Our top horror books

d2vge got me thinking talking about Horror:100 best books. I can see top books the group share but they aren't necessarily favourites. What would be the top 100 horror books recommended by the thingamabrarians? It would be interesting to see what common books are thrown up as well as recommendations I've not heard of or considered.

My top book still is Naomi's Room by Jonathan Aycliffe. I just love the creepiness of it and have yet to read anything to beat it. I'm a bit biased really because number two on my list is probably The Matrix by the same author (won't touchstone though - what a travesty!)

Wow, what a good topic. But I hate having to come up with a list like that. Let me give it some thought. It makes me want to go skimming through my old bookshelves, remembering favorites...

I would say that since this list is just for 'Top horror books' we shouldn't go out of our way to find more obscure books unless those obscure books really are also your favorites, yes?

Okay, since I'm bad at rating things against each other, I figure I'll mention favorite writers and pick favorites from each.

First up (of course) is Stephen King. He looms over all for damn good reason. The folks bad mouthing him (for the most part) seem to me to be the ones who don't want to like anything 'popular' regardless of quality. He has som many books that I thought were terrific, but the three that spring to mind for me are:

It - A masterpiece of horror by any standard. Very long, yes, but when I read through it, it never felt bloated or padded.

Desperation - Not a popular one with a lot of people, but the spooky ghost town setting and the China pit have really stuck with me. Plus it was nice to see Stephen King writing a story in the desert rather than small town Maine. (If you do read Desperation, do yourself a favor and follow it up immediately with The Regulators. I prefer Desperation, but the two together compliment each other and each makes the other better.)

Skeleton Crew - I wasn't sure if short story collections count or not.. Do they bibliobeck? I hope so, because this collection was my first Stephen King and has some of his best stuff. The Mist alone has got to count as a favorite.
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Peter Straub - A real class act. He writes very intelligent horror stories. He isn't afraid to be dense, but he doesn't back away from wading hip-deep into horror.

Ghost Story - This is my favorite from him. I remember reading how he wrote this after being heavily inspired by 'Salem's Lot. He did such a good job of telling his story of a town under seige by evil. Avoid the movie though!

Mr. X - His homage/parody to H.P. Lovecraft's writing. Another novel with a large cast of well done characters that covers a big stretch of time while telling an almost Southern Gothic tale of family secrets and sinister goings' on. There were big sections (especially in the beginning) where I was lost and treading water. He does reward you though, pulling it all together.

Floating Dragon - I wasn't sure if I should pick this one or Koko, but I love supernatural horror. Floating Dragon is a book where Peter Straub just let himself go. He jam-packs several novels worth of good ideas into this one. Serial killers, haunted mirrors, melting flesh and the ghost of Ichabod Crane are just very small slivers of the horror in this one.
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Bentley Little - A personal favorite. When I first read the synopsis for a few of his books, I thought they were horror-comedies. He may not be for everybody, but he draws horror out of the unlikeliest places.

The Ignored - My first Bentley Little book. He takes the theme of our our growing homogeneity and turns it into a tour de force of horror. What if you could be so bland, so inside the norm with your tastes in clothes, favorite music, movies, etc that you became invisible?

The Summoning - I generally avoid vampire stories like the plague, but Bentley Little manages to make his vamp story something unique.

The Association - Bentley Little took his very real battles with a homeowners association and cranks out his revenge in this very entertaining horror story.
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Joe R. Lansdale - From my adopted home state of Texas. Joe can write very well in many different genres.

The Drive-In - A group of folks attending a horror film festival wind up trapped in a drive-in when a smiling comet whisks it to another dimension. And that's just the beginning! (I have The Drive-In: A Double Feature Omnibus which containes the first book and its sequel. For me the sequel didn't hold up to the fist one.

The Nightrunners - The only well written book I've ever had to put down. It was an excellent book, one I'm not afraid to recommend, but it was just too bleak and disturbing for me.
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I have to give honorable mention to Off Season. I just finished reading that one. Quick and nasty, it reminded me (in a good way) off a good 80's splatter movie. It's become an instant classic for me.

Sorry for my long post here. Also sorry for shifting into 'pretentious critic mode' a few times.

I agree js - no obscure ones unless they are favourites and then of course they must be included. Short story collections - absolutely! In fact I'm just interested in anything that anyone considers a favourite.

It's interesting to compare - King is an absolute favourite of mine. My first read at 13 was The Shining (sneaky under the desk readings during RE classes...seems so inappropriate now!) and this, along with The Stand still feature as favourite books, but Desperation not so much.

I'm loving the critiques - I think I have Floating Dragon somewhere but I haven't read it. This makes me want to though so I'm going to see if I can find it. I think if you haven't read (or heard) of a book or author before it can help to have a few explanatory lines. It's also interesting to see what makes a favourite for someone, much more enjoyable that just a list of books.

#4 - Biblio,

Yeah, I know Desperation isn't a popular favorite. But something about it has just stuck with me. I'll have to update my original post to add in The Regulators since I think it it isn't great on its own, but pulls off such a neat trick with Desperation.

A couple of favorites that just aren't high on my personal list are 'Salem's Lot (sorry, the Nosferatu from the mini-series was much cooler than the goofy Bela Lugosi thing in the book) and The Stand which I liked but didn't love.

I've loved a good horror book from the time I first picked up The Talisman by King and Straub back in the early 80's. However, I haven't found anything that scares me anymore so I'm looking forward to finding and reading Naomi's Room. Thanks for recommending it.

I want to chime in hear as well. I'll try to do this off the top of my head quickly as those that always stay at the surface of my memory as horror novels that kept me coming back looking for more. Although I'm sure my list will cover some of the standards in the genre, hopefully they jog others memory of books to add to the list.

Stephen King: It, The Stand (There are so many, but these I enjoyed the most. Love that apocalyptic stuff)
Dan Simmons: Summer of Night (I also like that coming of age story that some authors have used as backdrop to horror).
Robert McCammon: Boy's Life, Swan Song (There are other McCammon, but these were very good).
Dean Koontz: Watchers, Lightning (I've grown very tired of Koontz, but I really enjoyed Watchers immensely. I wonder if it would hold up over time as I've aged.)
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child: Relic (Cool monster story).

In addition to those mentioned I like Phil Rickman a lot and I think his best is December, which involves a musical in England doing a recording in a castle with an ugly history.

The top of my list for horror has to be Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill followed very closely by one of his dad's books, It by Stephen King. I love King's books, but I don't find them particularly scary in the "stay up at night" sense. The two I've mentioned were in that category!

So, how strict are the guidelines? Should we stick to mainstream horror works from the last 50 years? Does it matter if it wasn't marketed strictly as horror? Is a little bit of obscurity okay as long as I'm not recommending some 1926 Polish horror novel that's never been translated and hasn't been in print since 1978?

Also, how about particularly brilliant short stories that are in not so great collections?

I would have to mention December as well. I also think Candlenight (or Crybbe in the UK) is one of Rickman's best horror novels.

It's probably already on all the "best of" lists, but I have to say The Haunting of Hill House is one of the best written horror novels ever.

Maybe my personal favorite ever is Harvest Home. I also love Robert Marasco's Burnt Offerings and Leiber's Conjure Wife, and I think The Exorcist is one of the most genuinely spiritual books I've ever read.

As for Stephen King, I have to go with The Shining as his "best" horror novel and probably Cujo as my favorite.

And I'm glad someone mentioned Relic. That book was great fun, perfectly paced--just a really great read.

I got a little carried away. I'll shut up now. :-)

Bentley,

Crybbe in the UK is Curfew in the US. Candlenight is a completely different book. (I started looking into Phil Rickman after quartzite recommended him.)

One question, is Phil Rickman a 'quiet horror' author in the vein of Thomas Tryon, T.E.D. Klein, Ramsey Campbell and Charles L. Grant?

I'm asking because when it's at it's best (The Ceremonies or Harvest Home) quiet horror can be effective, but then I've read stuff like Midnight Sun and Hour of the Oxrun Dead that really just got on my nerves.

#9 - Carlos,

Well, this is bibiobeck's thread, so I guess he's the authority. I'd say if you consider it a horror story it counts. I would have no problem recommending old Weird Tales collections or other obscure material if I felt that was some of the best horror I'd ever read. I guess I just have fairly mainstream (and modern) tastes.

I would think that since he titled this 'Our Top Horror Books' it ought to be the collection that is listed, no? If we start listing individual stories, maybe it opens the field a bit too much. But saying Skeleton Crew is great, my favorite story was 'Survivor Type' would work.

I'd say Rickman is quiet horror.

Great thread idea, bibliobeck! And I'm totally with you on Naomi's Room (as I've already raved about to you at length, I think.)

My other favourites are:
* The Haunting of Hill House: cliché choice, I know, but I love it.
* just about any of Richard Matheson's short story collections (Nightmare at 20,000 Feet is a good one). Words cannot express how much I love his writing. I like his novels too, but his stories are amazing.
* Patrick McGrath's Grotesque or Spider: very weird psychological horror. His collection Blood and Water and Other Tales is also really good.
* Patricia Highsmith's collection The snailwatcher and other stories, especially the title story and "The Terrapin". Again, purely psychological, but some of the stuff she comes up with really gets to me.
* The Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books: yeah, they're for kids, but some of the stories from these three books have stuck with me for, like, 25 years.
* Any Algernon Blackwood collection that includes The Wendigo.
* The obligatory Stephen King: I'd go with The Shining, Desperation, or Dreamcatcher (purely for its WTF?! factor)
* The Ring series by Koji Suzuki: admittedly, I only got into this series after watching the movie(s), but I loved reading the fleshed-out version.
* The October Country by Ray Bradbury. Some of the stories are...meh...but it's worth reading for "The Small Assassin" alone.
* La Moustache/The Moustache by Emmanuel Carreré: more psychological weirdness with an extremely bizarre ending that comes out of nowhere.
* The Cormorant by Stephen Gregory: weird, gross, and way more memorable than I expected it to be.
* not scary at all, but extremely fun to read are Anno Dracula and The Bloody Red Baron. The world he's created is like a giant in-joke for horror fans.
* Uzumaki by Junji Ito: manga, so probably not for everyone, but unique and bizarre.

Er...I hope it's okay to list a ton of books. I got a little carried away. I think it's a bad sign when the touchstones are flickering. :O

jseger,

Thanks, I guess I'll just toss some stuff out. I do know my tastes do slant a bit towards the obscure or eclectic, but I'll refrain from anything I feel I can't 100% justify.

Anyway, here are my recommendations from mainstream to questionable:

Although I just read it, I'd also recommend The Other by Thomas Tryon. Although "quiet horror," there are some pretty horrifying scenes in the book. And Tryon has a way of framing the action that really ups the emotional impact.

Ring by Koji Suzuki is a solid horror/mystery, which updates the ghost story brilliantly for the 21st century.

Grimscribe by Thomas Ligotti. Ligotti is a master of the intelligent and atmospheric short horror story and this features some of his best works.

My Work is Not Yet Done also by Ligotti. Ligotti's longest horror work, which clocks in at novella length. The combination of workplace politics and cosmic dread is surprisingly effective.

House of Leaves I think is worth a mention. I can understand how some people might be turned off by it's über-postmodernism, but it's a brilliant haunted house story only made more effective by the twisted nature of the text.

And finally, The Monk by Matthew Lewis. Even though it's an old Gothic work, I think it's sensibility is very much that of a horror novel.

Hey! I'm not the only Desperation fan!

I'd thought of listing Richard Matheson, but for me he's more an important writer than a favorite writer.

I have to give him much credit for his Nightmare at 20,000 Feet stories and I Am Legend, but I wasn't in love with his writing. And for me Hell House was just so-so.

@jseger9000: You're right...Hell House stinks. I don't know what he was thinking. It was a huge disappointment for me...so I just block the experience completely. :)
Yeah, I was actually surprised when you said Desperation wasn't popular! What's not to love?

I dunno, but if you check th ratings for Desperation or head over to the 'Dear Constant Readers' group, Desperation is liked well enough, but it isn't considered top tier. Don't ask me why. I picked it as a favorite, even without the weird interplay with The Regulators.

#9 Carlos -yes, any favourites. I'd be really interested to hear about suggestions that weren't marketed as horror but that are horror favourites anyway.

#12 Js -I agree, name the book and then state the story if the story is a favourite. Not because I'm a pedant or anything, purely so that I can track how to get hold of stories that grab my interest! (BTW, not that it matters, but I'm a she not a he :0)

I love the great suggestions that this has thrown up so far, especially as there are quite a few authors and works I've never heard of. It's also making me check my shelves for neglected TBRs - like Phil Rickman and Peter Straub and House of Leaves. Great list d2vge - I think we have some similar taste (always willing to listen to suggestions from a fellow Aycliffe fan) so I'm going to hunt out some of your recommendations that I've not come across before.

A dormant thread in this group "One Favorite Novel" also had some good suggestions as well as many of those already listed here.

#11--

Okay, obviously I have Curfew and Candlenight mixed up in my head. Help, quartzite! Which one is the one where the old woman moves into the village? That's the one I'm talking about. I loaned my copy of the book out and never got it back (obviously, my friend loved it as much as I did). Rickman is fairly obscure in the US and now I can't find a decent summary anywhere to help me tell the books apart.

I would say that Rickman is quiet horror most of the time. He's certainly no splatterpunk writer. December and Curfew/Candlenight (whichever it is I'm talking about) probably have the highest body counts. At his best he's a master of looming, horrible inevitability.

Then there are the Merrily Watkins books, which are not really horror novels at all, but supernatural mysteries in the "amateur sleuth" tradition. I love them, but from what little I know about your taste, jseger, they probably aren't up your alley.

I don't have my copies with me, they are transit after my move, but my guess is you mean Curfew, which I liked a lot better. Candlenight was probably my least favorite. They both take place in Welsh villages, so that is easy to confuse, but the latter is a border area with England and also has Gomer, who shows up later in the Merrily Watkins books.

Bentley,

If it helps, here's what Amazon has to say:

Candlenight - This heartfelt account of Celtic terror by British author Rickman is more a socio-political commentary on globalization and nationalism than a horror novel. In Wales, where hoards of English immigrants buy up the land and dilute the cultural identity, folks in the town of Y Groes uphold the ancient traditions. There, the air is clearer, the light brighter and the population blessedly free of English inhabitants until the arrival of Claire and Giles Freeman. Giles tries desperately to fit in with the old-fashioned locals, but things become strained when his Welsh wife starts to transform into some sort of Druid priestess. An inordinate number of English deaths in this tiny town prompts Giles's American journalist buddy to investigate. Rickman's expertise with pastoral horror is reminiscent of Algernon Blackwood or Arthur Machen. He evokes a frigid beauty in the peaceful countryside peppered with pagan cemeteries and populated by angry people whose hatred is as hard and unyielding as their oak forests and black books of forbidden lore. So strong are his characterizations, he needs but a whiff of the supernatural to support his idea of the corruption of magic.

Curfew/Crybbe - New Age mystics, led by a record producer moonlighting as a necromancer, rouse a sleepy town's evil spirits in this stylish novel of the occult, the first U.S. publication for British author Rickman. Nestled between England and Wales, the decrepit village of Crybbe and its aging, truculent residents are off the beaten track and prefer to stay that way. But the writings of J. M. Powys, theoretician of the paranormal, inspire Max Goff, the millionaire founder of Epidemic Records, to buy up Crybbe and restore it to what he imagines to be its former glory as a conduit to the spirit realm known as "The Golden Land." As Goff and his cohorts--some of them sinister, some merely silly--make their improvements, psychic turbulence ensues that will shake even the most stolid reader. It's up to radio reporter Faye Morrison, stranded in Crybbe with her aging father, and Powys himself, who comes to see the naivete of his former ideas, to ward off disaster. Rickman convinces with his intricate account of the town's hex: ancient "ley-lines" mapped out by druidic-style stones conduct a psychic power that the traditional curfew of the novel's title--100 rings of the church bell every night at 10 o'clock--can only contain for so long. The spell is so complete, in fact, that closure becomes difficult: Rickman himself can't--or won't--quite shut the door on the horrors that he introduces here.

Are we including shrot stories like the Lottery or only novels? Most of my favorites have already been placed on the list.

#24: Well, you could just nominate The Lottery and Other Stories. :)

Stephen King-Bag of Bones, Cujo, The Dead Zone, Rose Madder, Gerald's Game, Pet Semetary, It, The Stand, The Shining, Misery.

Peter Straub-Shadowland, Ghost Story, Lost Boy Lost Girl, Mr.X

Bentley Little-The Association, The Ignored, The Academy, The Store

Richard Laymon-The Traveling Vampire Show, Come Out Tonight, Body Rides

Norman,

You have good taste. I haven't read any of the three Laymon books you listed. I'll have to give 'em a go.

I have the Traveling Vampire Show at home now on the top of my tbr pile. It looks GREAT!

k,

Will this be first Richard Laymon book?

sorry, been away for awhile, lots of work now that cold and flu season is hitting. Let me think, I'll say no because I've read probably a half dozen of his short stories from various compilations, but it will be my first full length novel. Is that a bad thing?

kami

Oh, I don't know if it's a good or bad thing. I haven't read that one yet myself. I was just curious of your opinion of Richard Laymon.

I kind of feel like he's comparable to Dean Koontz (who I can't stand), except that I can handle his writing. Like Koontz he writes pretty cheesy, face paced thrillers with zero depth. Does that make any sense?

I've heard good things about The Travelling Vampire Show, so at least you are picking one of his better books as a first.

I guess I'll give it a go and then let you know. I sometimes really like the ultra cheesy stuff with no real literary value, especially if I can get through it in a night or two. It's my version of B rate horror movies.

* Heart Shaped Box: Just very freaky.
* It: The reason I am still terrified of clowns on a deep, visceral level. I can't even watch McDonald's ads, if that CLOWN is in them.
* Sphere: I haven't read it in years, but in high school it really frightened me. I'm not sure why, in retrospect.
* Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark: The pictures alone are horrifying.
* Coraline: Dear GOD, this is a sinister little story. Kid's books are usually scarier than adult books.