It’s Wesley again! I hope you aren’t tired of seeing me during this Spook-tacular Halloween feature. In fact, if you haven’t got tired of me, consider checking me out at Facebook, Twitter and my blog.

These Books are Treats not Tricks

 

These books all have a little supernaturally spook to them, but they aren’t so scary that you need to check under your bed or behind your shower curtain when you are finished!

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

Am I ever going to pass up an opportunity to rave about one of my favorite books ever? No, I’m not. A mysterious carnival shows up in a small town in Illinois one beautiful fall night. Two young boys investigate it and find out that it isn’t just any run of the mill traveling carnival. It’s a book about longing for childhoods past, friendship, loyalty, and why libraries are awesome. Ray Bradbury also writes delightfully spooky villains. I read this book every fall.

 

The String Diaries by Stephen Lloyd Jones

When I first read it this year I couldn’t believe that this was Jones’s first novel. He takes a families story through many generations, from centuries past Hungary to present day England and France. A woman has to face down an unspeakable evil with a laughably ordinary name to protect her family, even when she thinks it’s impossible. He deftly weaves the stories through time and space, and puts a new spin on an old legend. I devoured this book, I couldn’t flip the pages fast enough to find out what happened next. (Also Stephen and I chatted on Twitter, so extra brownie points for him!)

 

Zone One by Colson Whitehead

“Mark Spitz” narrates his exploration through post-zombie apocalypse Manhattan, and takes us along. The United States government is trying to get its feet back under itself after this disaster, and part of the plan is having teams sweep out the remaining zombies that lurk in Manhattan’s skyscrapers. “Mark” is on one such team, and he tells us about their daily sweeps, his coworker’s backstories, and what his life was like “before…” I have zero interest in zombies (sorry friends who love “Walking Dead”) but I loved the interesting perspective of this story.

 

Spook: Science Tackles The Afterlife

 

 

Are you a nonfiction fan? Mary Roach is one of my favorites, though admittedly this isn’t my favorite book by her (that would be “Stiff”). Mary is a skeptic by nature and so naturally has some real questions when it comes to the afterlife and the supernatural. She goes to a conference to tap into her own “natural psychic ability” and ends up irritated. She listens for spectral voices at the location of the Donner Party’s cannibal dinner party. She looks back into different experiments to figure out when we exactly obtain our soul, and when it leaves the body when we die. I like Mary’s books because she looks at a wide range of topics based on a central theme, and “Spook” is no exception.

 

I hope that your reading always leaves you with more treats than tricks!

 

Have a Spook-Tacular October,

Wesley @ Library Educated