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.
Mal: He calls back, you keep them occupied. Wash: What do I do, shadow puppets?
'The Message'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
DavidS - Aug 11, 2011 7:17:49 pm PDT #15993 of 28293
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
meara - Aug 11, 2011 7:27:20 pm PDT #15994 of 28293
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.
Strega - Aug 11, 2011 8:18:02 pm PDT #15995 of 28293
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.
Toddson - Aug 12, 2011 4:49:30 am PDT #15996 of 28293
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"
One of the scariest things I've read was The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. But that's not generally considered horror.
DavidS - Aug 12, 2011 5:09:51 am PDT #15997 of 28293
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
But that's not generally considered horror.
I consider it horror.
smonster - Aug 12, 2011 6:16:41 am PDT #15998 of 28293
We won’t stop until everyone is gay.
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.
Frankenbuddha - Aug 12, 2011 6:34:40 am PDT #15999 of 28293
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"
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.
Amy - Aug 12, 2011 6:52:19 am PDT #16000 of 28293
Because books.
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.
Amy - Aug 12, 2011 6:59:15 am PDT #16001 of 28293
Because books.
Richard Matheson's Hell House held up pretty well, and was surprisingly scary in a really disturbing way, too.
Typo Boy - Aug 12, 2011 7:33:10 am PDT #16002 of 28293
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.
I considered "Yellow Wall Paper" horror.