Oct 19

BOTNS Books Podcast #99: Haunting Reads

By Michael Kindness Podcasts Add comments

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:58 — 14.9MB)

In today’s episode we look at true book-lovers, who have their obsession inked on their skin. Then, it’s a collection of listener recommendations of spooky books for the Halloween season. Ann and I get into the spirit with two unsettling books we can’t wait for you to read.

photo by Bill Hayward

Literary Ink

Many thanks to Chris from our Goodreads group who inspired our segment one topic when she linked to an On Point episode on a new book called The Word Made Flesh. Ann and I share what our literary tattoos would be if we were ever to get them (unlikely!), and would love to hear from all of you. Do you have one? If you’re too scared of the needle (like me) or the commitment (me also), what would you want as a temporary tattoo?

Haunting Reads (5:58)

Thanks to Anne from St. Louis for suggesting a Halloween themed episode and for sharing two of her favorite spooky books:  Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger and The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. Robin from NJ wrote in to recommend The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, which Ann loved and many of you listened to on audio. Shannon from Ohio called our voicemail line to recommend The Ruins by Scott Smith (a book we’ve mentioned before, and one that BOTNS listeners seem to either love or hate!), Pet Sematary by Stephen King, and the Agent Pendergast series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. The first book in that series is Relic. Matther, also from St. Louis wrote to tell us about Low Red Moon by Caitlin R. Kiernan. Someone with the email name Moose1022 recommended The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, which is just a wonderful book and one that I loved on audio. Ann recommends The Passage by Justin Cronin as a book that has give some people nightmares, and I’m in love a beautiful new hardcover edition of H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, The Invisible Man and War of the Worlds.

Two Books We Can’t Wait For You to Read (16:31)

Despite our claims that we don’t read many spooky books, Ann and I have each come up with one for this segment. The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman is an ongoing comics series that has been collected into 12 trade paperbacks (or 6 hardcovers) so far. It follows a group of survivors after a zombie plague has wiped out most of humanity. It’s a wonderful and brutal character study, and is being made into a TV series premiering on AMC on Halloween night. Ann recommends a new collection of re-imagined fairy tales written by some of her favorite authors, and it has one of the best titles ever: My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me. It’s edited by Kate Bernheimer and has an introduction by Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked.

  • Dogearedcopy

    My scary read for the Halloween season was THE AMITYVILLE HORROR (by Jay Anson; narrated by Ray Porter.) I had read it in print form when I was eleven years old (when it forst came out) and, even though it was de-bunked, the de-bunking came too late for me. I was already scarred for life! I came back to it after all these years to see if it still had any hold on me. In some ways it did: There is an introduction ostensibly written by a priest that gave me pause; but I’m highly skeptical of George and Kathy Lutzes’ story now. I suspect financial motives played heavily into their story on many levels. But does tht mean I would move into 112 Ocean Drive given the opportunity? No way!

  • Elizabeth

    Great podcast, as usual! I wanted to recommend this book before this week’s podcast, but better late than never. A truly scary book, and also funny and so well written, is The Children of Dynmouth, by the Irish writer William Trevor. It’s set in an idyllic seaside village in Britain and focuses on one of the residents, a budding teenage sociopath who decides to terrorize and torment a number of the inhabitants, including a couple of vulnerable children. It’s a masterpiece. Another of my favorites with a high creep factor is Enduring Love by Ian McEwan. Oh, and Michael–I got a tattoo at age 45–a little one on my shoulder–and I’m so pleased that I did it.

  • http://twitter.com/Age30Books Heather Johnson

    I’m in the midst of an excellent creepy book right now: THE HISTORIAN, by Elizabeth Kostova. It is quite dense and full of historical detail, but the story itself is quite creepy. It builds very slowly with great gothic atmosphere.

    I’d also suggest checking out the classic monster stories. You already mentioned THE INVISIBLE MAN (HG WELLS) – that’s a great read, and rather short. DRACULA (Bram Stoker) is a bit flowery in style but a great creepy read, FRANKENSTEIN (Mary Shelley) wasn’t a favorite of mine but others seems to enjoy it, THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (Robert Louis Stevenson) is also short and I found that I wasn’t as familiar with the story as I thought, and I really enjoyed it. THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (Oscar Wilde) is beautifully written. And there’s also THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW (Washington Irving) which I hope to revisit sometime soon.

  • Jackie

    Another fun podcast! I am not one who likes the scary stuff( I believe in ghosts but don’t like the bloody thrasher stuff ). If it is a good psychological story, then I will read it. The Man In The Picture by Susan Hill was an excellent ghost story. The Thirteenth Tale is great. I read the book when it first came out and I also recommend the audio. Lynn Redgrave did it so wonderfully along side Ruthie Henshall. I am a huge fan of the Pendergast series!
    Looking forward to the 100th episode!

    Jackie

  • Jana

    Another great podcast. I LOVE Neil Gaiman, so thanks much for the fairy tale recommendation, Ann! (The Graveyard Book read by Neil is wonderful AND I enjoyed the 13th Tale as well, audible version.)

    My contribution to scary books is House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. It is the most unusual, creative, creepy book I can ever imagine being penned and it scared me witless. I was going to re-read it this October; however, I found out I’ll be alone for a few days in November and decided to postpone. Has anyone else read it?

  • Shona

    Loved this week’s podcast – I think that you two should get a tattoo of the BOTNS nightstand logo :) I don’t have any tattoos, but I’m thinking that I might like something literary. I don’t read a lot of “scary” books, although I did read The Passage this summer and I loved it. I also did read The Ruins and it was most definitely creepy. I’m also a big fan of the Childs and Preston Pendergast series. Those are the only books that my husband and I share. Thanks for the recommendation of My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me. It sounds fascinating and have put it on my list.

  • Shona

    Loved this week’s podcast – I think that you two should get a tattoo of the BOTNS nightstand logo :) I don’t have any tattoos, but I’m thinking that I might like something literary. I don’t read a lot of “scary” books, although I did read The Passage this summer and I loved it. I also did read The Ruins and it was most definitely creepy. I’m also a big fan of the Childs and Preston Pendergast series. Those are the only books that my husband and I share. Thanks for the recommendation of My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me. It sounds fascinating and have put it on my list.

  • Shona

    Loved this week’s podcast – I think that you two should get a tattoo of the BOTNS nightstand logo :) I don’t have any tattoos, but I’m thinking that I might like something literary. I don’t read a lot of “scary” books, although I did read The Passage this summer and I loved it. I also did read The Ruins and it was most definitely creepy. I’m also a big fan of the Childs and Preston Pendergast series. Those are the only books that my husband and I share. Thanks for the recommendation of My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me. It sounds fascinating and have put it on my list.

  • Marie

    I’m reading MY MOTHER SHE ATE ME a little at a time and really enjoying it. There are some great stories and a lot of great writers in there.

  • Patricia Snyder

    Rosemary’s Baby by Ira levin is by far the spookiest book I’ve ever read. Of course, the movie adaptation is a classic American film.

  • Graceann Macleod

    Congrats to the lady who gave the shout-out for THE RUINS. It scared the heck out of me; so much so that I called the friend who recommended it to me and called her naughty names. That’s not to say I didn’t love it, I did, but yikes did it freak me out! That would have been my recommendation, because I don’t read a lot of scary stuff. Dean Koontz is suspenseful, but not so “scary” as I would define it for a holiday broadcast.

  • Dogearedcopy

    I’m so fickle as to what I would want to have tatted, I could never make a permanently inked commitment! You know, now that Shona mentioned a BOTNS tat, I could go for a BOTNS temporary tat for the Readers’ Retreat :-)

  • Dogearedcopy

    I’m so fickle as to what I would want to have tatted, I could never make a permanently inked commitment! You know, now that Shona mentioned a BOTNS tat, I could go for a BOTNS temporary tat for the Readers’ Retreat :-)

  • Dogearedcopy

    I’m so fickle as to what I would want to have tatted, I could never make a permanently inked commitment! You know, now that Shona mentioned a BOTNS tat, I could go for a BOTNS temporary tat for the Readers’ Retreat :-)

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