Building a TBR can be hard. There’s way too many good books out there and with so many to choose from, how can you narrow it down? I myself am not great with TBRs, because I’m completely winging it almost 100% of the time. Sometimes I have a vague idea of what I’d like to read in the coming weeks or month, especially if I’ve just gotten quite a few new books that are waiting for my attention, but generally speaking, I’m a big mood reader. So since I hardly ever make TBRs for myself, I thought, hey…what if I make a TBR for someone else?
So, I present to you, my hypothetical TBR for your spooky season. If by some chance you have no idea what to read or where to even begin, make this your spooky bookstack! Or, if you just need some suggestions, maybe you can add one or two of these to your list.
((All images included in this post are original photos taken by me and posted to my Instagram account @samsaraparchment))
My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
Because you want to read it before the movie comes out
My Best Friend’s Exorcism is a really fun romp written by Grady Hendrix, who always turns out unique, spooky books with lots of pop culture references and dark humor. MBFE is no exception. This novel follows Gretchen and Abby, best friends since 4th grade, as they grow up and come face to face with evil itself. One night while at a sleepover, Gretchen takes off to go skinny dipping and disappears into the woods. After hours of searching, the girls finally find her, wandering naked in the woods and acting very, verystrangely. The strange behavior only intensifies—and gets totally out of control—as it comes to light that Gretchen has apparently been possessed by a demon, and Abby is left to handle the situation. The entire thing is full of 80s pop culture references, including every chapter being named after a song, and over the top characters, like the appearance of The Lemon Brothers, a Christian strong man act who puts on an assembly at the girls’ school and seem to have no idea exactly how much innuendo their act contains. It’s a tale of demonic possession, but it’s also a testament to the strength of the girls’ friendship as they never give up on each other, even in their most Reagan-from-the-Exorcist moments. It’s trademark Hendrix, and of course, has one of the best covers ever (we are all deep in VHS era nostalgia right now). And of course, the movie adaptation of this 80s tale is coming to Amazon Prime on September 30th, so read this one early in the season so you can check out the movie, which looks like it will also be a lot of fun.
Read a longer review of My Best Friend’s Exorcism that I wrote a couple years ago by clicking here.
Stolen Tongues by Felix Blackwell
Because you want something that will keep you up at night
If you want something that will actually scare you and maybe even keep you up at night to add to your spooky season TBR, add Stolen Tongues by Felix Blackwell. Right from the prologue, this book was sending chills down my spine. It follows Felix and Faye, who go on a weekend getaway to a cabin in the woods and not only do creepy paranormal things start happening almost immediately, but then Faye, who already has a sleep disorder, begins speaking to some kind of entity in her sleep—an entity that then follows them home and plagues their every day lives. This is also another novel that is in my favorite completely made up subgenre of horror called “horror books that started out as r/nosleep stories”. See also: Pen Pal by Dathan Auerbach. Do yourself a favor and add something really scary to this year’s spooky season TBR.
Curse of the Reaper by Brian McAuley
Because it has all the Halloween vibes with a Jason meets Freddy type villain, major slasher moments, & comes out just in time for Halloween
I’ve written a full length review of Curse of the Reaper here if you want to read a lot more about why you should absolutely add this five-star novel to your spooky season TBR, but to sum it up quickly: this slasher within a slasher follows Howard Browning, an aging actor who made his legacy playing the titular role of the Reaper in a cheesy horror movie franchise called The Night of the Reaper. Think Jason’s supernatural strength combined with Freddy’s quippy little one liners, a chain as a weapon, and a dark backstory which echoes classic villain origins from the 80s movies. Howard has been making the rounds on the horror convention circuit, until he learns that the Reaper movies are getting a reboot—except he’s been replaced with a younger actor, former child star Trevor Mane. As Howard tries to process this, the line between where mild-mannered Howard Browning ends and where the character of the vengeance hungry Reaper begins becomes very blurry, and things get wild.
You should absolutely add this one to your spooky season TBR. It is perfect for fellow horror movie fans, especially if you love slashers, but it also goes deeper than the description lets on and deals with some serious issues, including addiction. It’s a new fave of mine, and it will be a new fave of yours, too!
Man, Fuck This House
Because you want a classic haunted house story with a twist & a dash of dark humor
What’s a spooky season TBR without a haunted house book, right? Everyone’s obsessed with this book because it admittedly has one of the best titles ever, but I’m here to tell you, the content under that awesome cover is awesome, too. At the start, Man, Fuck This House seems like a classic haunted house tale: mom, dad, daughter, and son move into a new home, and it’s just full of odd occurrences and things that go bump in the night. And also go bump in the day. Dad is a classic Dad-type dad who thinks nothing could possibly be going on, Mom is an increasingly frustrated stay at home mom who definitely knows something is going on, daughter is a snarky teenager with a comeback for everything, and the son—possibly one of the best characters—is portraying himself as a freaky demon child a la The Omen with the sole intent of torturing his own mother. The family itself is enough to compel the story in this super short novel that you can definitely read in one sitting, but there’s a twist! Asman sets us up for a typical haunted house tale, but this tale is in fact anything but typical. I won’t say anymore, because of course you’re going to add it to your spooky season TBR and I’m not going to spoil anything for you!
Doomed by Chuck Palahniuk
Because this sequel to Damned takes place on Halloween & is a satirical read to break up all the scary stuff
Okay, I admit, this is kind of a two-for, because technically, Doomed is a sequel. But the thing is, you should totally also read Damned, the first book, and you will make short work of them both. Could you technically read Doomed without reading Damned first? Yeah, I think you could. You may not recognize some of the characters as you didn’t get to know them in the first book, but it would still be worth the read. But either way, I actually really think you should read both. They’re satirical, hilarious, creepy, gross, and oddly endearing at times.
In Damned, teenager Madison is damned to Hell following her untimely death and makes the journey across Hell to confront Satan himself with a rag-tag group of other hellbound misfits who make up a kind of backwards Breakfast Club.
But in Doomed, it’s Halloween, which means souls can temporarily return to Earth, so Madison is back to do some spooky Halloween technically dead things…except then she gets trapped there, and as she explores Earth and some of her former…er…haunt..she starts to realize that she is part of a much bigger doomsday plan coordinated by Satan himself, and has to figure out what to do now.
There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins
Because you want to round out the list with YA book & this one has the perfect Scream/slasher vibes for spooky season
And last, but definitely not least, I love some YA horror, so let’s throw a YA into the mix, shall we? Of course for this list I’m picking There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins. It’s a total slasher and I love it because it’s a lot of fun. Perfect for fans of movies like Scream, There’s Someone Inside Your House follows Makani, who has just moved to small town Nebraska from Hawaii following some kind of mysterious incident which unfolds as we make our way through the novel. She’s here for a fresh start, but as if adjusting to a new school, new town, and new way of life isn’t hard enough, guess what, now there’s a killer on the loose. In true high school slasher fashion, Makani’s classmates start dropping dead one by one…and a lot of them seem to be people who are linked to her. She has to try to unravel the mystery of who would do something so awful, while also trying to protect her own reputation—and you know, protect herself from being killed next.
This is another fun, fast read that does have some freaky moments and is perfect for the Halloween season. And a word of warning: don’t judge this book by its Netflix adaptation. The book is much better!
What do y’all think? Have you found any potential additions to your spooky season TBR? Are any of these already your faves? Let me know in the comments!