By Sherrilyn Kenyon
Fiction/Fantasy/Horror
By Sherrilyn Kenyon
Halloween is coming and we wanted to share some of our favourite spooky books with you. If this list doesn't have what you are looking for, search our online catalogue using the keyword "Halloween" or come on down to one of our branches where we would be happy to help you find something! What are some of your favourite spooky books?
Party Games
The first book in the Fear Street series for young adults, recommended by Rachael from the Altona branch.
As the guests at a birthday party on mysterious Fear Island start dying one by one Rachel realizes to her horror that she and the other teenagers are trapped on the tiny island with someone who may want to kill them.
Goosebumps Graphic Novels
This is the first book in the Goosebumps graphic novels. If you search our cataogue for "Goosebumps" you will find lots of Goosebumps books and series for junior readers. Recommended by Rachael from the Altona branch.
Creepy creatures are howling, growling, and stalking through the artwork of the first Goosebumps Graphix anthology when three hot, talented comic artists adapt these bestselling Goosebumps books into a cool, new graphic novel format.
The Good, The Bad, and The Spooky
Recommended by Janine from the Winkler Branch
When Bad Seed cannot find an amazing costume for Halloween night, he postpones trick-or-treating for everyone else until he finds the perfect one.
It
Recommended by Lynn from the Winkler Branch
To the children, the town was their whole world. To the adults, knowing better, Derry, Maine, was just their home town: familiar, well-ordered, a good place to live. It was the children who saw-- and felt-- what made Derry so horribly different. In the stormdrains, in the sewers, It lurked, taking on the shape of every nightmare, each person's deepest dread. Sometimes It reached up, seizing, tearing killing ... The adults, knowing better, knew nothing. Time passed and the children grew up, moved away. The horror of It was deep-buried, wrapped in forgetfulness. Until the grown-up children were called back, once more to confront It as It stirred and coiled in the sullen depths of their memories, reaching up again to make their past nightmares a terrible present reality
In the Garden of Spite
Recommended by Laura from the Winkler Branch, this novel is based on a true story.
An audacious novel of feminine rage about one of the most prolific female serial killers in American history-and the men who drove her to it. They whisper about her in Chicago. Men come to her with their hopes, their dreams-their fortunes. But no one sees them leave. No one sees them at all after they come to call on the Widow of La Porte. The good people of Indiana may have their suspicions, but if those fools knew what she'd given up, what was taken from her, how she'd suffered, surely they'd understand. Belle Gunness learned a long time ago that a woman has to make her own way in this world. That's all it is. A bloody means to an end. A glorious enterprise meant to raise her from the bleak, colorless drudgery of her childhood to the life she deserves. After all, vermin always survive.
Whispering Pines
Recommended by Joanna-SCRL Cataloger
When otherworldly forces descend on their town of Whispering Pines, conspiracy theorist Rae, who's searching for her lost father, and Caden, who's haunted by the ghost of his brother, must band together to save their home.
Recommended by Jess from the Winkler Branch
From the moment Peter enters his new classroom he is immediately called the baddest boy in school. But is he really bad or is he just different because he comes from a strange, faraway land?
The Screaming Staircase
Recommended by Joanna-SCRL Cataloger
In The Screaming Staircase, the plucky and talented Lucy Carlyle teams up with Anthony Lockwood, the charismatic leader of Lockwood & Co, a small agency that runs independent of any adult supervision. After an assignment leads to both a grisly discovery and a disastrous end, Lucy, Anthony, and their sarcastic colleague, George, are forced to take part in the perilous investigation of Combe Carey Hall, one of the most haunted houses in England. Will Lockwood & Co. survive the Hall's legendary Screaming Staircase and Red Room to see another day?
The Witches of New York
Recommended by Janine from the Winkler Branch
The year is 1880. Two hundred years after the trials in Salem, Adelaide Thom (Moth from The Virgin Cure) has left her life in the sideshow to open a tea shop with another young woman who feels it's finally safe enough to describe herself as a witch: a former medical student and keeper of spells, Eleanor St. Clair. Together they cater to Manhattan's high society ladies, specializing in cures, palmistry and potions - and in guarding the secrets of their clients. All is well until one bright September afternoon, when an enchanting young woman named Beatrice Dunn arrives at their door seeking employment.
The Taking
Recommended by Laura from the Winkler Branch
Molly and Neil Sloan awake to see golden rain falling. In their remote California mountain town, they learn from their television of enormous waterspouts and blizzards around the globe; then, the television ceases, as do all other forms of communication with the outside world. The Sloans are left, together with their neighbors, in the midst of a purple fog, disturbed by a threat they cannot identify or understand. Together they discover that the world is being prepared for beings other than themselves--beings with vast technological powers at their disposal, who will stop at nothing to hunt them down and kill them all.
Young Adult
Fiction/Mystery/Thriller
Reviewed by Rachael, Altona Branch Administrator
Claire wakes up alone on the side of a mountain, confused and dazed. She is dealing with a traumatic brain injury that has wiped out the last 36 hours of her life. As rescuers take Claire away, she slowly starts to remember that she had been with her friends Kat and Jesse. Where are Kat and Jesse now and why was she alone on the mountain? What actually happened out there? She is desperate to remember so she can help her friends and figure out what happened, but she just can't.
This story is full of twists and turns and leaves the reader trying to figure out what has happened and who the real villain is. I enjoyed this book, even though I suspected the ending long before I got there, though there were still some surprises in store for me. If you are looking for a suspenseful mystery, this book may be for you!
Adult Fiction
Reviewed by Deb from the SCRL Office
Blythe struggles with feelings of inadequacy as she fails to live up to the perfect ideal of motherhood. Her Mother told her "Women in our family are different" and she so much wanted to change the pattern. Blythe, like so many women, seeks support and guidance and ends up questioning her own sanity. How much of ourselves do we owe our children?
The Push is a psychological drama about women and their experience of motherhood. "You will be such a good mother" can be intimidating and a lot to live up to. The novel looks at what it is to have a child you don't feel that instant connection with. It deserves the high praise it's received, it is shocking, provocative and well written. This is so fast paced you will read it in one sitting!
Highly recommended.
Thanksgiving is just around the corner and our branches have a wide selection of books just waiting to be checked out. If you don't find what you are looking for on this list or if you are looking for more options, go to our online catalogue and search either ``Thanksgiving`` or ``gratitude`` for more selections.
When food for Thanksgiving starts disappearing from homes in River Heights, Nancy, Bess, and George investigate.
By Marion Gibson Adult Non-Fiction Reviewed by Britany from the Winkler Branch ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I loved reading this one. If you're into the hist...