By Tania Syed
WINTER’S isolating nature pushes us into a solitude that’s often craving for more. Sometimes its dreariness also makes us yearn for some adventure and the outside world only compliments tales of a certain kind. Following is a list of stories you can read to satiate your winter cravings for all things horror. If you’ve run out of the excitement created by the rumours of haunted beings making scary noises in Kashmir neighborhoods amidst inundating snowfall, you can grab a couple of these.
“The Shining”, by Stephen King
“Monsters are real. Ghosts are too. They live inside of us, and sometimes, they win.”
This book is a must-read by the very popular and canonical Stephen King. Defined by many as a classic and one of the scariest books written. The book is set in winters and the snow is important to the plot. Grab this one for a horror inducing reading ride.
“The Turn of the Screw” by Henry James
This 1898 Gothic Novella is filled with horror induced by the ambiguous and the mundane. It first appeared in Collier’s weekly in a serialised form. If you’ve read Bronte’s, especially Jane Eyre; you’d love the vibe of this short book.
For someone who’s on-the-go in winters, the length of the book will seem less daunting but the literary dexterity is top-notch.
“Beloved” by Toni Morrison
This brilliant book is more than just a page-turner or a book that you can gorge on for cheap thrills. It is a masterpiece and has rightfully won the Pulitzer. Taking on much from the gothic tradition, the book employs it to open up layers of issues especially those related to slavery and racism. If you’ve not read this book, you are truly missing out on most.
“Frankenstein: The 1818 Text” by Mary Shelly
Frankenstein is often considered as the first book of science fiction. However, the elements of horror are unmissable in this classic. The book is so popular that the word “Frankenstein” is often interchangeably used to mention anything supernatural, gothic or larger than yourself. The language of the book is quite gripping and the story is one which everyone comes back to and so must you!
“Gothic Tales” by Elizabeth Gaskell
This book treads the path between the real and the unreal quite marvellously and induces a sense of suspense and horror that is unparalleled. All the stories in this volume form a stark contrast to the social realism of Gaskell’s novels, revealing a darker and more unsettling style of writing.
- The author is a student of Literature at University of Kashmir
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