What do a stolen corpse, a house that’s bigger on the inside than on the outside, and a book with 21 sealed chapters have in common? They’re all part of this November’s Beyond Text Bookstore reading recommendations. I picked a few books that prove you don’t need ghosts or monsters to get thoroughly creeped out. Sometimes the strangest stories are true, and sometimes it’s the book itself that’s unusual.
First, the classics
Beautiful illustrations and interactive editions give us a whole new reason to revisit classic stories. H. P. Lovecraft’s works illustrated by François Baranger, Frankenstein in an interactive edition by MinaLima, and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow with illustrations by Christian Birmingham. These are books you want to read, look at and keep in your collection.
If, like me, you’ve ever missed being a kid when almost every book had pictures, well, I have good news for you. We finally have some books for adults that are just as beautiful.
Contemporary horror: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
This book might actually mess with your head. You have to see what the pages look like: words jump around, sentences twist sideways; some pages are almost empty, while others are packed with text. You find yourself turning the book upside down, slowing down, getting frustrated, anxious, even disoriented. But, think about that for a second: the way words are PRINTED on a page can actually control how you FEEL while reading. How amazing is that?! And all of this is part of a deeply unsettling story about a house that’s bigger on the inside than on the outside.
Mystery-horror: Strange Pictures, Strange Houses, and Strange Buildings by Uketsu
These bestselling Japanese mysteries have one idea in common: you’re not just reading a mystery, you’re actually looking for clues in drawings, floor plans and strange little details that don’t seem right. And here’s another fun detail: the author is just as mysterious as his books. Uketsu keeps his identity secret and appears in public wearing a white mask.
Young adult horror: 21 Days of Fear by Hervé Commère
This book comes in a very unusual, almost advent-calendar like format: 21 sealed chapters. 21 days to save a missing sister. And you actually have to tear open each envelope to find out what happens next. What a challenge to wait a whole day between them!
Nonfiction: Stealing Saint Nick by M. T. Anderson
Here’s a horror story for you: someone stole Santa Claus’s dead body. Yes, really.
Before he became the jolly guy delivering Christmas presents, Saint Nicholas was at the center of a whole medieval drama. Stolen bones, miracle-working corpse juice, resurrected children, and a very real 11th-century crime. Saint Nicholas was actually a Christian bishop who lived in the 3rd–4th centuries in what is now Turkey. And the book is a whole investigation into his life and afterlife. But beyond the medieval true crime, it also takes us into the world of early Christianity, the Roman Empire and the fascinating ways legends are born and change over time.
So, what’s your kind of spooky? A good old-fashioned gothic tale? A mystery you can solve yourself? Or a book that messes with your head before you’ve even finished the first chapter? Whatever your preference, there’s something waiting for you at Beyond Text Bookstore, 318 N. Santa Cruz Ave in downtown Los Gatos.
