Reading list: Halloween Book Bingo - Gothic Square

Created by: Murder by Death

Definition of Gothic literature: writing that employs dark and picturesque scenery, startling and melodramatic narrative devices, and an overall atmosphere of exoticism, mystery, and dread. Often, a Gothic novel or story will revolve around a large, ancient house that conceals a terrible secret or that serves as the refuge of an especially frightening and threatening character. Despite the fairly common use of this bleak motif, Gothic writers have also used supernatural elements, touches of romance, and well-known historical characters.

Please add your favourites to the comments and I'll add them asap.

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Books: 70

Window on the Square

by Phyllis A. Whitney

Note:

Wuthering Heights & Jane Eyre

by Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë

Note: Would also work for Dark and Stormy Night square.

Rebecca

by Daphne du Maurier

Note: Would also work for Dark and Stormy Night square.

The Castle of Otranto

by Horace Walpole

Note: Would also work for Dark and Stormy Night square.

The Mysteries of Udolpho

by Ann Radcliffe

Note: Would also work for Dark and Stormy Night square.

Northanger Abbey: The Illustrated Edition

by Jane Austen, Henry Brock, C.E. Brock

Note:

The Oval Portrait

by Edgar Allan Poe

Note:

The Fall of the House of Usher

by Edgar Allan Poe

Note: Would also work for Dark and Stormy Night square.

The Picture of Dorian Gray and Other Writings

by Oscar Wilde, Richard Ellmann

Note:

10.

The Turn of the Screw and Other Short Fiction

by Henry James

Note: Would also work for Dark and Stormy Night square.

11.

Dracula

by Bram Stoker

Note: Would also work for Dark and Stormy Night square.

12.

The Moonflower

by Phyllis A. Whitney

Note:

13.

The Curse of the Kings

by Victoria Holt

Note:

14.

The House of a Thousand Lanterns

by Victoria Holt

Note:

15.

The Dark on the Other Side

by Barbara Michaels, Elizabeth Peters

Note:

16.

House of Many Shadows

by Barbara Michaels

Note:

17.

This Rough Magic

by Mary Stewart

Note:

18.

Nine Coaches Waiting (Rediscovered Classics)

by Sandra Brown, Mary Stewart

Note:

19.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Ot... - Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Mighall

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Tales of Terror

by Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Mighall

Note:

20.

Sanctuary: The Corrected Text

by William Faulkner

Note:

21.

The Bride of Lammermoor

by Walter Scott, J.H. Alexander, Kathryn Sutherland

Note: Would also work for Witches square and Dark and Stormy night square.

22.

The Woman in White

by Wilkie Collins, Matthew Sweet

Note:

23.

The Moonstone

by Wilkie Collins, Sandra Kemp

Note:

24.

Fanshawe

by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Note:

25.

Undine

by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué

Note:

26.

The Devil's Elixirs

by E.T.A. Hoffmann, Ronald Taylor

Note: Would also work for:
Classic Horror square
Genre: Horror square
Dark and Stormy Night square

27.

The Sandman

by E.T.A. Hoffmann

Note: Would also work for:
Classic Horror square
Genre: Horror square
Dark and Stormy Night square

28.

A Long Fatal Love Chase

by Louisa May Alcott

Note: Would also work for:
Scary Woman Author square
Dark and Stormy Night square

29.

The Phantom of the Opera

by Gaston Leroux, Alexander Teixeira de Mattos

Note: Would also work for:
Classic Horror square
Genre: Horror square
Dark and Stormy Night square

30.

The Looking-Glass Portrait

by Linda Hilton

Note:

31.

Seven Gothic Tales

by Karen Blixen, Isak Dinesen

Note:

32.

The Lake of Dead Languages

by Carol Goodman

Note:

33.

The Seance

by John Harwood

Note:

34.

Candles Burning

by Tabitha King, Michael McDowell

Note:

35.

All Fall Down

by Christine Pope

Note:

36.

The Winter Sea

by Susanna Kearsley

Note:

37.

The Splendour Falls

by Susanna Kearsley

Note:

38.

Houses of Stone

by Barbara Michaels

Note:

39.

The Visitor (Graveyard Queen)

by Amanda Stevens

Note:

40.

Mistress of Mellyn

by Victoria Holt

Note:

41.

The Black Opal

by Victoria Holt

Note:

42.

Unnatural Creatures

by Maria Dahvana Headley, Neil Gaiman

Note:

43.

Jamaica Inn

by Daphne du Maurier

Note:

44.

Frankenstein

by Mary Shelley, Maurice Hindle

Note:

45.

Titus Groan

by Mervyn Peake

Note:

46.

The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray

by Chris Wooding

Note:

47.

The Monk

by Matthew Gregory Lewis

Note:

48.

The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre

by John William Polidori

Note:

49.

Melmoth the Wanderer

by Charles Robert Maturin, Victor Sage

Note:

50.

Uncle Silas

by Victor Sage, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Note:

51.

In a Glass Darkly

by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Note:

52.

Carmilla

by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Note:

53.

Bleak House

by Charles Dickens, Hablot Knight Browne, Nicola Bradbury

Note:

54.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

by Charles Dickens, David Paroissien

Note:

55.

The Devil's Pool

by George Sand, Andrew Brown, Victoria Glendenning

Note:

56.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

by John Berendt

Note:

57.

If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O (Ballad Series #1)

by Sharyn McCrumb

Note:

58.

Garden Spells

by Sarah Addison Allen

Note:

59.

Jane Steele

by Lyndsay Faye

Note:

60.

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter

by Theodora Goss

Note:

61.

Elizabeth: A Novel of the Unnatural

by Jonathan Janz, Ken Greenhall, Jessica Hamilton

Note:

62.

Frenchman's Creek (VMC)

by Daphne Du Maurier

Note:

63.

Unsettled Spirits

by J. Matthew Saunders

Note:

64.

Lost Island

by Phyllis A. Whitney

Note:

65.

The Shrouded Walls

by Susan Howatch

Note:

66.

The Dark Shore

by Susan Howatch

Note:

67.

The Waiting Sands

by Susan Howatch

Note:

68.

April's Grave

by SUSAN HOWATCH

Note:

69.

The Devil on Lammas Night

by Susan Howatch

Note:

70.

The Vampire of Northanger

by Bryce Anderson, Nick James

Note:

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Comments

Comments:

Themis-Athena's Garden of Books 9 years ago

Walter Scott: "The Bride of Lammermoor" (ISBN 13: 9780140436563; 0140436561) -- would also work for "witches," as a witch-like "wise woman" is crucial to the plot.

And, like virtually every book on this list by a classic author (Walpole, Radcliffe, Stoker, Poe, Stevenson, Wilde, H. James, du Maurier, the Brontës, etc.), Scott's "Bride of Lammermoor" would also work for "Dark and Stormy Night" (as well as, most of them, of course for "Classic Horror").

Murder by Death 9 years ago

Added, and I think, updated the ones that need the DaSN mention. I've read an embarrassingly small number of these, so I don't actually know which of these work for other squares... :P

Themis-Athena's Garden of Books 9 years ago

"Castle of Otranto," "Mysteries of Udolpho," "Oval Portrait," "Fall of the House of Usher," "Picture of Dorian Gray," "Turn of the Screw," "Dracula," and "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" all also work for both "Classic Horror" and "Genre: Horror."

Books, hockey, and a bucketful of snark 9 years ago

Great list, and if I wasn't trying to keep my re-reads to a minimum, I would be tempted to read Northanger Abbey along with The Mysteries of Udolpho which it skewered.

Themis-Athena's Garden of Books 9 years ago

I know -- same here!

Murder by Death 9 years ago

I was really, really tempted to re-read Northanger Abbey, but I have a couple of unread books that qualify as gothic and I'm trying to be good. :P

SusannaG - Confessions of a Crazy Cat Lady 9 years ago

I'm tempted to reread Northanger Abbey, too - and I may do that. It's been a very long time indeed since I've read it - it would be very fresh.

Themis-Athena's Garden of Books 9 years ago

Does anyone know whether the rewrite by Val McDermid would qualify for any of the squares? I haven't read it, but I'm assuming they didn't pick a mystery / thriller writer for nothing, for this particular piece of the Austen Project?

Murder by Death 9 years ago

Ha! I have it in my TBR pile... I might have to check it out and see. Could be a sneaky compromise. :)

Themis-Athena's Garden of Books 9 years ago

Exactly ... :D (It's on my TBR as well!)

Themis-Athena's Garden of Books 9 years ago

Wilkie Collins: "The Woman in White" (ISBN 10: 0141439610; ISBN 13: 9780141439617) and "The Moonstone" (ISBN 10: 0140434089; ISBN 13: 9780140434088)
Isak Dinesen: "Seven Gothic Tales" (ISBN 10: 0141187190; ISBN 13: 9780141187198)

Murder by Death 9 years ago

Added. Forgetting the Moonstone is just embarrassing, seeing as it's my Gothic read for bingo. :P

Themis-Athena's Garden of Books 9 years ago

Well, in the interim I thought of the other one I was going to suggest for "Gothic," and it's at least as embarrassing, since I specifically even asked MM / OBP about it -- Gaston Leroux: "The Phantom of the Opera" (ISBN 13: 9780060809249; ISBN 10: 0060809248) ... which also works for "Classic Horror," "Genre: Horror," and "Dark and Stormy Nights."

Murder by Death 9 years ago

Almost missed this one - got it. :)

Themis-Athena's Garden of Books 9 years ago

Thank you!

Themis-Athena's Garden of Books 9 years ago

Some more:
Nathaniel Hawthorne: "Fanshawe" (ISBN 10: 1907727787; ISBN 13: 9781907727788)
Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué: "Undine" (ISBN 13: 9780946626571; ISBN 10: 094662657X)
E.T.A. Hoffmann: "The Devil's Elixirs" (ISBN 13: 9781847490841; ISBN 10: 1847490840) and "The Sandman" (ISBN 13: 9781447405818; ISBN 10: 1447405811) -- both would also work for "Classic Horror," "Genre: Horror," and "Dark and Stormy Night."
Louisa May Alcott: "A Long, Fatal Love Chase" (ISBN 13: 9780440223016; ISBN 10: 0440223016) -- which works for "Dark and Stormy Night," too, and also makes Ms. Alcott a "Scary Woman Author"! (As does "Seven Gothic Tales" for Isak Dinesen, above, incidentally.)

Murder by Death 9 years ago

Added. :)

Themis-Athena's Garden of Books 9 years ago

Thanks! :)

Nighttime Reading Center 9 years ago

It might work here:
Book: Twisted
Author: Lola Smirnova
Published January 26, 2014 by
Publisher: Quickfox Publishing
ASIN B00I2DFEOO
Edition Language: English
Series: Twisted #1

8 years ago

Neil Gaiman's Unnatural Creatures was listed on Goodreads as Gothic, so I'm going for that one.

Murder by Death 8 years ago

Added! :)

Themis-Athena's Garden of Books 8 years ago

"Seven Gothic Tales" is on the list twice ... (and I think it's my fault both times -- guess that means I better finally get around to reading it! :) )

Matthew Lewis's "The Monk" also qualifies as gothic, however, I think.

Some more:

John William Polidori - "The Vampyre" -- obviously also for "Vampires", in case it's not on that list already.
Charles Maturin - "Melmoth the Wanderer"
Sheridan Le Fanu - "Uncle Silas", "In a Glass Darkly", "Carmilla" (the latter also for "Vampires")

All of the above also qualify for "classic horror", to the extent they're not already listed there.

Gothic but not necessarily also "horror": Charles Dickens, "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" and "Bleak House".

Murder by Death 8 years ago

Added (and removed)! :)

Themis-Athena's Garden of Books 8 years ago

You're a star!

Themis-Athena's Garden of Books 8 years ago

Commenting on BT's status update on "Indiana" (http://brokentune.booklikes.com/post/1592151/indiana-progress-update-i-ve-read-15), it occurs to me that Sand's "La mare au diable" ("The Devil's Pool" -- ISBN 9781843911050) would fit this square as well -- and also "In the Dark, Dark Woods".

Murder by Death 8 years ago

Added! :) (And thanks of hunting down the ISBN - BL search is a bit slow today and the isbn results come back much faster.)

Themis-Athena's Garden of Books 8 years ago

Well, now that I'm done compiling the basic list(s) I can spend that little extra time again ... :D

Finding in-print versions of that particular book and navigating the various titles under which it's been translated genuinely can be a bitch, though, and that really was the last thing I'd have wanted you to go through ... at least on a book where I *knew* from experience it was bound to happen if you didn't have an ISBN to work with.

Book Stripping Blog 7 years ago

Do these fit in here?

- Stalking Jack the Ripper Series by Kerri Maniscalco
- Dr. Greta Helsing Series by Vivian Shaw
- Slade House by David Mitchell

Murder by Death 7 years ago

I've not read any of them, but hopefully someone will chime in with a yay or nay.

Themis-Athena's Garden of Books 7 years ago

Books from Halloween Bingo 2018 participant reading plan lists posted to date:

Unsettled Spirits by J. Matthew Saunders (9780986333194)
Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye (9780425283202)
The Lost Island by Phyllis Whitney (9781504047319)
The Strange Case of the Alchemists Daughter by Theodora Goss (9781534409637)

Murder by Death 7 years ago

9780986333194 and 9781504047319 aren't in the db. On list via title search.

Themis-Athena's Garden of Books 7 years ago

More books from the participants' reading plan lists -- including unassigned / "free square" / "wild card" books that would fit this category:

Elizabeth by Ken Greenhall (9781943910670)
Frenchman's Creek by Daphne Du Maurier (9780349006598)

Murder by Death 7 years ago

Added.

Themis-Athena's Garden of Books 7 years ago

More from the participants' "reading plans" posts:

Alice by Christina Henry (9781785653308)
The Shrouded Walls by Susan Howatch (9780330235990)
The Dark Shore by Susan Howatch (9780751533101)
The Waiting Sands by Susan Howatch (9780330235983)
April's Grave by Susan Howatch (9780330239554)
The Devil on Lammas Night by Susan Howatch (9780449213193)
The Vampire of Northanger by Bryce C. Anderson (9781523373000)

Murder by Death 7 years ago

added

Themis-Athena's Garden of Books 7 years ago

Thank you! :)

Themis-Athena's Garden of Books 7 years ago

Not After Midnight: And Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier (9780575007659)