Prompt 22: A book that scares you

[Ann]

What books are you reading in this category?

[Ann]

I saw a few posts about scary stories in the Short Stories Prompt thread. Does anyone have any recommendations for good spooky stories or ghost stories? I was thinking a book by Stephen King for this one but a good spine tingling collection of ghost stories would be good, too!

[[deleted user]]

I read Bird Box by Josh Malerman. It was definitely a book that haunted me for a while after I read it.

[Julia]

I don't usually read in this genre so I read "Foundling(Monster Blood Tattoo #1)" by D.M Cornish on recommendation from my teenage son (I have to finish the series now). But wasn't very scary at all so another recommendation from a girlfriend was "Kiss the Girls" by James Patterson and it definitely scared me.

[Sooz]

If you don't mind an epic story (as in 1376 pages!) then I am currently reading Stephen King - IT.

Clowns. Needs no more explanation.

[Brandy]

See I read book that scares you and I thought of Ulysses. We're thinking psychological thriller or horror? Much less terrifying.

[[deleted user]]

My scary book ended up being The Ruins by Scott Smith.


It was excellent. I could have used it for quite a few categories, but I ended up choosing "a book that scares you" because it filled me with such a sense of dread, uneasiness, and helplessness that it really needed to be this one.

[Amy]

I recently read Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts- really great collection of spooky stories.

[Tori]

I read Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix. Loved it!!!

[Alexis]

Joe Hill's NOS4A2 is terrifying!!!

[Leah]

For scary Stephen King, I do not see how you can go wrong with The Shining.

And thanks for the suggestion about Bird Box. Maybe that will be my terrifying novel for this challenge -- though I am getting really tired of post-apocalyptic books already. (Sorry, just re-read The Passage and then read both Station Eleven and The Twelve, so I think I may be a bit overwhelmed -- maybe I just need to take a break from the apocalypse until March!).

[Zoe]

I was thinking War and Peace... a book that thick terrifies me!!!

[Jane]

I chose Stephen King's 2014 release, Revival, because religious fanaticism scares the crap out of me.

[Tribefan]

Just finished Diary by Chuck Palahniuk... Creepy read!

[Mshllvis]

anything by Rush Limbaugh

[Tribefan]

Haha! Good one! Not sure I could read anything by Rush though!

[Ann]

Brianna wrote: "I'm undecided on what to read for this. It takes a lot to really scare me when reading so I may have to branch out on this. I haven't really read any Stephen King so I may try one of his. Any recom..."

I'm in the same boat! It's so hard for me to be scared by a book, movie, etc. I just have that 'it's not real' in the back of my head all the time. I think this prompt I might have to read something that is scary in real life like The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus which is about the origin of Ebola. I've been reading The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Six. It's like a grown up Scary Stories type book. The stories are creepy and good but they just don't scare me! I'm also reading NOS4A2 which is great so far and very creepy. I'd recommend it for this prompt.

[Belinda]

I won an ARC of A Head Full of Ghosts after I read it I am hoping I can use it for this prompt. If not I also have Urban Gothic or I want to read NOS4A2.

[Kirsten]

In another group, we wondered whether "scares" means frightens or intimidates.

If it means frightens, the scariest books I've ever read were Ghost Story by Peter Straub and The Ruins by Scott Smith.

If I'm going to fulfill this one as "frightens", it'll be hit and miss. You can't tell ahead of time what book'll frighten you.

[Melanie]

I just finished The Martian by Andy Weir. Being stranded on Mars? SCARY!

[Sara]

I read Trafficked: My Story of Surviving, Escaping, and Transcending Abduction into Prostitution. Maybe not a traditional "scary" book, but stories like this absolutely terrify me. It is very difficult to read her experiences. The physical abuse, mental abuse, slow release of her sense of self just to survive. *shiver*

[CherD]

I am still thinking/working on a book for this category. I can't help but think about when I was just out of high school and read the Exorcist. Scared me to death... Then with my college boyfriend went to the movie. Spent most of the time with my face under his arm. So scary back then.

[Megan]

I want to give Stephen King a try, so I'm going to read Carrie. I know Stephen King's books can be lengthy, and Carrie is one of the shortest. I don't mind long books, but I think I have picked a good number of them for the challenge already.

I never thought about The Exorcist. My boyfriend loves the movie and can watch again and again. I refuse to watch it again.

[Sara]

Megan wrote: "I want to give Stephen King a try, so I'm going to read Carrie. I know Stephen King's books can be lengthy, and Carrie is one of the shortest. I don't mind long books, but I think I ha..."

I'm not a big Stephen King fan myself, but Carrie is one of the books I have read. I enjoyed it (as much as you can enjoy a book about bullying... :) )

[Kirsten]

Jane wrote: "I chose Stephen King's 2014 release, Revival, because religious fanaticism scares the crap out of me."

I absolutely loved that book! I agree religious nut-jobs scare me too and we have too many in this country.

[Megan]

Sara wrote: "Megan wrote: "I want to give Stephen King a try, so I'm going to read Carrie. I know Stephen King's books can be lengthy, and Carrie is one of the shortest. I don't mind long books, bu..."

I think I may change and read The Exorcist. Truthfully, I think that will scare me more than Carrie will. The book you read Sara for your prompt sounds interesting too. I added it to my to-read list and I definitely plan to read it one day.

[Michelle]

Now the Exorcist might have actually scared me. THAT stuff can happen. Almost nothing Stephen King writes can.

I wanted to interpret this as others did above, meaning that it was intimidation rather than horror. But try as I might, I could not find a book that scared me. I read pretty much everything.

Someone above mentioned the Hot Zone, and that was terrifying! But I'd already read it.

So I went with Bag of Bones. While it was eerie, I cant say it scared me. I LOVED IT!

[CherD]

Finished Midnight is a Lonely Place, by Barbara Erskine. I thought it was pretty scary/spooky. Especially since I couldn't put it down, and read late into the night. Yep, caused me to jump when I heard funny sounds in the house while reading it!

[Juanita]

I read Hope: A Memoir of Survival by Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus about their 10 years of captivity in Cleveland. I read Michelle Knight's book last year.

Their story is definitely frightening.

[Alexis]

I read The Picture of Dorian Grey, which is frightening just in how the character could bring such harm to others with so little remorse. It makes me think that it is a vast overstatement when I claim to suffer from vanity too. It also asks the question, "Are we only good, upstanding people if we know that we'd be found out if we behaved otherwise?"

If I were to re-do this prompt, I feel a bit like this book was not the best fit, but it was an interesting story with a couple of perplexing characters.

[Jamie]

I second the recommendation for "Bird Box". Closest I've gotten to a book that scares me.

[Guylian]

For this prompt I read John Wyndham "The Day of the Triffids". The thought of another species taking over always does it for me.

[Kerryann]

I've just read the heart shaped box by joe hill

[Tara]

I put before I go to sleep for this one because the idea of not remembering anything or anyone and not knowing who you can trust is terrifying to me

[Tara]

I put before I go to sleep for this one because the idea of not remembering anything or anyone and not knowing who you can trust is terrifying to me

[AlegnaB †]

I've tried four books for this one, and none of them scared me. I've decided to change it to "A horror/scary book" and use Dracula for it, which was the third book I read for it.

[Nicole]

I read My Story by Elizabeth Smart for this prompt. I'm pretty easily scared so I didn't want to read a ghost story :)

[Michelle]

That book is on my TBR list.

[Angela]

The Haunting of Hill house

[Angela]

The Haunting of Hill house

[Ariel]

I just finished Career of Evil for this one. JKR said it gave her nightmares while writing, so that's why I picked it. Then the first chapter was in the killer's POV and creeped me out so much I didn't read any more for like 4 days.

[Tara]

lol I guess I'm leap frogging posts but is this part of the detective strike series?

[Melody]

I read The October Country by Ray Bradbury for this prompt. While most of the stories are more macabre than scary there are a few of them, specifically "Next in Line", "Skeleton", and "The Crowd", that unsettlingly stick around with you after you've finished reading them.

[Kirsten]

Finally finished reading Delirious by Daniel Palmer

2015 Ultimate Challenge 40/52

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