Spooky Season Reads: October Reading Wrap-up 🎃🖤

October is one of my favorite reading months of the whole year. Why? Because it seems like there are so many options to read–lots of interesting books, both classics and new releases and everything in between, that are frightening or gothic or just great to get into the general spirit of spooky. This year, I made an effort to try to read a few books I had set aside specifically for this month on my TBR list.

I’d hoped to get through more, but alas there are only so many hours in the day, and one does have to sleep. So I got through what I could, and the rest of the books will have to wait until November ☺️

I tried not to put in any spoilers, but if there are, please accept my sincere apologies. So here it goes, below is my October reading wrap-up:

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Coraline, a little girl whose family just moved into a new house, finds herself exploring a secret room in their new home to pass the time on the grey and rainy days. Exploring this secret area she falls into an alternate world on the other side where “Other Mother” and “Other Father” live. She soon realizes “Other Mother” is not what she appears, and must battle to save her real life parents and return to her life on the other side.

This book is a classic. I had seen the movie, but hadn’t read the book. I’m glad I finally did. This story is eerie and masterfully told, without being gory or deliberately disturbing. The image of “Other Mother” with her dead button eyes is frightful, the horror of her sinister plots creeping throughout the book and keeping it twisting and turning until the very end. I loved Coraline’s character, she is ingenious and tough in the face of danger, with a big heart and a quick wit.

Slade House by David Mitchell

Told in five parts, the action centers on Slade House, a mysterious mansion that appears every nine years, accessible only through a strange door in an alley off Westwood Road in London. For varying reasons the characters arrive to the house, only to be sucked in by the sister and brother owners, Norah and Jonah Grayer.

I found the premise of this book fascinating, but frankly became a little confused as it progressed. Some of the explanations towards the end became almost technical–the intricacies of the author’s world becoming (to me) byzantine and elaborate. Other reviews noted that you should read some of his other works “The Bone Clocks,” specifically, to understand the ending better and some of the inner workings of the world’s magic system.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Mexican Gothic centers on Noemí, a socialite living in Mexico City, who is asked by her family to travel to visit her cousin Catalina, a young woman who has just married and now believes her husband and the house in which they’re living are trying to kill her. Noemí arrives at the remote crumbling mansion, only to be sucked into a dark world and tortured past of the family who resides there.

There were some tough parts to read, the book delves into themes of colonialism, sexual assault, and eugenics. The story was fascinating, the world richly detailed and the ambiance creepy. This book definitely had the hallmarks of a gothic novel, with its crumbling mansion, cursed family, and remote location. That it was located in Mexico gave this theme a new twist, which I found really interesting. I enjoyed reading Noemí’s character, she was strong and smart. I highly value a strong female protagonist, and I enjoyed the unraveling of the mystery and the backstory as it progressed. A good creepy read.

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas

Set in Mexico in the 1840s, Nena is the daughter of a prominent rancher. Her childhood love was cut short by a brutal attack, an attack that nearly left her dead. Now years later, Néstor, her childhood love, returns to the ranch to help her family as they are threatened by invading troops and a far more menacing danger–a bloodsucking creature who lurks in the darkness.

This was a unique take on the vampire thriller, something more bestial and frightening than your standard vampire fare. I enjoy reading a different perspective on vampires (aside from the elegant immortals that we have come to expect in a lot of fiction.) Having spent so much time living in the Southwest, I relish a story set in this part of the world, and I found the descriptions of Nena’s culture and family to be deeply engrossing and vivid. A big trigger for me was a fairly grotesque battle scene towards the middle of the novel, as there are depictions of wartime situations. Nena’s character found her footing at the end, finally gaining the ability to stand up to her parents and for herself, fighting hard to save her future from the vampires and the humans who threaten it. It was good to see the character finally make that step, as I found her a little timid at the beginning.

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

The story focuses on Maggie Holt, now a grown woman, whose father wrote a famous novel about their time and escape from Baneberry Hall, a haunted mansion in Vermont when she was a child. Growing up under the specter of the book, Maggie decides to move into the home after her father’s death to disprove his story and uncover the truth about what happened during the 20 days they lived in the home.

I loved this book! This is my favorite kind of story, the one about a haunted house that keeps you guessing until the very end. I can honestly say I had no idea what was going on until the very last pages, and it really did keep the truth obscured under layers and twists of the plot.

The Death of Mrs. Westway by Ruth Ware

The story centers on Hal Westaway, a young orphaned woman struggling with poverty who receives a strange letter informing her that she has inherited money from a deceased relative. Believing the letter to have been a mistake, she travels to the reading of the will only to become embroiled in a family mystery, stretching decades and far more dangerous than she could have imagined.

This was another one that kept me wondering what was going on, guessing throughout the book and almost until the end. I liked seeing how the mystery unfolded, and I really did root for Hal, for a young woman caught in an impossible situation and with no one to rely on. A well woven and interesting plot.

So that concludes my October reading wrap-up! I had a lot of fun delving into these, reading (listening to audiobooks mainly!) while the leaves changed and the air grew cooler. There is nothing like an eerie story to celebrate the arrival of fall and the spirit of Halloween.

Did you read any books that you loved this October? If so, let me know what books you enjoyed and which ones you might not have been so enthusiastic about. Wishing you a great (almost) weekend.

Keep reading and writing,

-Winter 📚