Episode · The Book Review · 2026-10-23
Books mentioned on What to Read This Halloween, According to Two Best-Selling Writers
Halloween is the season for scary stories, but what actually makes a book frightening? And where should you start if you’re not already a horror reader?
Leigh Bardugo recommended Night Jar's Promise by Barbara Casey, Affinity by Sarah Waters, Black Arts by Megan Giddings, The Reformatory by Tananarive Due, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, Ghosts by Edith Wharton, Afterward by Edith Wharton, The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, and Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez, discussed Down a Dark Hall by Lois Duncan, Bunnicula by James Howe and others, 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson and others, Carrie by Stephen King, and The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice, and criticized Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. Gilbert Cruz discussed Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice. Paul Tremblay recommended The Skull by Jon Klassen, The Nest by Kenneth Oppel, Come Closer by Sara Gran, She Said Destroy by Nadia Bulkin, North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud, The Visible Filth by Nathan Ballingrud, and Books of Blood Volume One by Clive Barker, and discussed Where are You Going, where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates and Wounds by Nathan Ballingrud.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Down a Dark Hall
Discussed“Um, Down Hall by Lois Duncan. It's a very gothic read. It's a girl arrives at a boarding school and soon discovers that the head mistress has nefarious intent and I think slots very neatly into the kind of tradition of teenage girls as both predator and prey in horror.”
Where to get it
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Bunnicula
Discussed“And the last one is Bicula by James How. Do you know Vanicula? Yes, I know Vanicula. Is that where he he's It's a vampire bunny, but vampire bunny sucks the orange out of carrots.”
Where to get it
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'Salem's Lot
'Salem's Lot by Stephen King is a chilling vampire horror novel that follows a writer returning to his hometown of Jerusalem's Lot, only to discover that the community is being systematically overtaken by vampires.
Discussed“Like I reread Salem's Lot recently and it is terrifying. Like it's genuinely frightening. I think when I was a kid I was probably more easily scared in part because I wasn't a writer.”
Where to get it
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Night Jar's Promise
Recommended“And I'm thinking of Night Jars. It was pitched as Momento meets Dracula. And that's not a bad description. It has a great setup where basically this guy is handed a horrifying picture of a childhood he doesn't remember.”
Where to get it
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Affinity
Affinity by Sarah Waters is a Victorian-era historical novel that delves into the shadowy worlds of a London women's prison and the booming spiritualism movement of the late nineteenth century.
Recommended“I would actually point them to Affinity by Sarah Waters. It is genuinely frightening in the way of a Victorian ghost story. It's about a woman who is deeply troubled and kind of to do good works and give her life purpose.”
Where to get it
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Black Arts
Recommended“I also just started a book of short fiction by Megan Giddings called The Black Arts, and I've only read the first short story in it, and I do not want to give anything away about it, but one, the writing is spectacular.”
Where to get it
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The Reformatory
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due is a gripping historical horror novel set in Jim Crow-era Florida, following a young boy sent to a terrifying reform school where he can see and communicate with ghosts.
Recommended“She's fantastic and actually she's another good one for people who don't know if they are ready for horror because I would say that the reformatory is closer to historical fiction but is deeply horrifying and harrowing and also has a tremendous sense of place”
Where to get it
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The Haunting of Hill House
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson is a celebrated classic horror novel about a haunted mansion and psychological isolation.
Discussed“I mean so much so much of horror I think occupies I mean the kind of classics of horror already occupy that space like The Haunting of Hill House. Sure. I was thinking about this in terms of the haunting of Hill House and then we have always lived in the castle”
Where to get it
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We Have Always Lived in the Castle
We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a chilling psychological thriller novel by Shirley Jackson, published in 1962, that follows the isolated and eccentric Blackwood family following a tragic arsenic poisoning.
Discussed“I was thinking about this in terms of the haunting of Hill House and then we have always lived in the castle and the haunting of Hill House is considered I think more specifically horror gothic horror”
Where to get it
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Carrie
Carrie is Stephen King's debut horror novel, published in 1974, which follows a tormented teenage girl gifted with psychokinetic powers.
Discussed“And this again always takes me back to this kind of like puberty is terrifying and young women going through puberty is particularly terrifying. And I think in some ways Carrie is like the direct descendant of these books.”
Where to get it
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The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is a seminal Gothic novella that has terrified and fascinated readers for generations with its chilling ambiguity surrounding ghosts, psychological torment, and unreliable narration.
Recommended“I mean, obviously Turn of the Screw. It's so good. It's a beautiful a beautiful novela, Turn of the Screw by Henry James.”
Where to get it
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Ghosts
Ghosts is a chilling collection of supernatural tales by Edith Wharton published by the New York Review of Books press.
Recommended“There's a short story by Edith Wharton of all people called Afterward. There's a collection, an Edith Warren collection that I believe New York Review of Books Press put out called Ghosts, and it collects all of her, she wrote many ghost stories, many more than people think.”
Where to get it
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Afterward
Recommended“There's a short story by Edith Wharton of all people called Afterward. There's a collection, an Edith Warren collection that I believe New York Review of Books Press put out called Ghosts, and it collects all of her, she wrote many ghost stories, many more than people think.”
Where to get it
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Ethan Frome
Critiqued“and this woman has been brought into this world of plenty but at what cost and that is what gets peeled back in the story and I think it's really wonderfully done and I didn't think Edith Wharton could get me back after the horror of reading Ethan Fro, which I just absolutely loathe.”
Where to get it
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Interview With the Vampire
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice is a seminal gothic horror novel that explores immortality, guilt, and the complex relationships between vampires through the confession of the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac.
Discussed“You are going to be in New Orleans for the 50th anniversary celebration of Annne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, a book that has been adapted into a film and recently a TV series. You recently wrote a forward to a new edition of the book.”
Where to get it
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The Vampire Lestat
Discussed“I I don't think Queen of the Damned was out yet, or maybe I didn't know it was out, but I got her Interview and The Vampire Lat. I read the back and I thought, "Oh, I'm going to read this before I give it to her."”
Where to get it
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The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Recommended“Although, I will say too, if you have a kid who's afraid of horror and you want a Halloween read, um I remember loving The Witch of Blackbird Pond. This was a classic when I was a kid and it's about witch trials and persecution and being a young woman again sort of trapped in this environment.”
Where to get it
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Our Share of Night
Recommended“But I might if they if they look like an NPR listener, then I might direct them to Our Share of Night by I think it's Mariana. And if they're not ready to commit to a sprawling novel that is a parable for Argentine politics, then I would direct them to her short stories.”
Where to get it
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Where are You Going, where Have You Been?
Discussed“But anyway, in that class, we read Joyce Carol's Where Have Are You Going? Where Have You Been? Uh, and I'll never forget reading that and thinking, "Oh, I didn't know people wrote things like this."”
Where to get it
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The Skull
Recommended“But, you know, specific to younger readers for younger young kids, like I would recommend John Clawson's The Skull, uh, which almost has like zero text. Yes. But it's one to fun.”
Where to get it
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The Nest
Recommended“Yeah. So, for for teen readers, uh there's a wonderful novel uh called uh The Nest by Kenneth Opel. You know, the conceit is that it's from the the point of view of of essentially like a 12-year-old boy and they have a newborn who's, you know, struggling and the parents are sort of struggling with it, too.”
Where to get it
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Come Closer
Recommended“I'm so I'll recommend a short one because I think this is one of the scariest books that I've ever read is a Sarah grand's come closer um which was recently reissued and it is a possession story but so unique in how it's presented”
Where to get it
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She Said Destroy
Recommended“The first I'm going to give you is Nadia Bulan. She is has so far been primarily a short story writer. She has two collections. One called she uh she said Said destroy and she writes just amazingly beautiful, challenging and disturbing.”
Where to get it
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North American Lake Monsters
Recommended“Uh the other author is Nathan Balenrude. He has a short story collection called North American Lake Monsters, which is just amazing. It was a briefly run, it became a briefly run show on Hulu, but the the collection is much better.”
Where to get it
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Wounds
Discussed“Also, his novella, The Visible Filth, uh, which is now in the collection Wounds, is one of the scarier things that I've read. Um, yeah, and so, you know, Nathan's just a wonderful writer again”
Where to get it
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The Visible Filth
Recommended“Also, his novella, The Visible Filth, uh, which is now in the collection Wounds, is one of the scarier things that I've read. Um, yeah, and so, you know, Nathan's just a wonderful writer again”
Where to get it
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Books of Blood Volume One
Recommended“Uh, again, I'm going to split it for for two. If I could, I would give them one of Clive Barker's books of blood. It would be the one It would be It would be the one with a short story, but it's whichever one has a story in the hills, the cities.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (19) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“First is Lee Bugo, the best-selling author behind the Greciverse series as well as the 9inth House Trilogy, which just concluded with the release of her latest novel, Deadbeat.”
“First is Lee Bugo, the best-selling author behind the Greciverse series as well as the 9inth House Trilogy, which just concluded with the release of her latest novel, Deadbeat.”
“Then I'm joined by Paul Trembley, the author of The Cabin at the End of the World, A Headful of Ghosts, and this year's Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep.”
“Then I'm joined by Paul Trembley, the author of The Cabin at the End of the World, A Headful of Ghosts, and this year's Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep.”
“Then I'm joined by Paul Trembley, the author of The Cabin at the End of the World, A Headful of Ghosts, and this year's Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep.”
“We last spoke in 2024 upon the release of your book, The Familiar. You're back. You're here with Deadbeat, the final book in your 9inth House trilogy.”
“We last spoke in 2024 upon the release of your book, The Familiar. You're back. You're here with Deadbeat, the final book in your 9inth House trilogy.”
“I did an event recently where I was talking about the fact that I could see myself in like the the stories of Stephen King made more sense to me than say Sweet Valley High. The fantasy of that world did not seem like fantasy to me.”
“It was pitched as Momento meets Dracula. And that's not a bad description. It has a great setup where basically this guy is handed a horrifying picture of a childhood he doesn't remember.”
“I I don't think Queen of the Damned was out yet, or maybe I didn't know it was out, but I got her Interview and The Vampire Lat. I read the back and I thought, "Oh, I'm going to read this before I give it to her."”
“If it's a kid, I'm giving them Bicula and possibly The Invisible Parade by Lee Bardugo and John Picassio. Lovely picture book.”
“Now I'm joined by Paul Trembley, the author of A Head Full of Ghosts and Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep. Paul, welcome to the book review.”
“Now I'm joined by Paul Trembley, the author of A Head Full of Ghosts and Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep. Paul, welcome to the book review.”
“Now I'm joined by Paul Trembley, the author of A Head Full of Ghosts and Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep. Paul, welcome to the book review.”
“So I mean but I guess the first I was definitely drawn towards Edgar Alen Po's work. Uh I have to admit to having written a bunch of paper you know high school papers probably on the same Ed Garland Po story or poem. Uh but also like you know the Hobbit.”
“Pitt and Pendulum. The Telltale Heart. The Telltale Heart. Yeah. For sure. And his poems even though like uh you know Annabelle Lee and and Lenor and stuff like that.”
“Pitt and Pendulum. The Telltale Heart. The Telltale Heart. Yeah. For sure. And his poems even though like uh you know Annabelle Lee and and Lenor and stuff like that.”
“Uh but I've read Sarah Langan's Trife, and I think it's just a work of genius. Um she sort of out Ira Leven's Ira Leven uh in her book of Rosemary's Baby in the Steepford Wives, right?”
“Uh but I've read Sarah Langan's Trife, and I think it's just a work of genius. Um she sort of out Ira Leven's Ira Leven uh in her book of Rosemary's Baby in the Steepford Wives, right?”