Friday, October 5, 2012

The Friday Five

The best holiday season is upon us. Send everyone out of the house so you are alone, curl up in your favorite chair, and cuddle with your favorite pumpkin. Five of my favorite books to send a chill up your spine and make your blood run cold.

1. Dracula by Bram Stoker. Sparkly vampires can't hold a candle to the Count.  Prefer graphic novels? Check out artist, Andy Fish's Dracula The Dead Travel Fast. Andy's also working on a new retelling of the classic. Even if you're not into graphic novels, go look at Andy's amazing work in progress

2. The Shining by Stephen King. This is my favorite King novel. Kept me up at night for two weeks. Don't bother with the schlocky  Stanley Kubrick film version. The real star of the book is the little boy, Danny.

3. IT by Stephen King. If you're afraid of it, it's in the book. Clowns, spiders, drains, bullies...

4. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. A tale of murder at the hands of the supernatural. Or was it?

5. Beowulf the  epic of the Geat hero's triumph over the monster, Grendel, and later, Beowulf's fate. Don't want to read the poem in Anglo-Saxon? Seamus Heaney has given the tale a brilliant translation.

What's your favorite book that sends your heart pounding in your ears?

5 comments:

  1. Dare I confess? Feels almost sinful, but here it goes.....I've never read a Stephen King novel {{ducking}}. I hear he's pretty good. LOL!!!

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  2. The Cabinet of Curiosities by Preston and Child. Hair-raising page turning!

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  3. That's ok, Georgiana. I haven't read anything by Jane Austen (-:

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  4. I don't read scary novels anymore because the last one I read scared me so much! Not because the story was scary (although it was) but I kept thinking about the author who dreamed up this bit of squeamish hell. HE scared me more than the villain in the novel!

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  5. I read THE SHINING over two days snowed in at a Denver Airport many years ago-- amazing what that added to it.
    PET SEMETARY scared me more though-- I think its his scariest of all his books-- and like your opinion on Kubrick's film avoid the film version.

    It is my favorite time of year-- the rest of the world finally matches whats in my head year round (and fits my studio decor).

    Thanks for the shout on my book too!

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