March ScaredyKit- Haunted Places

This should be a fun month for ScaredyKit, as the theme includes one of the major horror tropes, the haunted house.
Haunted places are anywhere that supernatural occurrences are tied to, so hotels, taverns, cemeteries...any specific location.
Here are a few ideas:
The Turn of the Screw
Horrorstor
The Ghost and Mrs Muir- good choice if you want something not too scary
Twelve Nights at Rotter House
The Grip of It
The Haunting of Hill House
Her Fearful Symmetry
The Shining
The Woman in Black
The Little Stranger
The Graveyard Book
Anya's Ghost
No One's Home
This House is Haunted
The Other Child
The Invited
Locke & Key: Alpha & Omega
The Ruin
The Twilight Pariah
Joplin's Ghost
The Bus on Thursday

And here are some Non-Fiction:
The Amityville Horror
Spook: Science Tackles Afterlife
Haunted Places: The National Directory
America's Most Haunted Places
This House is Haunted: The True Story of the Endfield Poltergeist
Hell House and Other True Hauntings from Around the World
Haunted Ground: Ghost Photos from the Gettysburg Battlefield

Let us know what you'll be reading and how scary it is. Happy haunting!

I'll be reading Twelve Nights at Rotter House.

I'm planning to read Horrorstor.

I'll be reading The Haunting of Hill House.

I love a good haunting! I am going to be reading No One's Home by D.M. Pulley.

I have a recommendation (still need to figure out what I'll read).

This House is Haunted by John Boyne.

Made my favourites the year I read it.

These are my options:

The Other Child by Joanne Fluke
The Invited by Jennifer McMahon
Locke & Key: Alpha & Omega by Joe Hill

I think I'll try to get to The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan.

Lots of great suggestions here and I've added them to the list.
>7 LibraryCin: I've read the Locke & Key series and have the new show in my Netflix queue but haven't watched yet.

>9 mstrust: I'm not sure how many volumes are in the series, but I imagine I'll keep going until it's done. I have also added the Netflix series to my wish list there, but hard to say when/if I'll get to it!

>6 LibraryCin: I'll likely take you up on that recommendation!

This is one of my favorite categories, so I'll see how many reads I can squeeze into March. I already finished one (short) one this month: The Twilight Pariah by Jeffrey Ford.

I think that Hell House & Other True Hauntings From Around the World from my TBR will work for this month.

>11 sturlington: Hope you like it!

>6 LibraryCin: I second the recommendation of This House Is Haunted. I read it last year.

I have had The Bus On Thursday by Shirley Barrett waiting for this topic since a few people recommended it. Looking forward to it!

If you would like a 1920's period piece, Joplin's Ghost is really good! This is not a hard "Haunted place" work, but the major location is a recording studio. It is of course, a haunted piano within the studio.

>15 Tess_W: I think I have this book. My step-father was a Joplin.

I have Haunted Ground: Ghost Photos from the Gettysburg Battlefield by Hollister Ann Grant on my Kindle. It may be largely photographic, but I'm sure it contains some text and will work nicely for this challenge.

>10 LibraryCin: I've read six of the Locke & Key series and it seemed to have a complete story with an ending, but I see there's a seventh now.

I've updated the list. Lots of stuff here that's new to me!

Here's another haunted house book - White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi.

I also wonder if Rebecca would count? A couple more that came up in my library when I searched on variations of haunted are Slade House, The Thirteenth Tale, The Thief of Always and Maynards House.

Also, Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher would fit.

I'm thinking I'll read The Thief of Always since it gives me a C for AlphaKIT.

I am reading Haunted Norman, Oklahoma by Jeff Provine. This is a local town and places I could visit.

>20 LisaMorr: If you are undecided I recommend The Thirteenth Tale.

>20 LisaMorr: It's been so many years since I read Rebecca that I can't even remember if the house was haunted or more the people who lived there. It had a general haunted quality. Maybe someone who has read it more recently can answer that, but it's probably a good "haunted place" choice.
I can't believe that I forgot to list Slade House. I read it last year and really liked it, and it's definitely a haunted place. And yes to The Fall of the House of Usher! You know Poe has to fit into this theme somewhere.

>21 lowelibrary: Spooky hometown stuff is cool!
>20 LisaMorr: >22 lowelibrary: I'm almost positive I have The Thirteenth Tale on my shelf and didn't know what it's about.

Have you made your spooky choice?
I'm deep into Twelve Nights at Rotter House and really liking this modern haunted house story.

>23 mstrust: Maybe it's not a literal ghost but Manderley definitely seems like it would fit as a haunted place to me as well.

>24 mstrust: Love that spooky photo!

Thanks and thanks, Shannon!

I've finished Twelve Nights at Rotter House and posted my review. Recommended. It's both scary and sometimes funny, as two friends spend twelve days inside an infamously haunted house. If that isn't bad enough, the electricity doesn't work, so they're in the dark the whole time with just flashlights and a lantern.

>26 mstrust: A haunted house with only flashlights and a lantern - that's like those crazy vampire hunters who can't seem to get up in the morning and go vampire hunting so late in the day that the sun is already setting!

The characters spend some time discussing how stupid television ghost hunters are :-D.

Finished This House Is Haunted by John Boyne, recommended by someone up above, so thank you.

An homage to the Victorian ghost story, especially The Turn of the Screw. Boyne runs with the classic tropes of a governess arriving at her mysterious place of employment, a ramshackle country estate, where she encounters two sometimes creepy children and many secrets to be uncovered. There's even a hint of romance as well as many other gothic elements I won't mention to avoid spoilers (but you'll certainly be reminded of Jane Eyre and Rebecca as well). I think this novel would make a good movie, especially the climactic scenes. While I found this short little yarn to be entertaining, I don't think Boyne was doing anything particularly new with the form. Still, I'm always in the mood for a ghost story. 3.5*

I'm halfway through The Bus on Thursday and the creepiness has just started. It could have a lot of the same description as >29 sturlington:: a teacher arrives at her mysterious place of employment, it's isolated, there's a secret to uncover. I'm enjoying it a lot.

I enjoyed my choice for this theme, No One's Home by D. M. Pulley, which was a combination murder mystery and ghost story. The author didn't go over the top with the story, allowing the eerie elements to provide the chills.

Finished The Bus on Thursday and highly recommend it, though it isn't a great fit for the "haunted places" theme. I'm going to check our upcoming list and see if it's a better fit for another month. But again, recommended. It's crazy and features horror themes.
***
Okay, there are a couple of good fits for The Bus on Thursday. June is "Cryptids and Legendary Creatures" and September is "International" (the story is Australian).

>32 mstrust: I had The Bus On Thursday down for this month too as I had read that the town was haunted. Maybe I better change it! Now I am wondering what creature is in it to make it fit in June's theme!

I can see how a reader could interpret it as the town being haunted, as there's a lot about the story that can't be pinned down. I considered that as an option but came away with a different opinion because of some of the events. It just seemed, to me, like that couldn't be the answer. Sorry to be cryptic, I'd love to go into detail because it's such an insane story, but the book is open to interpretation on several key points, so that for me to give away something, like what creature is involved, would be both a spoiler and just my opinion.

>34 mstrust: It is sounding more and more intriguing! Certainly don't want any spoilers as I am expecting a read that I won't want to put down. I am really looking forward to reading it, no matter which category it ends up in!

I did end up changing it as my library hold still hasn't arrived anyway. I now have The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Simmonds.

>35 JayneCM: Ooh, that is an old favorite of mine.

>32 mstrust: You've piqued my interest also with The Bus on Thursday!

>32 mstrust: & >37 LisaMorr: I second recommendations for The Bus on Thursday, it was excellent.

April thread, paranormal, is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/317751#

Just a plug for a great spooky author. J.W. Ocker has a new non-fiction coming out in September: https://www.amazon.com/Cursed-Objects-Strange-Stories-Infamous/dp/1683692365/ref...

Well, my self-quarantine and the closing of my public libraries means the books I had on hold won't be coming in, so I guess it's time to read The Shining and try not to think too much about how I'm alone in a big house in the snowy woods trying to get "work done."

>41 Tafadhali: Hope it isn't too scary! I have it on my list as well and I just know I will be seeing Jack Nicholson the whole time!

>41 Tafadhali: Ha, that's a creepy situation! You'll have earned a patch for bravery when you finish.

>41 Tafadhali: If you're alone at least you won't become a threat to your family if you lose it so I guess that's a good point. ;)
I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts about The Shining. It has sat on my wishlist for a long time and I plan to read it on the month dedicated to Stephen King.

>41 Tafadhali: I was looking on Sunday to see what I wanted to read for all my challenges in April. Then, the libraries all closed as of Monday! I do a mix of print, ebook and audio, usually. Often the print is quickest and easiest to get my hands on. Also, sometimes my library only has the print.

I will need to double check all my April challenges (probably this weekend), and possibly change what I think I'll read for whichever ones I'd intended to pick up a print copy of the book for. :-(

I was wondering about our main branch library so checked their website and found that all the Phoenix libraries have been shut down.
Anyone who hasn't tried BookMooch?

I'm hoping I'll be able to get ebooks from the library for next month, but I may need to do some improvising!

So far I'm enjoying The Shining, though I've read the beginning before. The Kubrick film has always left me a bit cold, in part because Jack Nicholson feels so unhinged right from the get go, so I'm looking forward to seeing Stephen King's slightly more tragic take -- at the beginning, you do get the feeling that Jack (Torrance, not Nicholson) is really trying to change his life for the better, and I know King felt like that aspect was lost in the adaptation.

Strangely enough, I seem to read less since the beginning of the confinement here than before. It makes me wonder what I do with my time.

I still managed to finish The woman in Black by Susan Hill, recommended by mstrust in the thread intro. I really liked this book and it spooked me more than many other reads for this KIT did. The story is rather classical: a worker in a law firm goes to sort the papers of an old woman after she dies, and guess what? The house is haunted! But the book is very well written and exudes a really frightening atmosphere. This is a short book (approx. 130 pages) that achieves its purpose really well.

>47 Tafadhali: >48 chlorine: I have both The Shining and The Woman In Black on hold at the library but my library is shutting indefinitely from 5pm tonight. I think they will just sit in some sort of hold limbo, floating around somewhere, until the libraries re-open!

>49 JayneCM: Too bad you weren't able to get your books before the library closes down! Paris has a digital library but unfortunately I forgot to renew my membership before everything closed down. :p Luckily if need be I should still be able to borrow some books through friends and family accounts.

>50 chlorine: I will have to try and see what I have on my shelves as well!

>48 chlorine: I'm so glad you liked it! It's a scary story that really delivers.

If you have both a Kindle and a Prime membership, you can download a whole slew of books for free right now. These include new fiction and short stories, but also classics like Dracula, Frankenstein and The Invisible Man.

Not a ghost story per se, but it's definitely about a house that is haunted by some pretty weird things, so I'm going to count The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher for this month's theme. Here's my summary--you can read my full review on my thread, but it may be a little spoilery:

The setup for this horror story is that Mouse returns to the home of her detestable but now dead grandmother in rural North Carolina to clean out her house--her grandmother was a hoarder. She finds her step-grandfather's diary and a manuscript he wrote about a missing book and mysterious white people in the woods. I rated it 3.5*.

I finished The Thief of Always by Clive Barker this morning. I've never read any of Barker's YA and at first I thought this book was a little too juvenile for me. The main character Harvey Swick was just a little too annoying in the beginning, but maybe that was on purpose? I kept with it and it turned out to be pretty good.

Harvey is bored to tears with the February blues - Christmas was too long ago and Easter is too far away. He's hoping and wishing for something to happen, and of course it does - he gets invited to the Holiday House, where he gets everything he wishes for and more. And of course, there's a catch.

Clive Barker scared the beejezus out of me years ago with one of the Books of Blood stories and I've never picked up his horror again. ;-D This sounds like a good one though.

>56 mstrust: He does write some pretty creepy stuff!

I did a tag mash and The Name of the Star came up. It is a YA book by Maureen Johnson, with a lot of ghosts but I guess it also includes some haunted places so this is my book for this months kit.

The Other Child / Joanne Fluke
4 stars

It’s 1972. Karen and Mike have only been married a few years. Karen had a daughter before Mike; Leslie is now 10 years old. They want to move out of the city and fall in love with an old fixer-upper out in a nearby small town. But things change after they move... and not for the better. Karen was an interior designer before she married Mike, so she takes on the renovation project for the house. Leslie has a hard time fitting in with the local kids, but she makes a friend in the resident ghost, Christopher. Although Mike is still working his photography job for a magazine, he falls back into some old bad habits.

So, this is an older book of this author’s, published in 1983, I think before she started writing cozies. The writing seemed a bit odd at times, and Leslie (at times) seemed much older than she was, but overall, I liked the story. Not only that, I really liked what she did with the ending. Creepy... (Interesting - some didn’t like the ending, yet it increased the star rating for me.)

I've finished book three in the Supernatural series that is a tie-in to the tv show. The books are all original stories. Bone Key is set in Key West, which is famous for it's ghost sightings. This book fits into both this month's theme, as there are several haunted houses, and next month's paranormal theme, as there's a homicidal possessed doll.