unique characters, it also tells the coming of age story between two youths.  With every chapter, they struggle with the changes which are ultimately resolved in the end. If you want to know how, go pick up this book.

5) Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

It’s the classic horrifying story of a scientist creating something from out of a crypt. With the brain of a deceased citizen and a lifeless body, man plays God, and gives this monstrosity life. Bored of his days in the lab, the beast escapes to discover life, to find himself, and to understand the ways of man.

When written in 1817, it was originally started as a horror story. The technology and even the idea of giving life to something dead was terrifying to people in the past. Nowadays, we just see it as something awesome. Today, some people may see this story as the cornucopia of creeps. I’ll admit that it does send shivers down the spine at times but often I find it interesting as a struggle for one to find himself in the world. Frankenstein still lives to this day as an inspiration for zombie tales and satisfies those who love a good read. 

4) Interview With a Vampire by Anne Rice

Before the Meyerpires hit the bookshelves, Anne Rice gave a whole new meaning to the term ‘vampire’.  Taking the old fashioned ideals of a vampire, this famous writer morphed them into her own breed of creatures who were not always evil, and who didn’t always enjoy draining a victim of their blood. She wrote an entire series surrounding the lives of vampires, making them more human than what they are.

Interview With a Vampire begins on a quiet night in New Orleans, where a vampire decides to tell his life story to a journalist. The result is a lavish book filled to the brim with what a vampire’s life consists of. It is more than just running around, drinking unsuspecting victims’ blood. It is a life of death, love, fortune, and danger.  Written to tingle the spine and chill the senses, this story oozed with horror but dripped with details, and strong character personalities. 

3)  Pet Sematary by Stephen King

When the Creeds purchase a new house, they have no idea what they’re in for. Just behind their house lies a cemetery that has magical reviving powers. However, there’s a side effect to this seemingly wonderful idea. Those who return from this graveyard may not be the same person or creature as they were before.

Other than the cemetery’s ability, this book shows the creepy transformation of the characters. The scares really don’t come towards the midway point of the literary piece. But the scares are weaved in wonderfully with the plot of a family living with a terribly mystifying cemetery in their backyard.  

2)  The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaimen

A popular author of modern times, Neil Gaimen wrote this book with moreso plot than scares. The plot revolves around a boy who was placed in a graveyard and raised by local ghosts. He was left there to avoid suffering his parents’ fate of being murdered by a serial killer. The rest of the book consists of him growing up into a very strange but enchanted boy who sees many things.

This book is beautifully written and extremely interesting. It gives a new life to spirits, showing their lifestyles, abilities, and even customs. Gaimen shapes the typical ghosts we've come to know through urban myths and legends. He gives them personalities with touches of their past life. He creates his own specters that are memorable and unique.

1) The Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk

This book is not for the weak of stomach or faint of heart. Since I qualify as both of those, I could not handle this piece of literature for too long. It begins with some strangers getting on a bus and each chapter is their back story. The first few chapters analyzing each character were gut wrenching at best and triggered the gag reflex a bit, but nothing serious. The fourth chapter is when everything goes downhill.

Even my classmates warned me about the dreaded tortures of chapter four but I ignored them. That was a complete mistake. For men, chapter four will make you cringe the most and ladies, although you’re not a man, you just may vomit at this chapter. The wording is intricately detailed throughout the book, adding more scariness to your stomach sinking into your toes. The details put more thoughts into your head, which add to the fear building up in your bones, and boggling your brain.

After nearly tossing my lunch at the fourth chapter, I put my book down, and admitted to my fellow peers that I couldn't bring myself to read past it. This was a defeat on my end because I was on the last page of chapter four before crossing the threshold into chapter five.

So what do you think? Any books you enjoy reading during the Fall? Feel free to comment and as always, followers and feedback are welcome.