Scary stories can take many forms—suspense, true crime, ghost stories, and monster tales, to name just a few. At our last Open Book Hour, we asked readers to tell us about books that have kept them up at night… we discussed some essential horror classics, exciting graphic novels, and a couple of less frightening reads.

We'd love to get your recommendations for scary stories, too! Please feel free to share your favorites in the comments section below.

About Open Book Hour: If you enjoy swapping book recommendations with other readers, we hope you'll check out an Open Book Hour at Mid-Manhattan Library at 42nd Street. We meet on the second Friday of every month at 2 PM. Here's information on upcoming meetings and themes. You can also find links to our past reading lists here and printable versions of recent lists here.

19th Century Horror Classics

Evil transformations, body horror, playing god, the quest for immortality, and vampire menace are some of the themes explored in these foundational works of horror. They’re atmospheric, moody, scary, thought-provoking and great fun to read!

• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1823)

• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)

• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1890)

• Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897)

Stephen King Selections

What’s your pick for scariest Stephen King novel? Our readers love these creepy, menacing, compelling novels of smalltown horror.

• It

  Seven adults confront a monster from childhood

• Salem’s Lot

  Vampires have overrun a peaceful little town in Maine

• The Shining

  Evil forces assemble during the off-season at the Overlook Hotel

​Graphic Novels

• Outcast

  Robert Kirkman and Paul Azaceta's fast-paced, violent series features a brooding protagonist dealing with demonic possession. The series has been adapted for television, and the first volume is A Darkness Surrounds Him.
   

• Infidel

  Xenophobia takes on a terrifying supernatural form in this creepy, mesmerizing twist on a haunted house story, by Pornsak Pichetshote and Aaron Campbell.

Other Recommendations

All reader recommendations—fiction and nonfiction—are welcome at Open Book Hour, whether or not they tie in closelty to our monthly theme. Here are two more books readers enjoyed that fall outside the horror genre.

The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck

There are some bleak and scary moments in this moving and atmospheric novel about the experiences of three very different German women before, during, and after World War II.

A Little Book of Language by David Crystal

Absolutely more engaging than scary, this accessible primer on language and linguistics does include a chapter on dying languages.

Print a list of our Patron Picks from September and October 2018.

See information on upcoming Open Book Hour events at the Mid-Manhattan Library at 42nd Street.