How do you stay calm/unparanoid when reading a dark book?

[Janeandjerry]

As long as husband is close by I know I am safe...

[JK]

I'm calm while reading the book... but then when it comes to bed time, I need to leave my night light on :(

[Janeandjerry]

My best reading time is while in bed cuddle up with husband on my left and my kindle going strong as I keep it charged on my right...lol its best time to read I think

[Donald]

Stephen King can rattle my nerves. Pet Cemetary was a good example, or It, which was really scary. Any time in the dark can imagine strange things jumping out at me. So better to read Suburban Noir, less scary more psychological.

[Kat]

I guess I haven't read a book yet that is scary enough to do that to me. I don't get too rattled when I read thrillers or mysteries. Any suggestions on a horror novel that might scare me enough to feel this way?

[Kat]

Loretta wrote: "Kat wrote: "I guess I haven't read a book yet that is scary enough to do that to me. I don't get to rattled when I read thrillers or mysteries. Any suggestions on a horror novel that might scare me..."

Thanks Loretta! I think The Silence of the Lambs would be a great one to read!

[Terri]

It's not real, so I don't even think about it.

[Craig]

Janeandjerry wrote: "As long as husband is close by I know I am safe..."

Kat wrote: "I guess I haven't read a book yet that is scary enough to do that to me. I don't get too rattled when I read thrillers or mysteries. Any suggestions on a horror novel that might scare me enough to ..."

The ones that truly scare me are the true stories like Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" or "The Hot Zone". I have been putting off reading "Helter SKelter" as I'm sure it will be very disturbing.

[Jan C]

Craig wrote: "Janeandjerry wrote: "As long as husband is close by I know I am safe..."

Kat wrote: "I guess I haven't read a book yet that is scary enough to do that to me. I don't get too rattled when I read th..."

I had more trouble withIn Cold Blood than with Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders. I think I had to put the first one down for a year or so before I could finish it. No such problem with the other one though. It was more public and people knew more about it. Everyone knew about it because it was in all the papers at the time. I think many of us just wanted to find more about the "truth" of the killings and killers.

[Craig]

Jan C wrote: I had more trouble withIn Cold Blood than with Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders. I think I had to put the first one down for a year or so before I could finish it. No such problem with the other one though. It was more public and people knew more about it. Everyone knew about it because it was in all the papers at the time. I think many of us just wanted to find more about the "truth" of the killings and killers.


Kat wrote: "I guess I haven't read a book yet that is scary enough to do that to me. I don't get too rattled ..."

I always assumed it was because it was a true story, but I guess Truman Capote's treatment made it even scarier.

[Olivia "So many books--so little time.""]

I like to read novels and whenever one gets too scary or gruesome I tell myself it's only a story. That's why I don't like to read true crime.

[Jan C]

The only true crime stories that bother me are the ones that have taken place in my neighborhoods. I came across one story - I think it was in Wikipedia or a footnote in a book I was reading - which was about a crime occurring in an alley behind an apartment building I lived in. Or ones that involved north or northwest suburban Chicago - including books about Helen Voorhees Brach or about the three little boys who were kidnapped in the '50s on their "way" to/from the movies. This last resulted in parents keeping a closer eye on their children.