Fall Reads

Ah, Sunday evenings.

Tyler's still grading GRE exams until 8. I got home a few hours ago from my second measly brunch of the weekend, where I made a grand total of $150, which is what I usually make in a day. Oh well, it was a relatively stress-free weekend of working, which was nice because I've been feeling a bit under the weather. I don't know if it's allergies or what, but I suspect a change-of-season cold is the culprit, though Tyler says I could have worse allergies here because there are different things to be allergic to.

I hear it's really cold in Omaha -- like, in the 40s and 50s. For once I'm glad to be here instead of there, because it's beautiful -- the leaves are just starting to change, but the weather is in the upper 70s. There seems to be more of an autumn here than in Omaha, and though I'll miss apple picking in Nebraska City and Tyler already misses the Husker games, I like spending autumn here forming new 'traditions', like taking part in Jenny and Jocelin's annual pumpkin-carving party, and wine and cheese nights in their backyard. Or Ducktoberfest at duckduck this Wednesday. I keep hearing from everyone that this is the time of year when the city really comes alive, and I'm starting to feel that energy and it makes me excited.

What also makes me excited this time of year are SCARY STORIES! After reading Young Romantics about the lives of English poets Byron, Keats, Shelley, and his wife Mary, I've been wanting to read Mary Shelley's book, Frankenstein. Frankenstein has become such a steadfast Halloween icon, but I feel like I don't really know the story all that well, except a man's creation comes to life and blah blah blah. But the story is much deeper than that and raises a lot of moral and societal questions, and I think I am old enough now to understand those underlying issues -- and what better time to read a Gothic tale than before Halloween?!

I think these are next on my list to pick up from the library:

Horace Walpole - Castle of Otranto

This is considered one of the first novels of the Gothic genre (think Dracula, not teens wearing black) written in the 1700s about a lord with control issues and his family's ancient prophesy. Full of paranoia, confused identity, and murder, I figure the author who influenced writers like Bram Stoker, Daphne du Maurier, Edgar Allen Poe, and Ann Radcliffe deserves a chance!

Vincent Bugliosi - Helter Skelter

What could be creepier than reading a firsthand account of the 1969 Manson family murders written by the lawyer who prosecuted him? I used to work in the basement of an antique shop, and among all the vintage clothes there were stacks and stacks of old Life magazines. When I was bored (which was quite often) I would try to organize the issues, and I spent a good hour or two reading the one that had Charles Manson's freaky face on the cover. Needless to say I was pretty spooked being in that basement by myself.

Thomas Tryon - Harvest Home

1973 horror novel about a family from NYC who move to an isolated, idyllic farming village that turns out to be a cultish freak zone of people with neo-paganistic rituals.


Do any of you guys have good scary story recommendations? They're the perfect reads for chilly fall nights!