Hi, Fellow Thing(amabrarians)!

I'm compiling my reading list for the upcoming year and I would very much like your help to do that. My idea is to read five books in eight categories + 10 wild cards. That will make a list of 50 books in all; a realistic reading goal for me.

My categories are:

1. Haunted Houses & Spooky Places: The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, Creepers by David Morrell and The Shining by Stephen King

2. Short Story Collections: 20 century ghosts by Joe Hill, Alone with the horrors by Ramsey Campbell, Bradbury Stories by Ray Bradbury, Books of Blood by Clive Barker and Skeleton Crew by Stephen King.

3. Vampires, Werewolves & Zombies: 13 bullets by David Wellington, Dracula by Bram Stoker, Cell by Stephen King, Infected by Scott Sigler and I am Legend by Richard Matheson.

4. Into The Wild, Lost & Marooned: Backwoods by Edward Lee, Deliverance by James Dickey, The Totem by David Morrell and Lord of The Flies by William Golding.

5. Post Apocalypse & Dystopian: The Stand by Stephen King, Swan Song by Robert McCammon, The Road by Cormac McCarthy and Earth Abides by George R. Stewart.

6. Ghosts & Demons: Ghost Story by Peter Straub, The Parasite by Ramsey Campbell, Lisey's Story by Stephen King and A Brief History of The Dead by Kevin Brockmeier.

7. Psychos & Serial Killers: Secret Story by Ramsey Campbell.

8. Urban Gothic & Small Town Paranoia: Invasion of The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney.

As you can see I really need your help to fill in the gaps. Also, any suggestions for other categories and alternative book titles to fill the slots in each category are more than welcome!

Edited for some typos, clean up and a misleading touchstone.

Message edited by its author, Nov 15, 2008, 9:23am.

You already have one by Joe Hill and several by Stephen King, but I would recommend that you add Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill to your Ghosts & Demons category.

I've read 12 of the books you have listed so far. Please post your final list. You've got a great one started!

#2: Thank you for your suggestion. I agree; Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill would be a prime candidate for the Ghost & Demons category.

Of course I will post the final list! Hope it will be a great one too... :)

Here are a few suggestions:

1. Haunted & Abandoned Houses:
Age of Consent - A couple moves into a former frat house where a group of people suddenly went missing decades before. This is a bumpy first novel, but I enjoyed it.
The Sentinel - A slightly off-balance model gets an amazing deal on a brownstown apartment. Everyone in the building is nice, but slightly sinister. And what's the deal with the shut-in priest renting the top floor?
Hell House - I wasn't crazy about Hell House myself, but a lot of people swear by it.

2. Short Story Collections:
The Collection - Bentley Little's excellent collection of short stories. There are a few clunkers in here, but when he's at his best there's no one else like him.
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet - The only problem you may have with this collection is that some of the stories are already familiar as they were adapted into Twilight Zone episodes. There's a man on the wing of this plane!

3. Vampires, Werewolves & Zombies:
The Summoning - A vampire arrives in a dusty Arizona town. Some Chinese vampire folklore is injected into this one, which was a nice angle.
Cycle of the Werewolf - Stephen King's calander that evolved into a book. Fun, quick read with some excellent Berni Wrightson artwork.
Dead City - A hurricane wipes out Houston (my home town!) and the refugees bring a strange plague with them... I nice traditional zombie tale.

4. Into The Wild, Lost & Marooned:
Off Season - Some folks rent a cabin in the woods. Bad stuff happens. Based on the Sawney Bean legend, the same story that inspired The Hills Have Eyes. This book was an instant horror classic and one of my most fun reads this year.
Island - A yacht explodes, leaving a small group of pepole stranded on an island. They aren't alone.

5. Post Apocalypse & Dystopian:
Monster Island - eah, it's a zombie story, but since it's set in a sorta post-apocalyptic Manhattan I added it here. To be honest, I thouhgt this book was just okay, but since you had another David Wellington book listed, I thought I'd throw it in.
I Am Legend - A classic. It's been riffed on and ripped off from so many times (and recently made into a HORRIBLE movie), but the original is the best.

6. Ghosts & Demons:
Desperation - A couple is pulled over by a creepy cop and hauled in to the desolate town of Desperation, Nevada. TAK!
The Regulators - The Tak is back. Not a sequel or a side story to Desperation. More of a complete reimagining. Either of these two books can be read as a stand alone, but read together they become something else.

7. Psychos & Serial Killers:
Koko - Peter Straub's classic thriller. A group of Vietnam vets finds out that a ghost from their past has returned.
The Nightrunners - This one may be hard to find. It's out of print and can be pricey. But an excellent dark ride through places I didn't want to go. I stopped reading this one because it was too bleak. But it was excellent enough that I would recommend it if that is your thing.
Misery - Who doesn't know Misery?
Sleepyhead - This may be more of a mystery than a horror story, but it's worth a read. A troubld investigator (is there any other kind) is searching for a serial killer who's intention isn't to kill. It is something far worse.

8. Urban Gothic & Small Town Paranoia:
'Salem's Lot - I know. You are thinking 'Salem's Lot belongs in the vampire category, doesn't it? Well, not really. 'Salem's Lot has a lot more in common with Invasion of the Body Snatchers than it does Dracula.
Floating Dragon - Peter Straub's horror tour-de-force. I think maybe he was a little too ambitious with this novel of the supernatural destruction of Hampstead, but man, what a read.
The Association - Bentley Little channeled his rage against a homeowner's association into this excellent and creepy novel.

What about maybe a category for Alien Invaders & Things From Beyond?
The Tommyknockers - A lady digs up something in her yard. Things will never be the same.
Midsummer - The survivor of an arctic research station tragedy flees to his home town. He hasn't come home alone.
The Harvest - An alien lands in an Appalachian town. That can't lead to good results.
Dreamcatcher - Stephen King's gross out tale of alien invasion. Shit weasels!

Message edited by its author, Nov 15, 2008, 10:15am.

You need to add Harvest Home to your small-town paranoia category, and I think urban gothic is also where I'd put Rosemary's Baby.

I'd try Red Dragon under psychos, December under spooky places, and The Exorcist under ghosts and demons. I'll keep thinking about it. What a great idea! I'm looking forward to seeing the final list.

In Psychos and Serial Killers you could try:
A kiss before dying by Ira Levin
The Other by Thomas Tryon
The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson (if you can find it I think it more than worth the effort)

Not sure what category to put it in. Weird Science gone wrong? - Donovan's Brain by Curt Siodmak

#4: Wow! That was quite a list of really good suggestions!

Well, I agree with your opinion regarding Salem's Lot. Some of my favorite parts of that novel was the description of the all the little secrets going on among the inhabitants of 'The Lot' (however, it does suggest that some books fit more than one place). I guess Needful Things will fall into the Urban Gothic & Small Town Paranoia category as well as Salem's Lot. I've read them both, though... I might give The Association a try. Bentley Little has been recommended to me and I like to give him a try...

You want me to move I Am Legend to the Post Apocalypse category? Fine, that makes room for The Summoning or Dead City. They both sound interesting!

Island was the title I was thinking of, when I came up with this category. I'm reading it right now. It's hilarious! By the way, nice review you gave the book. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon would also fit nicely into the Into The Wild, Lost & Marooned category. But I have read that one too!

I like your recommendations for the Psychos & Serial Killer category. Sleepyhead is a candidate that will most likely make it to the final list.

You're absolutely right! I simply need another category!! It will be Aliens, Things & Science Gone Wrong. Maybe I should move Infected to this category. Also, I should really choose between The Tommyknockers and Dreamcatcher or my reading list will be Stephen King all over. Maybe Invasion of The Body Snatchers belongs here too...

Anyway, that leaves room for only five wild cards.

#5: I would love to try Harvest Home and December! However, both titles seem to be very hard to find here in Europe! I will keep an eye out for both, though...

#6: I have ordered The Other from Amazon. It appears to have been reissued with a foreword by Ramsey Campbell! I hope it wil be in the mail before new years eve! It will go into the Psychos, Evil Family & Serial Killer category.

Thank you very much for your suggestions. I guess it will soon enough be time for a status review of my reading list! :)

#7, Oops! I didn't notice that you already had I Am Legend listed. Oh well, I'd still say it belongs in Post Apocalyptic anyway.

Do give Bentley Little a try. He's worth a read. Watch out though. He isn't consistent in his quality. The Association and The Summoning are both good ones though.

I'd choose The Tommyknockers over Dreamcatcher, though they are both good books.

Oh! And thanks for the compliment on my Island review.

I can't really add any value as the recommendations above are excellent. But for psychos and Serial Killers you might want to try Richard Laymon's Endless Night or Come Out Tonight. What Richard Laymon lacks in literary value, he makes up for with brutal and often humorous storytelling. Endless Night's phycho serial killers are especially brutal.

Now that I think about it Quake is a sick but fun read as well. His Stanley character certainly falls in the pyscho territory.

Thank you all for the fine suggestions! At the half-way point my reading list goes like this:

1. Haunted Houses & Spooky Places
The Haunting of Hill House. The classic by Shirley Jackson.
The Shining. Another classic by Stephen King.
Age of Consent by Howard Mittelmark. Suggested by 'Jseger9000'. Based on his review it made the list.
Pet Sematary by Stephen King. Yet another classic 'bout a spooky place.
Creepers by David Morrell also seems to fit the category perfectly well.

2. Short Story Collections
Alone With The Horrors by Ramsey Campbell, who's one of my favorite authors.
Bradbury Stories. Classic tales by Ray Bradbury.
Stephen King has mentioned Richard Matheson as »the author who influenced me most as a writer«. Both of them are on my list with Skeleton Crew and Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.
Books of Blood by Clive Barker.

3. Vampires, Werewolves & Zombies
13 Bullets by David Wellington. According to Scott C. Sigler »13 BULLETS is to vampire stories what lethal gladiatorial games are to formalized boxing. If you want blood, you got it«. I'm looking forward to this one!!
Cell by Stephen King, Dead City by Joe McKinney - thank you 'Jseger9000' - and The Dead Parade by James Roy Daley. Three zombie stories.
Nightwalker by Thomas Tessier. A semi-classic of werewolf flavour.

4. Into The Wild, Lost & Marooned
Lord of The Flies. The classic by William Golding.
Deliverance by James Dickey. Also a classic! I remember the movie, which made quite an impression on me!!
The Backwoods by Edward Lee. It was mentioned here on LT lately.
Off Season was suggested by 'Jseger9000' and made it to the list. I did want to give Jack Ketchum a try.
The Woods Are Dark. Because I have recently enjoyed reading Richard Laymon.

5. Post Apocalypse & Dystopian
The Stand and Swan Song. Two epic classics by Stephen King and Robert McCammon.
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. Also a classic!
Earth Abides by George R. Steward. Yet another classic in its genre.
In time, The Road by Cormac McCarthy may be one as well.

6. Ghosts & Demons
Bag of Bones and Lisey's Story by Stephen King. I guess they will complement each other nicely.
The Parasite by Ramsey Campbell. It has been sitting on my shelves a long time now.
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill was recommended by 'GeorgiaDawn'. Thank You!
A Brief History of The Dead by Kevin Brockmeier. Based on a LT review by 'blackdogbooks'. Thanks!

7. Psychos, Evil Family & Serial Killers.
Koko by Peter Straub, suggested by 'Jseger9000', also made the list.
Secret Story by Ramsey Campbell is a fairly new book by a favorite author of mine.
The Other by Thomas Tryon was suggested by Phlox72. Thank You!
Come Out Tonight by Richard Laymon could be an entertaining read. It was suggested by 'timdt'. Thanks!
The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston. A slightly different book. Non-fiction about a serial killer! Based on another 'blackdogbooks' review here at LT.

8. Urban Gothic, Noir & Small Town Paranoia
Rosemary's Baby. The classic by Ira Levin.
'Jseger9000' put in a good word for Floating Dragon by Peter Straub and The Association by Bentley Little.
Live Girls by Ray Garton has been sitting on my 'to be read' pile for quite a long time.
Night in The Lonesome October. One more by Richard Laymon to keep the spirits up!

9. Aliens, Things From Beyond & Science Gone Terribly Wrong
The Tommyknockers and Dreamcatcher by Stephen King. I was tempted to leave one of them out, but Stephen King is a favorite author of mine, and I have not read any of these yet. Once again, thanks to 'Jseger9000' for the recommendations!
Infected by Scott C. Sigler has received some really fine reviews. This one must be good!!
Invasion of The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney. A classic!
Monstrosity by Edward Lee. Well, I guess it fits the category, but this one can be either 'hit or miss' based on the reviews I've read!!

Thank you all for the suggestions!! Please notice I still need runners-up for all categories to comply with the '50 pages rule' if necessary. It's the rule requires you to quit reading if you don't like what you read... :)

Edited for typos and correcting a couple of misleading touchstones.

Message edited by its author, Nov 16, 2008, 6:32am.

Well, I'm having such great fun, I decided to throw in three more categories. That will make a total of 60 books and a big challenge!!

To sum up the categories:

1. Haunted Houses, The Graveyard & Other Grisly Places
2. Short Story Collections
3. Vampires, Werewolves & Zombies
4. Into The Wild & Lost in The Woods
5. Post Apocalypse
6. The Ghost & The Paranormal
7. Psychos, Evil Family & Serial Killers
8. Urban Gothic, Noir & Small Town Paranoia
9. Things from Beyond & Science Gone Terribly Wrong

Extra categories will be:

10. Old Friends & Growing Up With The Horrors

And the candidates so far are: It by Stephen King, Summer of Night by Dan Simmons and The Bleeding Season by Greg F. Gifune.

11. Speak of The Devil & Other Demons

Suggestions for this category would be: The Damnation Game by Clive Barker, The Regulators by Richard Bachman and Desperation by Stephen King (thanks to 'jseger9000').

12. Horror Vintage

Suggestions: Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin, The Omen by David Seltzer, The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty and The Other by Thomas Tryon.

Message edited by its author, Nov 16, 2008, 6:28am.

What an incredible idea, Locke! I tried doing the 888 challenge, but that didn't really work for me. ;) I don't really have any suggestions, but I just wanted to wish you luck! :)

Ok, I lied. ;) I have a couple suggestions from my library for "Speak of The Devil & Other Demons":

* City Infernal and/or Infernal Angel and/or House Infernal (a trilogy) by Edward Lee

* Master of Lies by Graham Masterton (if you can stomach the first chapter, the rest is a piece of cake)

Another possible category could be Ancient Evil,

I'm thinking books like The Manitou and The Keep and also Bram Stoker's Jewel of Seven Stars. I am sure their are others....

Locke,

I hope you are a reading fool. There's so many good suggestions here.

Locke, I wish you luck on your endeavor. This is a really good list. I tried to read 50 books this year as well, but am only at 40 and probably will not reach 50. But your challenge is unique in that you are trying to identify those 50 up front.

I would find that as my TBR would grow, my priority of what I wanted to read next changed often. I blame that (and thank) all of the great recommendations from members here on librarything. I'm not sure I would be disciplined enough to stick with a predetermined list of books throughout the year. Create a Locke's Challenge and keep us up to date on how things go and your view of each of the books.

BTW, Boy's Life would be a good addition to your extra category of
Old Friends & Growing Up With The Horrors. Is 51 books too much?

#16 & 17:

You are both right!

The project already begins to seem a little overwhelming!! It would be fun, though, to find the most interesting categories among the ones that are 'in play' right now; maybe I should just stick to a few of them in order to keep my options open for 'the right book at the right time' as mood and priorities changes...

My favorite categories are right now: 'The Ghost', 'Hometown Horrors' and 'Post Apocalypse' (would love to re-read Watership Down by Richard Adams in this connection)

Well, guess I'm not that disciplined after all! But thank you all for your suggestions; I've added a lot of new books to my ever growing wishlist... :)

And yes! Boy's Life is one of them!!......

Message edited by its author, Nov 17, 2008, 4:12pm.

That's amazing! First, I could NEVER plan that far ahead and not have my reading list change about a thousand times. Second, what if something great comes out next year and it's not on the list? Anyway, amazing idea, great plan and terrific list of books! Good Luck!

Message edited by its author, Nov 20, 2008, 12:07pm.

#19: You're absolutely right! I'm already thinking that! Guess I was just kinda exploring the idea of themed reading, which I still consider to be quite an interesting thing to do...

Since I'm sure that you need yet more recommendations, I remembered an odd vampire book that I really enjoyed called Vampyrrhic.

I'm laughing sooooo hard right now because every time I think of Vampyrrhic I picture the gross bald vampire on the cover and it gives me the giggles.

Oh man, tell me about it! I remember hiding the cover as I read it (and I read the novelization of Iron Man out in public and wrote a review, so I have very little shame) because that Vampyrrhic cover screams 'Look at me! I'm lurid!'

Message edited by its author, Nov 21, 2008, 1:22pm.

*adds Vampyrrhic to wishlist just for the cover*

Yeah, imagine reading:



on the morning commute to work!... :)

Message edited by its author, Nov 22, 2008, 3:44am.

#25 - Yeah, imagine reading: Vampyrrhic on the morning commute to work!... :)

I did!

Yeah, the cover is a sort of love it and hate it kinda thing. But I do have to say that the book was pretty good.

Hmmm. I'd better not read it on the morning commute. But maybe I could flash the cover at the other drivers and it would scare them out of my way!

#27: Depending on the temper of the other drivers in your neighborhood, this one may be more suitable:

#28: While driving? Excellent idea. ;) Actually, I can think of a few drivers in my neighborhood who need that. Or we just need massive speed bumps on the roads.

I'm sure you're overwhelmed already, but my FAVOURITE disturbing book (fit it in where you can) - Let's Go Play at the Adams's.

Five kids kidnap their babysitter, with shocking consequences...

Oh, sounds great, Moomin_Mama. That one's definitely going on my wish list! Thanks. :)

Saraslibrary - if you like disturbing books, there's a group with a growing library of disturbing work:

http://www.librarything.com/groups/mostd...

With different people being disturbed by different things, there's something for everything in there.

Locke - I love the idea of your reading list. Really inspiring, could easily be turned into a list of required reading for each particular sub-genre or subject (one early example, a classic that defined the genre, pulp example that follows the tradition, short story collection, and most comtemporary twist, etc). What a great way to follow the development of each subject. I've never planned a reading list but I might try something like that next year.

Edit - something for everyONE, not everyTHING (although on a horror thread, I might have had it right the first time)...

Message edited by its author, Dec 4, 2008, 5:32am.

Great thread, Moomin, thanks! I just joined it, btw. And you're right, everyTHING probably applies here. ;)

dont read The Tommyknockers. It's horrible :S. Stephen King was wrestling with addictions when he was writing it. so it's realllly bad.

#34 ScribbleScribe - I didn't know that. It explains a lot though.

#34 - I disagree. I quite liked The Tommyknockers myself. I've been meaning to reread that one.

Yeah, he was struggling with some stuff as he wrote it, but that wasn't the only book. Remember, he struggled with those addictions for years. In an interview with him, he stated that he doesn't remember one bit about writing Cujo because he was so out of it. Still, not many people would recommend passing that one up.

I actually think King's pre-recovery books are better than his post-recovery books. While I personally think Tommyknockers is his weakest book, I don't think you can put it down to addiction. I think his best books were also written during the addiction years.

For the most part, I don't think he handles alien science fiction well. I also didn't care for Dreamcatcher. I think he does much better with the very ancient myths about good and evil--vampires, bad places, the devil, etc.

All this anti-Tommyknockers stuff makes me wonder if I just happened to be reading it in the right place at the right time (on a plane during vacation).

Once our SK reading group works up to that book again, I hope I'm not too disappointed with it.

Then again, I also really liked some of his other less than popular works like Desperation and The Regulators and really don't like The Stand or The Dark Tower stuff so much, so maybe I'm getting something different out of his books.

Message edited by its author, Feb 1, 2009, 11:26pm.

I've read The Tommyknockers twice and really enjoyed it, but that was many years ago and it will be interesting to see what I make of it now.

To be fair, I haven't read Tommyknockers in decades, and I think it came out at a time when King was producing one masterpiece after another. It's possible that I just didn't like it compared to things like The Shining and Pet Sematery. They can't all be gems.

I've also always wondered if it's something of a gender thing. Partly I didn't like Tommyknockers because I didn't care for the protagonist, and she's one of King's few female protagonists. I also didn't like Rose Madder and Gerald's Game, and lots of other women I know felt the same. Maybe, because I'm a woman, the female protagonists just don't ring true to me. (I exclude Donna Trenton from this, because I love her.)

Then again, it may mean nothing. I really liked Insomnia, and it gets lots of bad press with the fans, so there's an element of plain old personal taste there.

#40 - Hmm... I disliked Insomnia, wasn't crazy about Gerald's Game (except for the creepy guy with the box. That image has struck with me) and Rose Madder was one of the few King books I left unfinished.

This means... nothing I guess. His fans have a wide range of taste I suppose.

About the gender thing, what did you think of Dolores Claiborne? I haven't read that one yet myself, but the movie is one of the best adaptations I've seen of King's work.

I didn't actively dislike Delores Claiborne, but I don't recommend it to people. The movie diverges in certain ways from the book. (For one thing, it gives you the daughter as a way into the story--the book doesn't.) When I think back on what I thought was King's best work, it seems like the protagonists are all fundamentally like him in important ways--Jack Torrance, Louis Creed, Alan Pangborn. Even though they're different from each other, they're still permutations of the author.

I suppose the notable exception would be Carrie, but that book is so radically different from his other work. It's almost a third person objective narrator or at the very least a third person composite. Still, it is very much a "woman's book," and I think he handles the subject matter admirably.

So I don't know. Like you, I'm looking forward to having an excuse to re-read Tommyknockers. I may feel very differently this time around.