Top Ten Tuesday is an original meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.
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Top Ten Scariest Books
1. All That Remains by Patricia Cornwell - I was reading Cornwell books when my middle child was born...1994...I remember vividly sitting up reading while waiting for her to fall asleep...I also remember vividly being afraid to walk up the hallway to my own bedroom by myself once I had to turn out all the lights. This was the last Cornwell I read; her stories are about real monsters, not the ones you can shove off in your mind bc they're make believe. Preparing this list, however, has made me wonder if I should give her another try?
2. Pet Semetery by Stephen King - I was jr. high age when I read this...the idea and images of pets raised from the dead was extremely disturbing...but I couldn't put it down.
3. Misery by Stephen King - this one played with my mind...while the movie was good, the book was even better (duh, right?). Annie was not a monster per se...but she was just about as much of a real monster that any human being could ever be. The evil oozed from every pore, and for her, it was just everyday normal behavior. Poor Paul.
4. The Witching Hour by Ann Rice - I was traveling back and forth between my home in Mississippi and San Francisco when I read this whopper of a book. The descriptions of San Francisco and then New Orleans made this story real to me. I absolutely loved it and would read all bazillion pages again eventhough the sequels were not as good (Taltos was awful!!)
5. Amityville Horror by Jay Anson - I was also jr high age when I read this one...not sure why I went through this stage. I've never been a fan of scary movies so I guess reading scary books was my way to get that thrill but to also be able to stop the scary for a minute or two if I needed to. A house with demons so evil that they terrorized the family that lived there was pretty dang scary...and the urban legend that went along with it made it that much more frightening.
6. Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin - I've never seen this movie...never even wanted to. My mom saw this movie when she was pregnant with me!!!! The book with its Satan possessed apartment dwellers with Satan himself fathering Rosemary's child just about gives me shivers as I sit here and type this now.
7. The Omen by David Seltzer - not sure why these Satan possession books were so big on my list...I don't read them now. I guess I got my fill when I was younger. I couldn't watch this movie.
8. Jaws by Peter Benchley - I was too young to see this movie when it was first released...but I had already read the book :) The characters were developed more fully in the book...of course, the movie focused more on the shark and the horror of it all rather than the inside story. I would read this book again just to get the movie out of my mind. The frightening scenes in the book were also depicted with much more detail and much more eerily than in the movie...the black water...the red blood...I will never look at the ocean the same again.
9. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris - I haven't read any of the other Hannibal Lecter books if that gives you any indication of how much this one freaked me out. It still gives me nightmares. I did see this movie eventually though...my husband rented it. I slept right next to him curled up in his back that night. (I think he might have rented that one on purpose). He has read Red Dragon and did not recommend that I read it next...and he doesn't usually dissuade me from anything.
10. Dracula by Bram Stoker - How could a Halloween list be complete without the original? This one scares me...but in a good way. The new vampire stuff (which I also like) pales in comparison to Stoker's creation of the one whom all others are based on. Creepy stuff here...to be read slowly on a dark night by candlelight :) Bwahhhhaaahhhhaaahhhaaaaa!
I like your list. I have some overlap with you on some things and The Silence of the Lambs almost made my list. It was a close one
ReplyDeleteLove your list. I really need to incorporate some Steven King into my reading sooner than later.
ReplyDeleteMy aunt wont go into the ocean because of the movie Jaws. and she's a big reader, I wonder what would happen if she read the book? HaHa Great list!
ReplyDeleteMy Top Ten
The only thing I've read on your list is Dracula! And it didn't really scare me at all -- it's all the "reinvented" vampire stuff now that scares me, ha ha ha. In an "I can't believe they're doing this" sort of scaring.
ReplyDeleteHmmm.. I wonder if it's because it's almost Halloween or if there is a dark side to you I haven't seen before. I am seeing a pattern here with your reading!
ReplyDeleteI don't like scary. I won't do it.. no way jose'
Hi Patti,
ReplyDeleteWhen I read your subject line I started thinking, I wonder if she'll include The Witching Hour on her list?" I read it years ago when my husband was out of town one weekend and had to sleep with the lights ON!! Can you believe it? It creeped me out that much. What about "The Shining" by Stephen King? I like his earlier work, but am totally indifferent to anything he's done in the last 10 years or so. GREAT post, by the way :-)
Now Paula ;) It's Halloween! :)
ReplyDeleteI have always liked spooky...the traditional kind of spooky including historical and fictional stuff about the Salem Witch Trials and especially vampires. I do not like psycho killers and 50 ways to kill teenagers who are all camping together stories/movies.
I read Amityville Horror, The Omen, Rosemary's Baby etc. when I was jr highish age and didn't know any better ;) That stuff is freaky.
Kent Island Red, I believe it. I was by myself in hotel rooms during most of the time that I was reading The Witching Hour...needless to say, my room looked like daylight, even at night. There was just so much unknown...I kinda think that's what does it for me :)
ReplyDeleteSarah, It may sound silly, but I'm pretty picky about my vampires. Dracula is a hard act to follow for most of the contemporary versions. What gives me the chills over and over again are the descriptions of the cold, damp and dark castle, the woods surrounding the castle, the black horses and even the gypsies...I'm reading The Historian right now and loving all the traditional nods to the original setting.
ReplyDeleteOMG -- I read Amityville Horror and I still think about it!! The picture at the end?? *screams in complete and total fear*
ReplyDeleteOkay, now I won't be able to sleep tonight.
Good list. Some of your choices are on my top 11-20 scariest books, and one is on my top 10.
ReplyDeleteStephen King is appearing on a lot of people's lists!
ReplyDeleteI've never intentionally read a horror book except The Stand and that was a book my husband forced me to read. I'm a big baby when it comes to Scary.
ReplyDeleteHere's my TTT:
http://readerbuzz.blogspot.com/2010/10/top-ten-scariest-books.html
I'm the reverse with Rosemary's Baby - I've seen the movie, and am very curious about it and Levin's other books. Boys from Brazil, Son of Rosemary (yea!), etc.
ReplyDeleteKayla + Cyna, I didn't read the Boys from Brazil...Rosemary's Baby was enough for me ;)
ReplyDeleteSmellincoffee, what I think is really interesting is the variety of Stephen King that everyone likes. Old Timers like me tend to like the early stuff and many don't even read King anymore. The younger readers of King seem to like the newer stuff and haven't read the older King...sorry for analyzing King choices...it's that academic disease again ;)
ReplyDeleteI have a similar list :) I can't wait to read Jaws! It is one of my fav movies :)
ReplyDeleteThis could almost be a list of scariest movies too!
ReplyDeleteIve read nearly every single book on your list but the only one we have in common is Dracula. Im a new follower
ReplyDeletewww.thephantomparagrapher.blogspot.com