This is a great time for this list

How timely! The Broke and the Bookish's Top Ten Tuesday for this week is the top ten books for Hallowe'en reading. This is all I'm doing this time of year, thanks to another reading group, Stainless Steel Droppings' R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril (R.I.P.) VI, never mind the fact that it's the perfect time of year for creepy, atmospheric reading. Each year, sometime around August, my mind starts wandering towards the atmospheric, the fall weather, the changing leaves, the puffing wind creeping through my crap Grade II listed building windows. Actually, right now I'm listening to cars swishing through rainy streets outside those windows and my mind is thinking about reviewing a crime thriller that I've just read, The Monster of Florence.

Why not read the creepy this time of year?

1. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. This is actually one of my favourite books, not just for Hallowe'en reading, but it is absolutely perfect for this time of year. On the surface it's the story of four people in a lonely house, investigating a haunting. But that's only the plot. The actuality is that it investigates a borderline person who is slowly losing her mind within the house that takes possession of her senses. It's a classic story, a psychological thriller as well as a simple haunted house tale, and perfectly plotted and written.

2. 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King. Let's be honest, Stephen King would be on here somewhere no matter what, and it's sort of a matter of taste as to which one you'll put on here. 'Salem's Lot has long been a favourite of mine, since the first time I read it sometime years ago, and mostly for the darkness inherent in the people as opposed to, you know, those vampires. If I had a second choice for King, I'd suggest Bag of Bones.

3. Dracula by Bram Stoker. This one is sort of borderline for me since I'm honestly not that big of a fan. However, it's the original and I still think the best, the granddaddy of them all in a pop culture sense (I know about John Polidori, but he hasn't entered cultural consciousness in the same way.) I'm usually not keen on epistolary novels and this one is no exception, but there's simply so much there, so much that can be read into the novel, that it's hard to resist.

4. The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde. No, not a traditional choice, and really only Hallowe'en-y in the sense that there's a ghost, and of course the classic bloody spot on a floor that just will not scrub off. This short story is actually just a sweet and funny tale of young love, cultural differences, and a formerly vengeful ghost that would really just like to be done with it all. (Somehow this feels like it would make a good Christmastime read as well.)

5. M.R. James short stories. This is a new one for me, and I'm including it on here in hopes that it will turn out well. I read his first one, "Canon Alberic's Scrapbook," last night, and it's strangely scholarly for a ghost story (to wit: he was a scholar.) It's new to me, but it's got a lot of potential.

6. "The Tomb" by H.P. Lovecraft, as read by Stuff You Should Know. Here's a bit of an outlier, yes? I've long meant to read some Lovecraft and have never particularly gotten into his work. However, last Hallowe'en the podcast Stuff You Should Know did a reading of "The Tomb," which was also a bit of a departure for them. But it worked, even with - and maybe even because of? - the occasional pauses filled with, "So what just happened, Chuck?" and an explanation of the previous section. Sonorous voices, good sound engineering (hi, Jeri!), inserted exposition - it was a complete success. I'm now of the opinion that I don't particularly want to read Lovecraft, but would like to hear it read.

7. In the Devil's Snare by Mary Beth Norton, or something similar. This year I read Robert Neill's Mist Over Pendle, a fictionalized version of the Pendle witch trials, and I enjoyed it other than that nagging lack of a narrative climax. But it did make me yearn for a little more historic effort into witches, and the Mary Beth Norton book always comes to the top of my list for that. This scholarly but accessible nonfiction examines the society and the societal pressures that led to the Salem witch trials, and does so quite compellingly and successfully. Religion and the Decline of Magic by Keith Thomas could also very well fit the bill here.

8. I always vaguely intend to read The House of the Seven Gables by Nathanial Hawthorne this time of year and never get around to it.

9. This would also be a lovely time to read Macbeth, wouldn't it? Or even just the storm scenes of King Lear? Ah, something wicked this way comes...

10. Last but not least, The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. This novel was a shock to me since I hadn't cared much for the previous Waters I'd read (Fingersmith). The Little Stranger is so perfectly written and crafted as a story, even in that it's a perfectly classic haunted house tale with very few of the twists and turns you might expect. No, it's a long, slow burn, the sort that leaves you questioning the ending even while you're loving the only ambiguity you're left with. For a classic haunted house book, it's amazingly crafty.

And there we have it! This all makes my current read, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, look so unappealing at this moment.