This week’s Book Blogger Hop question: Halloween Edition: What is your favorite horror novel and why?
I am not generally one for actual Horror novels…I’m not sure I’ve ever read one! I know other people like them, but I don’t feel any need at all to fill my head with ghastly ideas.
However–I do like a good shadowy Gothic novel now and then, which is the closest I come to Horror. My favorite is The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, an adventure of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson out on the misty moor.
Holmes and Watson generally seem so indelibly placed in 221B Baker Street and the streets of London. In a way, I think what I like in this book is the changed atmosphere. I’m never tired by their usual setting, but the juxtaposition of urban Holmes and Watson in the Gothic landscape is great fun. And maybe I like venturing into the creepy and mysterious with familiar friends. 🙂
This book also features what may be my very favorite Holmes-story moment, when Watson goes out to confront the mysterious man on the moor, and he’s waiting for him to come, and the tension builds and builds, and then–but that would be telling!
Do you read Horror, or any related genres? What’s your favorite spooky or horrifying novel?
I’m not a horror reader either, but I do sometimes find myself reading something I’d classify as such (or, at the very least, dark fantasy). Sometimes I even surprise myself by liking it! I did read a couple as a child, though. It’s why I try to avoid them. We did not get along, those books and I.
I don’t really have favourites, as such, but one I quite enjoyed was Tom Holland’s The Vampyre. It’s been a while since I read it, but I remember really liking the way Holland tackled the meshing of biography with the supernatural he came up with. ^-^
I agree…not into “horror, horror,” but The Hounds of the Baskervilles and The Thirteenth Tale works. 🙂
Happy Hopping!!
Elizabeth
Silver’s Reviews
My Blog Hop Answer
I totally forgot about that book! It is creepy! I think it could count as horror. Especially SACD’s references to Indian occult practices.
The apparently spectral hound, and the crumbling Gothic manor, are pretty spooky too… 🙂
I’ve never read one of his books – but I absolutely LOVE your quote at the top of your page.
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Like you I don’t tend to read horror my head can come up with its own ghastly nightmares without any help! I did rather love the gothic horror of Frankenstein.
Frankenstein is excellent! One of those I’ve been meaning to reread…
And me! Here’s hoping we both get round to that re-read soon.
*punches air* I love Hound of the Baskervilles. And, I love that you love it!!!!
Lynn 😀
Isn’t it wonderful when people love books we love? 🙂
I think Holmes is about as spooky or “horror” as I’d want to get, too. I’m not a fan of the genre though I know many other readers are. There’s enough real horror in the news each day so I don’t want it in my pleasure reading, too.
Very true! There are enough real horrible things we hear about, I don’t need to read any more…
My favorite book to read in autumn is “The Perilous Gard” by Elizabeth Marie Pope. I’m not sure how to describe why it’s the perfect lead-up to Halloween book without giving things away, but it is. Oh!-how about this: It’s a Renaissance English version of Tam Lin. (Every seven years they pay a teind to hell…) I highly recommend it!
Thanks for sharing your favorite! I always enjoy fairy tale/folklore retellings…