Blogtober Day 27: Let’s Talk Bookish – Books That Give You Nightmares

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was originally created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books starting in August 2019, and was then cohosted with Dani @ Literary Lion from May 2020 to March 2022. Book Nook Bits has hosted since April 2022.

As usual, this week’s Let’s Talk Bookish prompt is really intriguing, and definitely a perfect one for the last Friday of October!

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Let’s Talk Bookish October 27th
Books That Gave You Nightmares

Prompts: Have you ever had a nightmare about a book you read? Do you try to avoid scary books? Or do you really enjoy reading them? What are your favorite and least favorite scary books?

It’s not something that happens often, but on occasion I have had dreams/nightmares influenced by something I’ve read at the time. The last one I can clearly remember is after reading Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder. Something about that book just burrowed under my skin enough to give me dreams about strange, eldritch creatures. Fun!

I absolutely do not try and avoid scary books. I actually find it really hard to find books that do truly ‘scare’ me, though there’s plenty that give me that good sense of unease and creepiness, even if they don’t actively scare me or give me nightmares. I love a good horror book though, and it’s always great to come across one that induces that spine-tingling sensation.

I could reel off a whole list of spooky books I’ve liked (or didn’t like!) but I think I get to mention them quite often anyway, so I’m going to mention instead the sort of things I love in horror/scary books, and the things I don’t.

I love characters you can feel an emotional connection to. It doesn’t always mean you have to like them, but I prefer books where I have a reason to care if the MC lives or dies. I like ambiguity, too, and a lot of tension. When it comes to horror, I want a book that absolutely keeps me guessing and on my toes. Atmosphere is incredibly important, too.

As for things I don’t tend to like – too much meandering, I really like horror to be pretty tight. Characters I can’t connect to or are overly cartoony villains. Horror without a reason – I don’t mean that everything has to be explained, but if something horrific is happening to the characters and it feels like it’s just thrown in there to pad it out, I don’t like it. The ‘bad guy/creature/entity’ or whatever it is can’t just appear out of nowhere. Even if it’s not spelled out in the book, I think you can tell when the author has an idea behind it that is between the lines, versus when it feels like they’ve just gone “oh yeah that sounds cool I’ll throw that in”. And kind of linked, over-explaining. Readers don’t need every little detail spelled out, and again, I like reading between the lines and working things out.

So yes, I like scary books, when they’re done well. I tend to like more ‘quiet’ scary than violent or graphic horror, but no matter the type of horror, it’s always a pleasure to read a good quality scary book.