Halloween Reading List: 30 Books to Keep You Up

The weekend is approaching, and readers looking for a chill in the air have a fresh list of recommendations. Traci Thomas, the host and creator of the podcast The Stacks, has compiled a guide to horror literature designed to raise heart rates. The list spans three categories: fiction, horror anthologies, and nonfiction. Each selection offers a different flavor of fear, from classic ghosts to modern tragedies.

Thomas has included several well-known titles in the fiction section. Stephen King’s Carrie is on the list, alongside Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. The list also features contemporary voices like Victor LaValle with Lone Women and Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah with the short story collection Friday Black. Translated works make up a large portion of the fiction picks. These include Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica, A Plagued Sea by Kim Bo-Young, and Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez. The list also includes The Reformatory by Tananarive Due and Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin.

The anthology section focuses on specific cultural perspectives in horror. Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. edited two volumes of Never Whistle at Night, which explore Indigenous dark fiction. Jordan Peele and John Joseph Adams edited Out There Screaming, a collection of new Black horror. Cynthia Pelayo edited Something Followed Us Home, which features Latiné horror tales. These collections allow readers to sample multiple authors in a single book.

The nonfiction picks rely on real events to create dread. Lizzie Johnson’s Paradise details a town’s struggle to survive a wildfire in America. Ben Wickey’s More Weight tells a story set in Salem. Wright Thompson’s The Barn covers the secret history of a murder in Mississippi. The list includes historical accounts such as Philip Gourevitch’s We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families, which documents stories from Rwanda. Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry’s Helter Skelter recounts the Manson Murders. Daniel James Brown’s The Indifferent Stars Above covers the Donner Party. Heather Ann Thompson’s Blood in the Water examines the 1971 Attica Prison Uprising. Iris Chang’s The Rape of Nanking describes a forgotten part of World War II. Richard Lloyd Parry’s People Who Eat Darkness explores murder and grief in Japan.

The full list provides options for every type of reader. Fiction titles include The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones, Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle, and Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova. Other fiction selections are The Vegetarian by Han Kang, Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates, House of Bone and Rain by Gabino Iglesias, The Hunger We Pass Down by Jen Sookfong Lee, and Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado. The nonfiction section also includes Beloved by Toni Morrison in the fiction list, though it is often cited for its historical weight.

Readers can use this list to plan their reading over the next few days. The selections are available in various formats. Thomas’s curation aims to provide a mix of familiar favorites and newer works. The list is designed to be read in any order. Each book offers a distinct approach to the horror genre. Whether a reader prefers the supernatural or the real, there is a title on the list to match their interest. The compilation serves as a starting point for a spooky weekend.