Quirky, creepy & spine-chilling books to read this season
a printable list of 25 fall book recommendations
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An Eclectic Fall Reading List
My fall reading taste can best be described as, “wait, what did I just read?” Let me explain.
I don’t want to read anything too scary; horror novels and most thrillers are off limits. I want to read a story in which something is slightly off, so I’m weirded out but not terrified. Ideally, I’ll close the book and puzzle over what the heck just happened and promptly recommend the book to a friend so I’m not the only one left wondering.
For example, one of my favorite fall reads is We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry. It’s an odd book about a high school girls’ field hockey team who call upon the spirit of Emilio Estevez in a witchy ritual in order to win their state championship. In the midst of supernatural happenings, Barry injects humor and heart into the narrative. Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls features a frog man and a desperate housewife; he’s reported to have attacked people, but all the gore is off-page. Unmissing by Minka Kent is unmistakably a thriller—but it’s so bananas that the thriller-y scenes aren’t seared into my sensitive brain.
I decided to sit down with my reading logs and pick out more of the quirky, eerie, creepy, and spine-chilling books I couldn’t put down—or forget. This list epitomizes eclectic reading by featuring nonfiction, fantasy, novellas, short stories, literary fiction, and YA novels. Although most of these books include unsettling moments or dark themes, none of them gave me nightmares (your mileage may vary).
If you’re looking for off-beat, under-the-radar, mostly backlist books to enjoy this fall, I hope you find a stack in today’s book list, available as a printable pdf.
What weird/autumnal/mysterious book(s) would you add to this list?
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So excited for all you have to come!
I would add Lone Women by Victor LaValle. It is a story about homesteading in Montana but tells this typical story from a perspective of women, POC and LGBTQIA folx. Heavy foreboding. It is described as horror. No jump scares but definitely creepy plus maybe a bit wacky.
Also, I would add Joyland by Stephen King to the list. King is an excellent writer that I seldom get to read cause most of his books are too scary. Joyland is at its heart a murder mystery. Also a coming of age story with a tiny bit of magic thrown in. The sense of place is palpable. Michael Kelly does an amazing job on the audio book.