Spooky Halloween Reads (What I've Read So Far in October)

Hi, everyone! I hope you are all having a spooktacular October and having been reading all the creepy books. I've been reading a lot of creepy stories lately, predominately short stories, and wanted to share my thoughts with you about them. Two stories I won't be reviewing at this moment, but plan to in the future are Apt Pupil by Stephen King and The Haunter of the Dark by H.P. Lovecraft. Both of these stories are contained in collections that I'm reading right now. I gave Apt Pupil 5 stars and HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT. I gave The Haunter of the Dark 4.25 stars and I'm happy to say that Lovecraft is growing on me again because he lost me for a long time, but this story was quick, fun, and creepy. Now, onto the reviews!

Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne

4.25 stars
I really enjoyed the themes that Hawthorne presents in this short story. The writing isn't particularly gripping and I found it easy to leave the story, but I felt very connected to the tone and I felt a little spooked and panicked, which I'm sure was Hawthorne's main purpose (since the ending gives that tone).



The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

4.75 stars 

This is one the most referenced horror stories. I can think of multiple instances in books, movies, and TV shows when a character will mention the panicked main character from The Tell-Tale Heart with a man buried under his floorboards and his loudly beating heart. It's a classic. It's a lot of fun and it is one of Poe's better stories (compared to the ones I've read). I highly recommend checking this one out if you haven't already.


The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe

4.5 stars

This is my first time reading this short story and it was fun to finally read it. This particular Poe story is famous and is referenced a lot, but I wasn't as in love with this as I hoped to be. I am a fan of it and enjoyed it quite a lot, but there were a couple of odd moments in the prose that felted awkward. I'm hoping that with more reads this will become an all-time favorite, but for now it's one that I highly recommend checking out. 

The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe

This rating still holds up years upon rereading and this continues to be one of my all-time favorite short stories.

5 stars
I had to read this for school and I absolutely loved it. Maybe the reason I enjoyed it so much was because I read it for school and we talked about irony. Talking about the story made me think more into it and now I think it's brilliant. I had already been intrigued, but the story just proved to be amazing.

Whimsical Writing Scale: 5

Plotastic Scale: 5

Character Scale: 5

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

5 stars

I've recently reread The Raven for the umpteenth time for my American Literature class and I think this is the most fun I've had reading it primarily because it's October and I'm feeling very Halloween-y. This poem is fantastic in tone, beat, and imagery. It's famous for a reason.



Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl

5 stars

This is one of the most fascinating stories I've ever read. It's four pages and a lot happens in that brief space, which is impressive on Dahl's part, but also it's sparked the urban legend of a wife smart enough to hide the murder weapon (a lamb) by feeding it to the detectives. I want to thank one of my best friends for recommending this short story to me because without this odd recommendation and conversation I wouldn't have found this spooky story. I think my personal favorite thing about this story was the character shift from perfect, content suburban housewife to enraged, passionate killer to a cold, calculating woman desiring to get away with murder.


Have you read any of these stories? What are your thoughts on them? Do you have any short stories that you love that you recommend for the Halloween season? Let me know down below in the comments!