Traci Thomas Lists 37 Books to Read Before Halloween
The Stacks host provides a curated list of fiction, anthologies, and true crime titles intended to frighten readers before the October 31 holiday.
By Aaron Foster ·
Traci Thomas, the host and creator of the book show The Stacks, has released a list of 37 titles designed to frighten readers ahead of Halloween this weekend. The recommendations span fiction, horror anthologies, and nonfiction, offering options for different reading preferences.
Thomas suggests 20 fiction titles for those seeking narrative horror. The list includes classic works such as Carrie by Stephen King and Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin. It also features recent publications like Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica and The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones. Other fiction entries include Beloved by Toni Morrison and Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle.
The fiction section also lists short story collections from Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah and Carmen Maria Machado. Additional titles on the list include A Plagued Sea by Kim Bo-Young, The Reformatory by Tananarive Due, and Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova. Thomas also recommends Lone Women by Victor LaValle, The Hunger We Pass Down by Jen Sookfong Lee, and Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates.
Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House appears on the fiction list alongside House of Bone and Rain by Gabino Iglesias. The list also includes Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez, The Vegetarian by Han Kang, and Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant.
For readers who prefer edited collections, Thomas lists three horror anthologies. Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. edited Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology and its sequel, Back for Blood: Never Whistle at Night Part II. Jordan Peele and John Joseph Adams edited Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror. Cynthia Pelayo edited Something Followed Us Home: Tales of Latiné Horror.
The nonfiction section contains eight books focused on real events. Lizzie Johnson wrote Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire. Ben Wickey authored More Weight: A Salem Story, while Wright Thompson wrote The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi. Philip Gourevitch’s work includes We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda.
The remaining nonfiction titles are Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi with Curt Gentry, The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party by Daniel James Brown, Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy by Heather Ann Thompson, and The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang. Richard Lloyd Parry’s People Who Eat Darkness: Murder, Grief and a Journey into Japan’s Shadows concludes the list.
