October 2025 ScaredyKit-Gothic

photo from https://www.abirpothi.com/let-there-be-light-the-stylistic-elements-of-gothic-ar...

The age-old debate--what is gothic? I'll go with Webster: Gothic literature is a literary genre blending horror and romance, characterized by mystery, fear, and supernatural elements within settings like decaying castles or secluded estates. Emerging from the Romantic movement in the 18th century, it uses dark, picturesque scenery and intense emotions to explore themes of death, terror, and the past. You choose your own definition!

Some examples of gothic literature (according to online sources):
The Castle of Otranto
Wuthering Heights
The Turn of the Screw
Dracula
Frankenstein
The Monk
Rebecca
Hemlock Silver
The Hounding (I just read this, rated 4 stars)
Nine Coaches Waiting
Valley of Nightmares
Mistress of Mellyn
The Historian
The Short Life of Sparrows
The Haunting of Hill House
Other Voices, Other Rooms
The Shadow Wife
The Sound and the Fury

What will you be reading? What can you recommend?

Wiki if you will: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2025_ScaredyKIT

I will read The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson. It is tagged gothic-horror, and I love The Lottery, which is the only Shirley Jackson story I have read.

I am planning on reading Daughters of the Lake by Wendy Webb.

Northanger Abbey comes up on a list of Gothic horror books, but I'm not sure about it. What do you think, >1 Tess_W:? I don't think it would be considered scary.

>4 JayneCM: I'd say go for it!

>5 Tess_W: OK thanks!

I was hoping to read The Spite House by Johnny Compton, which I have on hold in Libby, but my hold on The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell just came in unexpectedly, so I’ll be reading one or both of these.

I've been meaning to read The House at Phantom Park for ages, but finally have it marked for this challenge!

I'm going out on a limb here and am going to try to read Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft. It is tagged as Gothic in LT, and on Amazon says "gothic elements." It's on my shelf! I have doubts about it being gothic, but I'll soon see!

>4 JayneCM: Indeed a Gothic, in that it's a parody of the Gothic novels of the time. The MC has an active, romantic imagination. Very fun, but with some spooky bits.

>4 JayneCM: After reading Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia last month, I'm reading Northanger Abbey too. So far, it's hilarious!

I finished The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell, which was suitably gothic: secluded estate in disrepair with an evil past, heroine in peril, supernatural elements and insanity.

Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman is an unfinished novel by Mary Wollstonecraft, published posthumously in 1798. It was a work of early feminism. The main character, Maria Venables, is confined in a private madhouse by her cruel and manipulative husband, George Venables, who wants to control her and her inheritance. She forms several relationships while in the madhouse and those are the basis for the book. The book shows the oppression of women by society, law, and mental health facilities. The book ends abruptly, as the author died before it was finished. We never find out Maria's fate.

This book is tagged gothic, but I really didn't see the traditional gothic elements. I went to AI to ask it to identify and this is AI's response: ....".the book is considered gothic, although not in a traditional way. The scary house is replaced by the scary mental institution. Like many gothic characters, Maria is declared mad by a male figure, to strip her of her power, the "villain." The novel includes intense emotional suffering, dreams, memories, and reflections—hallmarks of the Gothic novels...."

So, I'm going to count it as a non-traditional gothic read! 102 pages 3.5 stars Oct Scaredy Kit-gothic reads

I finished The Spite House by Johnny Compton, and it was a satisfying, if slightly flawed, page turner of a haunted house story. But I don’t think it was a gothic, as I understand the term, except insofar as any haunted house story might be considered gothic by some, so I won’t be adding it to the wiki to avoid misleading any future users of the list.

November has been posted here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/374647

Just a heads-up that I have created the 2026 Category Challenge group: https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/24919/2026-Category-Challenge. Stop by to get a head start on planning next year's challenge!

(Cross-posted to a bunch of threads; sorry if you see this a thousand times!)

I read The House on Buzzards Bay by Dwyer Murphy.

Was it gothic? I'm not sure. There was an old creepy house and an insular small town. There may or may not have been ghosts. It possibly could have fit in next month's topic of psychological thrillers just as well. But I'm not likely to read another gothic novel this month, so I will count it.

Oh yes, almost forgot--there was also a seance.

Would it recommend it? I had very mixed feelings. I've not been doing super-great with my picks lately.

I have completed my read of Daughters of the Lake by Wendy Webb. This was a gothic mystery/ghost story that was quite convoluted yet held my attention.

Nightmare Abbey is tagged as Gothic, but I am not sure I would qualify it as such. It strikes me more as a satire of the literary fashions of the time of writing (1818), which of course included Gothic, but the author ranges further. It is very entertaining, though, and I enjoyed it a lot.

I read Touch Not the Cat by Mary Stewart, which is a '70s Gothic that I enjoyed very much.

La femme au collier de velours is quite Gothic and a lovely short novel by Alexandre Dumas set during the reign of Terror in Paris 1793.

Witch by Barbara Michaels ★★★

For Ellen March, the secluded old house nestled in the pine woods is more than the dream home she's long been searching for. It's an escape, a chance to start over, to forget the pain of her failed marriage and enjoy the restful pace of small-town living. Here, too, is a golden opportunity to get to know Norman McKay, her handsome and worldly new neighbor. But after dark in Ellen's "perfect" house, strange visions invade her restless mind: silent strangers moving through the twilight shadows, the ghostly figure of a woman, and a spectral white cat. Ellen came here hoping to bury the past, but something terrifying has taken its place. Her safe haven has become her prison, and there is no escape.

When I think gothic, I think Barbara Michaels. While the story started good, about halfway through I figured out where it was heading, and then it quickly became predictable.

The Turn of the Screw

There are several reasons why I might not have connected with this story. Sentences are long and convoluted, and the horror of the story depends mostly on a Victorian sense of spiritual corruption of innocent children, which is not really a perspective I subscribe to or therefore have strong reactions about. I also, as mentioned previously in this thread, don't really get scared by books in the first place.

I wanted to enjoy this; I know it's a classic. It was just okay, and I spent most of my reading time waiting for the scary part to happen.