The Best Halloween Book Collection! 👻📙☠️🖤🎃

Happy Halloween! 🎃👻🧛🏻‍♂️🧡🖤

Hello Friends!!! Here's just a sampling of the Halloween/Spooky/Ghostly books in my collection! Some of the titles have links (and more photos!) to my Instagram posts because I couldn't fit all of the photos here 😂

• 2024 Halloween Re-Reads
• 2023 Halloween Reads 
• 2021 Halloween Reads
• 2020 Halloween Reading Progress 

What are YOUR favorite Halloween books, activities and movies? 🤩 (Please comment below!)

[I'll do my best to update this Halloween Book Guide as time goes on! Please share your favorite Halloween book recommendations with me 😍]

FAVORITE BOOKS TO READ ON HALLOWEEN:

This mix of children's books, novels and mysteries are my go-to choices for getting my spirit into the spooky mood of the season. I tend to start with the less spine-tingling titles and then slowly increase the level of fright until a few days before Halloween. Then, I read all of my favorite children's novels, leaving Cranberry Halloween (my childhood fav) for the day itself. My list is in order of preference, not the order in which I read them. 

🎃 Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie 5🌟
🧛🏻‍♂️ Ghosts in the House by Kazuno Kahara 5🌟
👻 The Ghost Who Was a Quilt by Riel Nason 5🌟
🧙🏻‍♀️ The Pumpkin Smasher by Anita Benarde 5🌟
💀 How to Make Friends with a Ghost by Rebecca Green 5🌟
🎃 I SPY Spooky Night 5🌟
🧛🏻‍♂️ Thornyhold by Mary Stewart 4.75🌟
👻 Emma M. Lion Volume 4 by Beth Brower 5🌟
🧙🏻‍♀️ The Witch Next Door by Norman Bridwell 4.5🌟
💀 The Ghost Stories of E.F. Benson 4.5🌟 
🎃 The Last Seance by Agatha Christie 4.5🌟
🧛🏻‍♂️ A Dark and Secret Magic by Wallis Kinney 4.5🌟
👻 The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell 4.5🌟
🧙🏻‍♀️ Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman 4.5🌟
💀 Cranberry Halloween by Wende & Harry Devlin 3🌟  

 

FAVORITE SPOOKY MIDDLE GRADE BOOKS:

Every year, I scour the used bookstores, websites, thrift stores and antique shops for new-to-me Halloween books. I especially love vintage middle grade chapter books with interesting covers. Sometimes, there's a brand new book at my local library that I'm not able to resist borrowing. If it meets my approval (including creepy, cute, sweet or scary...or a mixture of all four!), then I add it to my list. These eerily excellent books are my current favorites. 

🎃 In a Closed Room by Frances Hodgson Burnett 5🌟 (A lovely book gift from Virginia @oldbookdreamer 🤩)
🧛🏻‍♂️ Jane-Emily by Patricia Clapp 5🌟
👻 The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman 5🌟
🧙🏻‍♀️ In a Blue Velvet Dress by Catherine Sefton 4.5🌟
💀 The Skull by Jon Klassen 4.5🌟
🎃 Gobbolino The Witch’s Cat by Ursula Moray Williams 4🌟
🧛🏻‍♂️ Meg Mystery Series by Holly Beth Walker 4🌟
👻 Spook by Jane Little 4🌟
🧙🏻‍♀️ The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall by Mary Downing Hahn 4🌟
💀 Carbonel Series by Barbara Sleigh 4🌟
🎃 The Aveline Jones series by Phil Hickes 4🌟
🧛🏻‍♂️ Jade Green by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor 4🌟
👻 Mystery of the Green Cat by Phyllis A. Whitney 4🌟
🧙🏻‍♀️ The Girl in the Locked Room by Mary Downing Hahn 4🌟
💀 Amelia Fang by Laura Ellen Anderson 4🌟
🎃 Alfred Hitchcock's Haunted Houseful 3.5🌟
🧙🏻‍♀️ The Little Leftover Witch by Florence Laughlin 3.5🌟  

FAVORITE GHOSTLY BOOKS:

Go, go, ghosts! I've been interested in ghosts since I was very little. Anything concerning the supernatural is high on my list to read—both fiction and non-fiction. I don't know exactly why the subject of ghosts gives me a ghoulish glee, but it certainly does! Here are my top picks for books with "ghost" in the title or as a primary theme. Do you like ghost books, too?

👻 Ghosts and Bogels by Dinah Starkey 5🌟
👻 Ghosts in the House by Kazuno Kahara 5🌟
👻 The Ghost Who Was a Quilt by Riel Nason 5🌟
👻 How to Make Friends with a Ghost by Rebecca Green 5🌟
👻 What's a Ghost to Do? by Jane Thayer 5🌟 
👻 The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins 5🌟
👻 The Winter Spirits by Bridget Collins 4.5🌟
👻 The Ghost Stories of E.F. Benson 4.5🌟
👻 The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters 4.5🌟 
👻 The Haunting Season by Bridget Collins 4🌟
👻 Ghosts from the Library by Tony Medawar 4🌟
👻 The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall by Mary Downing Hahn 4🌟
👻 Among the Shadows by L.M. Montgomery 4🌟 
👻 City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab 4🌟
👻 The Ghost of Windy Hill by Clyde Robert Bulla 4🌟
👻 Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn 4🌟
👻 The Ghost at Penniman House by Wilma Pitchford Hays 3.5🌟
👻 The Ghost of Follonsbee's Folly by Florence E. Hightower 3.5🌟   
👻 The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson 3🌟
👻 Victorian Ghost Stories (slowly savoring…this is another book gift from Virginia @oldbookdreamer 🤩) 

 

SERIOUSLY CHILLING TITLES:

These novels are a bit more over the top when it comes to ominous and eerie vibes. These frightening fifteen are perfect for when I'm looking for something a bit more unearthly and unsettling. Some of these books are also a bit more graphic in content. 

☠️ Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier 5🌟
☠️ The Magic Cottage by James Herbert 5🌟
☠️ The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware 4.5🌟
☠️ Bone China by Laura Purcell 4.5🌟
☠️ The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell 4🌟
☠️ The Corset by Laura Purcell 4🌟
☠️ We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson 4🌟
☠️ Audrey Rose by Frank de Felitta 4🌟
☠️ Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert L. Stevenson 4🌟
☠️ A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness 4🌟
☠️ The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell 3🌟
☠️ The Turn of the Screw by Henry James 3🌟
☠️ House of Splinters by Laura Purcell (Currently Reading!!)
☠️ The Witching House by Brigit Collins (TBR!)
☠️ The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware (TBR)

 

FAVORITE ATMOSPHERIC MYSTERIES:

Reading mysteries during the month of October is a MUST. Although I'm a little more partial to a Gothic/thriller/suspense for a Halloween read, the murder mysteries below never fail to get me into a more macabre mindset! 

🔍 Halloween Party by Agatha Christie 5🌟
🔍 The Last Seance by Agatha Christie  4.5🌟
🔍 A Medium for Murder by Mignon Warner 4.5🌟
🔍 The Tarot Murders by Mignon Warner 4.5🌟
🔍 Sleep No More by P.D. James 4.5🌟
🔍 Haunted Lady by Mary Roberts Rhinehart (TBR)
🔍 The Spirit Murder Mystery by Robin Forsythe (TBR…excited to try this one!)

FUN HALLOWEEN CHILDREN'S BOOKS:

Yay for mummies, monters and murky mansions! Never mind the ghosts, ghouls and greedy witches. There's never a dull moment when meandering through menacing morgues, moonlit mists and malignant mausoleums—while munching on a midnight snack!

🎃 How to Make Friends with a Ghost by Rebecca Green 5🌟
🎃 Ghosts in the House by Kazuno Kahara 5🌟
🎃 The Ghost Who Was a Quilt by Riel Nason 5🌟
🎃 I SPY Spooky Night 5🌟
🎃 The Pumpkin Smasher by Anita Benarde 5🌟
🎃 Hallo-Wiener by Dav Pilkey 5🌟
🎃 Dragon’s Halloween by Dav Pilkey 5🌟
🎃 No Such Thing by Ella Bailey 4.5🌟
🎃 Vlad The Fabulous Vampire by Flavia Z. Drago 4.5🌟
🎃 Wispp, The Littlest Witch by Rosemary Leahy Varney 4.25🌟
🎃 The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart 4🌟
🎃 Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell 4🌟
🎃 The Worst Witch series by Jill Murphy 4🌟
🎃 Gustavo The Shy Ghost by Flavia Z. Drago 4🌟
🎃 Leila The Perfect Witch by Flavia Z. Drago 4🌟
🎃 Cranberry Halloween by Wende & Harry Devlin 3🌟

 

BOOKS WITH SEANCE SCENES:

Calling all sinister spirits, supernatural spooks and shadowy specters! Seances are seriously another favorite topic of mine! I'll never get tired of reading about senseless shrieks, smoke and mirrors, spirit orbs and shivery souls in torment. 

🕯 Peril at End House by Agatha Christie 5🌟
🕯 Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer 5🌟
🕯 The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcel. 4.5🌟
🕯 The Last Seance by Agatha Christie 4.5🌟
🕯 The Seance by Joan Lowery Nixon 4.5🌟
🕯 The Dower House Mystery by Patricia Wentworth 4🌟
🕯 Murder at Hazelmoor/The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie 4🌟
🕯 Paranormal Parlor by Varla Ventura 3🌟
🕯 The London Seance Society by Sarah Penner  3🌟
🕯 Beverly Gray’s Scoop by Clair Blank 3.5🌟
🕯 The Shadow in the North by Phillip Pullman 3🌟
🕯 Seance on a Wet Afternoon by Mark McShane (TBR)
🕯 The Diviners by Libba Bray (TBR)

SEANCE MOVIES: (in order of preference)

There aren't many movies that fit this description or include a seance scene (even in the smallest sense). But, luckily, this list of ten tempting tragedies will trick you into a terrifying trance. In my mind, there aren't enough movies with this thrilling theme!

🔮 The Changeling (1980)
🔮 The Others (2001)
🔮 The Conjuring 2 (2016)
🔮 The House That Would Not Die (1970)
🔮 Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)
🔮 The Haunting in Connecticut (2009)
🔮 The Uninvited (1944)
🔮 Hereditary (2018)
🔮 Insidious (2010)
🔮 Magic in the Moonlight (2014) 

EERIE BLUE VINTAGE CHILDREN'S BOOKS:

Beware of these bewitching and bone-chilling books with a boo-tiful hue! For some weird reason, the blue color gives a bit of a blood-curdling burial ground vibe. The vintage books below are guaranteed to bring out the best fire-and-brimstone feels!

😱 The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman 5🌟
📘 What's a Ghost to Do? by Jane Thayer 5🌟
😱 The Ghost of Windy Hill by Clyde Robert Bulla 4🌟 
📘 The Bewitching of Aveline Jones by Phil Hickes 4🌟
😱 The Blue-Nosed Witch by Margaret Emery 4🌟
📘 The Ghost at Penniman House by Wilma Pitchford Hays 3.5🌟
😱 The Ghost of Follonsbee's Folly by Florence E. Hightower 3.5🌟
📘 The Witch’s Spoon by Mary Cunningham (TBR)
😱 The Haunted Cove by Elizabeth Baldwin Hazelton (TBR) 

The front of our house with jack o'lanterns, vintage pumpkins and googly eyes that move in the window!

FAVORITE HALLOWEEN ACTIVITIES:

Autumn activities are always amusing and awesomely fun. Although, they were much more fun when my kids were young (now they are 32 and 22!). But, I'll still try to do at least a few of these every year. If I'm lucky, Ian and the kids might join in, too! Woo! 

  
🧡 Carving jack-o-lanterns
🖤 Watching scary movies
🧡 Halloween snacks
🖤 Giving out candy to trick-or-treaters
🧡 Making sugar & spice roasted pumpkin seeds

Rose and Benji in 2008 - so cute!

Wearing my glow-in-the-dark Buc-ee shirt from Texas!

HALLOWEEN/SCARY MOVIES I LOVE: (in order of preference)

You might not know this about me, but I love scary movies. Now that I'm older, it gets a bit harder each year to watch them (I seem to be getting more and more sensitive), but I still can't resist my favorites. These are the movies I re-watch either alone (or with my family) every single year. Highly recommended for hair-raising thrills!

A few of my favorite Halloween movies, plus two favorite seance movies: The Changeling and The Others! Lovely pumpkin card from Christie! 

 
🎬 The Exorcist (1 & 3)
🎬 The Changeling
🎬 The Others
🎬 Paranormal Activity series
🎬 Halloween series
🎬 The Omen trilogy
🎬 Hellraiser
🎬 The Ring
🎬 Rosemary’s Baby
🎬 Poltergeist series
🎬 Psycho
🎬 Prince of Darkness
🎬 The Craft
🎬 The Witches of Eastwick
🎬 Practical Magic
🎬 It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
🎬 The Adventures of Icabod and Mr. Toad

Many Halloween hugs!!💕🎃🤗🎃💕

Wonderful witch ornament gift from Carla and adorable crochet pumpkins from Caro!

 

 

A super fun vintage album of Halloween sounds! 

October Wrap-Up, Furrowed Middlebrow Gift & Full Review of Miss Granby's Secret! 🤩🌟📚💚

Happy November, Friends! 😄🍂🍁

I'm so happy to be back on the blogging wagon. (I really need to make it a priority to post at least once a month.) How are you? Have you had a lovely autumn so far?

As usual, I have way too many books on my TBR (more than any human can possibly read—lol!), but I'm loving all of the ones I've read in October. Now that it's November, I'm finishing up reading my last "spooky" book (Jane-Emily by Patricia Clapp 👻) and getting ready to start my Christmas reading (my FAVORITE time of the year!) 😍❤️💚🎄

Quickly, I'll share a couple of pics from my October reading and ratings (with links to my Goodreads reviews).  Then, we'll get right to all of the Dean Street Press Furrowed Middlebrow magic! 🤩✨✨

 OCTOBER READS:

🧡 One Dozen and One by Gladys Taber 4.75🌟 (buddy ready with @carosbookcase!)

🧡 Thornyhold by Mary Stewart (buddy re-read with @gina.stanyer.books) 4.75🌟

🧡 Halloween Party by Agatha Christie 5🌟

🧡 Countess Kate by Charlottte Mary Yonge 3.5🌟 (Victober)

🧡 The Gingerbread Shop by P.L. Travers 4🌟

🧡 A Doll for Marie by Louise Fatio 4.75🌟

🧡 Sunlight by Sally Cartwright 4🌟

🧡 Lady Living Alone by Norah Lofts 4.75🌟

🧡 Meg and the Ghost of Hidden Springs by Holly Beth Walker 4.25🌟

🧡 The Last Seance by Agatha Christie 4.5🌟

🧡 The Yellow Warning by Betsy Allen 4🌟

🧡 A Dark and Secret Magic by Wallis Kinney 4.5🌟

🧡 The Girl and the Cathedral by Nicolas Jester 4.5🌟

🧡 Over and Over by Charlotte Zolotow 5🌟 

🧡 Autumn Term by Antonia Forest 4🌟 (recommended by @carosbookcase!)

🧡 Secret Marriage by Kathleen Norris 4.5🌟 (buddy read with @sorrythankyou79!)

🧡 Marple by Naomi Alderman 3.5🌟

🧡 The Talking Dolls by G.R. Mills 4🌟

🧡 The Secret Gardens of Frances Hodgson Burnett 5🌟    

🧡 Mary Jane's Kindergarten by Claire Ingram Judson 5🌟

 

 

 

In my last Furrowed Middlebrow Friday post, I mentioned how much I would love to own some Dean Street Press post cards to hang on my wall. Victoria generously (and thoughtfully!) sent me a bunch of press samples for my post card collection. Omg, it was the BEST DAY EVER when I received that package in the mail with a sweet note from this lovely lady! 😍❤️

 

And a few pics along with similar books to my collection. Aren't they amazing?? If there were postcards for every book in the Furrowed Middlebrow and Golden Age mystery collection, I would totally buy them up! They're so awesome!
 

 

 

 

 

Now, onto my review of Miss Granby's Secret: or The Bastard of Pinsk by Eleanor Farjeon!

 

Rating: 4🌟

A crazy and compelling ride!

This is my first experience of Eleanor Farjeon's writing and I have to say that, at first, I was a little doubtful that I'd like it. I felt that the pace of the story fluctuated between slightly frantic to slow, with (for me) some confusion in between.

I wish I'd had a hard copy version of Miss Granby's Secret because there were some sections I wanted to go back and refer to a few times (such as Adelaide's own definition of terms). But, in spite of a transition at the beginning of the book (in which I was adjusting my mind to the way it was written), there came a point where the story completely caught hold of me and I was all in!

Both the main story with Miss Granby's niece, Pamela, and the story-within-the-story of The Bastard of Pinsk became entirely addictive. At one point, near the end, I forgot that this book wasn't entirely The Bastard of Pinsk by Miss Granby! lol. It was so amusing and I was dying to know what would happen at the end.

The very end of the story became confusing (for me) again and I'm not sure I fully loved the way the author brought the novel to a close. I was a little disappointed at the end, but this could be due to my not being used to Eleanor Farjeon's writing style. Overall, I enjoyed the book so much more than I imagined I would!

I own a pretty little book of Ms. Farjeon's poetry for children, so I'm excited to dip into that book very soon and see if I like it. Many thanks and gratitude to the wonderful team at Dean Street Press Ltd. for sharing this e-book with me for review! I always love a Furrowed Middlebrow book—and this one was definitely a new adventure for me!  

Highly recommended you give this book a try! (or ANY Dean Street Press book!)

Please make sure to check out Caro's awesome review of Miss Granby's Secret, too!

So...

I guess that's about all for now. Ian and I went on a trip to Florida this month (post-cancer treatment for him plus a little late 31st wedding anniversary beach vacation for the two of us) and I'll share pics (along with my favorite lighthouse themed vintage books!) very soon.

I hope you're having the most cozy, comfortable and joyful book reading month, dear friends! I'll start sharing my holiday book favorites, recommendations and TBR at the beginning of December (including my favorite Christmas books by genre, favorite Christmas movies and activities!) I can't wait! 

Much love as always and would love to hear from you in the comments below! Tons of hugs! 💕🌸🤗🌸💕

Reading Goals for 2024 🤩

My beautiful Emma Bridgewater mug from my dear friend, Carla ☺️💕

Helloooo, Friends! It's a little late in the month, but I would love to share my reading goals for 2024. Yay! 🥳

As you may have guessed, I'm definitely a mood reader. But, I'm also a seasonal reader (is this my Gemini personality coming through?) AND a product (rather than process) type of person. So, I seem to make things very difficult for myself when trying to figure out what to read during the year. Just writing these words makes me feel exhausted 😂

On top of all of that, I really want to read more books from my bookshelves. I tend to save the books I truly want to read "for later", like you might do with a favorite dessert or something. Why do I do this?? The fact is, it never ends up being "later" or the right time. At this rate, I'll have to read them when I'm a ghostly spirit (like the librarian at the NYC library in the Ghostbusters movie) 😱👻📚

So, taking the advice of a lovely Bookstagram friend, Caro (@caro.reads.books), I'm going to read one book from each of my favorite collections each month for the entire year.

Unread Book Collections:

• Persephone
• Dean Street Press Furrowed Middlebrow
• British Library Women Writers
• Maida or Honey Bunch
• Cherry Ames, Vicki Barr, Judy Bolton or Nancy Drew 

I have less than 12 unread books from each collection to read, so it should perfectly fit with the number of months in the year. Crossing my fingers!!🤞🏼

List of Authors to Read More of this Year:

• O. Douglas (only read one so far...eek!)
  
• D.E. Stevenson (so many to go, but I've read tons!)
  
• Mary Stewart (buddy reads with @gina.stanyer.books - only a couple of her gothic/romances left to read!)
• Margery Sharp (can't wait!)
• Elizabeth von Arnim (buddy reads with @carosbookcase)
  
• William Horwood (more budding reading with @carosbookcase!)
• Jennifer Ryan (buddy reads with @marjoriepaper)
  
• Elizabeth Goudge (with the @elizabethgoudgebookclub of course!)
• Miss Read's Thrush Green series (with @bagfullofbooks group on IG!)
  
• Molly Clavering (read a few, really liked them and I have at least 5 more to read) 

Plus, so many more! 🤣

My personal goals per day include:

• 1 hour working on my knitting or crochet blanket/project
• At least one French lesson using Duolingo
  
• Face Yoga and Gua Sha
• A drawing in my sketchbook or some type of artwork
• Exercise 30-40 minutes
• Gratitude Journal
  

These are things that I already do every single day, but I'd like to continue them. (Please don't think I'm wacky 😜) They're the things I do when I'm not working at World of Vegan, of course. 

I have a problem with trying to be TOO productive and I always wish they made planners for people to help them reduce the amount of productivity in their day - LOL! If only that was a thing. *sigh*

I'd love to know what your reading and/or personal goals are for this year! Please let me know in the comments below! 

Have a wonderful weekend and sending you so many hugs! *SQUISH* 💕🌸🤗🌸💕