Thursday, June 28, 2007

Your Turn Thursday

Not my genre, but I'd be interested to hear titles of the best horror books ever. What's your favorite?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not a lover of horror either but have dipped into it at one time or another. "Needful Things" by Stephen King (of course) has to rank up there with one of the most disturbing to me. King is the master at taking human characteristics, in this case greed, desire and envy, and manipulating them into a crescendo of hatred, destruction and despair. Witnessing the actions of the characters I was drawn towards the ultimate terrible conclusion, while all the while trying to will it to be otherwise.

Anonymous said...

King is fun, King is fine, he sends chills along my spine! I love his short stories. I think Misery was his best novel. It had me checking closets and under the bed when I was 19. Amityville Horror had me seeing little red eyes outside my window when I was 12. Bram Stoker's Dracula and Interview with a Vampire by Rice are classic. Ghost Story by Peter Straub was not only a good book, but a freaky movie as well. I could go on....and on.

Anonymous said...

I meant "It" had me checking closets, not Misery. Misery just gave me the eebie jeebies.

Sophia Varcados said...

I read "Dracula" last Fall, and enjoyed every last page. The passages in the book that describe the coming of Dracula as night sets are wonderfully terrifying. Sometime science fiction books hare visually disturbing content, like crosses that were embedded in the flesh of an alien race in a book called "Hyperion". Waugh! And surprise cannibalism - that always gets me.

Anonymous said...

Hey, Cooksin! Checking under the bed - yes! And "Gerald's Game" just has to make you think twice about certain forms of recreation!

Anonymous said...

I quite like the graphic novels John Constantine: Hellblazer, and I've been wanting to read some Stephen King. Maybe I'll go with some of the titles mentioned. DRD

Anonymous said...

The Exorcist scared the bejeebers out of me
when was about 13 or 14 and made me give
Satan his props. I also liked Dracula and wish
someone would try to make a movie of it.

Anonymous said...

The Stand by Stephen King, because holy cow, it could happen.

The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. Lecter will never, ever cease to be freaky.

Seconding Dracula. I read it for the first time in eighth grade and was riveted the whole way through.

Technically sci-fi, but 1984 by George Orwell is, hands down, the scariest book I've read thus far.

Christine said...

Talking with a coworker tonight at the bookstore reminded me of my only contribution to this list: Poe.

Anonymous said...

This is hard for me, since i mostly read horror/scifi/fantasty genre books. Im a big fan of most of Stephen kings novels, even though i really dont consider alot of the things he writes "horror." So, i guess i cant really narrow it down to one book. Sophie mentioned Hyperion, the author of that, Dam Simmons did a really good horror novel called Song of Kali that was quite different than most books ive read. Im also a fan of Poe and H.P. Lovecraft for horror.

Don said...

Can't believe no one's mentioned "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson.

Anonymous said...

Erin--in the vein of terrifying books that aren't technically horror, Fahrenheit 451 gives me nightmares. DRD

Christine said...

Ben, nice to see you here!

Don, Jim also likes the Jackson book (and movie).

Heather W, this question is right up your alley. I wonder what your pick would be?

Unknown said...

Not quite horror, but it's pretty horrifying, Ian McEwan's The Innocent is very good. An affair in Berlin turns very grisly. It got me hooked on him as an author. Don't bother with the film.