I hail from California, so October is an exciting month for me — the leaves don’t fall back home! My single qualm with this month is that it’s synonymous with midterm season; if you had no time to read before, you certainly don’t now. Don’t fret, however! Fall break is the perfect time to catch up on your ever-growing to-read list, and I have some timely additions for you.
I’m taking a page out of Nat’s book, rather, her novels: here are my spooky and gothic October book recommendations (none of which I originally read in October).
Bunny – Mona Awad
Whisk classic mean girl movies (“Heathers” [1988], “Mean Girls” [2004], etc.) together in a large bowl. In a separate container, gently mix selected dark academia literary staples (“The Secret History” by Donna Tartt, “If We Were Villians” by M.L. Rio). Combine the two and mix well, adding a dash of “wtf.” Bake for 45 minutes at 425 degrees for Awad’s darkly comedic exploration of the creative process and female friendships.
You may relate to the academic and social pressures faced by loner Samantha at her atmospheric New England graduate school (close enough). But maybe unlike you, she is unexpectedly sucked into the dominant coterie of her fiction writing class, the “Bunnies,” an aesthetic, wealthy conglomerate of girls who also seem to have a hive mind.
You thought sorority Preference Night was weird? Just wait until you see what rituals the Bunnies partake in. Try not to lose yourself in the process.
Mexican Gothic – Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Spoiler alert: it’s a Gothic novel set in Mexico.
Noemí Taboada is our protagonist and socialite extraordinaire. Headstrong and independent, she’s all the personality I want to follow into the High Place, the old countryside manor she adventures to after receiving ominous letters from her newlywed cousin.
Sounds Gothic enough, right? Set in the 1950s, a spunky heroine, a spooky old house and a mysterious family recently married into. But Moreno-Garcia takes a fresh, raw spin on these classic tropes and is sure to subvert any and all of your expectations of her story.
The beginning of the story is slow, but please, please be patient as the sinister ambiance and shadowy mystery are craftily spun. The plot takes its time, tip-toeing along inside the house, allowing for the reader to pause and take in the environment. The house is eerie, the family is creepy and you are given plenty of time for the unsettling suspense to settle in. It is all the more engrossing when Noemí is finally able to pull back the curtain, unleashing a freakish rollercoaster of an ending.
Something Wicked This Way Comes – Ray Bradbury
Maybe instead of October recommendations, this review should’ve been called something along the lines of “my favorite books in which the protagonist(s) get accidentally pulled into a spooky and sinister world.” Or something like that.
This book is like if Tim Burton directed the “Dumbo” movie — oh wait! Except this novel is actually engaging and legitimately freaky. A circus comes to the small town of nearly-14-year-olds Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade (spectacular protagonist names, by the way) … except at three in the morning, and that’s not the only strange thing about Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show.
Just as Noemí is my ideal main character for her Gothic setting, it is a delight to follow Will and Jim as they follow their own innate curiosity and boyish sense of adventure into the dark secrets of the circus.
The novel explores deceptively simple themes of good versus evil, aging, fatherhood and childhood friendship. For every scene that makes you raise an eyebrow, put the book down in disbelief or utter a confused explicit, there is a heart-warming and inspiring moment. Underneath all the drama, adventure and horror, it’s a coming-of-age story at its core.
