ks scary, really. Go on, look surprised. The only one that I can think of that did, and that still does, is Salem's Lot
I haven't dared re-read that, because I spent many nights staring firmly at my closet door, knowing that if I kept an eye on it, nothing was going to crawl out of it.
Lord, the scene at sunset, where the kid is waiting for sounds from below, and then the footsteps coming up the stairs.
But the priest's housekeeper, asking "Was he strong when last you saw him?"--that got me. I hear we find out more about that poor priest in Dark Tower, is that true?
Dark Tower
Connie, yes he has a big part to play in the Dark Tower series
I've never read Salem's Lot, but there's a great scene in a Marvel comic where Ben Grimm is reading it and Spidey drops in and taps him on the shoulder and he's so startled he swallows his cheroot.
I'm with Gris on not reading for words urging in most cases (...more so really/-while clunky writing will throw me, I'm much more likely to read for plot and idea and character if not entirely then certainly primarily)
Can't contribute on horror, though--not my bag. Avoid. Eek.
The John Fowles novel?
Yeah. And for the same reason as Thompson & Carroll.
Jilli, I probably wouldn't have found House of Leaves as unsettling if I hadn't read 80% of it in a all-night marathon. But be aware it is heavy on mother-issues so... you might not want to give it a try right now.
One of the scariest things I've read was The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. But that's not generally considered horror.
I don't find many vampire books scary, really.
Well, yes. What I should have said is that they're not "vampire-delightful."
I'm easily freaked out by suspense and creeping unease and those questions of what is and isn't real.
Yeah, maybe now isn't the time for you to read it.
For me, as much as I loved Salem's Lot and found it scary (it helped that I grew up next to the town that was the model for it and knew the house that the Marsten (?) House was based on), The Shining was the scariest for me. And it's probably the book I've re-read most ever, to the point where if I was going to be a book in Farenheit 451, I've always said I'd be The Shining.
As for Straub, I also love Floating Dragon, but it was Ghost Scary that scared me the most. Shadowland is my favorite of his, though (note to self: reread Shadowland & The Talisman, and finally get around reading the second collabortation of those two).
The Haunting of Hill House is another favorite, though We Have Always Lived in the Castle is right up there. For Jackson though, if you ever see a copy of The Sundial, grab it. It's one strange-ass book. More fantasy than horror, though.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
is just one of my favorite books ever, horror or not. I put
The Haunting of Hill House
in horror, though, and I also love it.
reread Shadowland & The Talisman, and finally get around reading the second collabortation of those two
Yes! I never finished
The Talisman,
actually.
