Play Book Tag discussion

Do you like to read scary books?
What makes something scary?
What are some of your favorite scary books?
What were the scariest you have read?

I do not like scary books, but I especially do not like scary movies. I think the scariest book I ever read was Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, and a lot of that had to do with me being very young and being alone while reading it.

Joanne wrote: "I do not like scary books, but I especially do not like scary movies. I think the scariest book I ever read was Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, and a lot of that..."

I stopped watching scary movies, because my hubby always fell asleep while watching and I was left to deal with the monsters and the nightmares.

I feel similar to Joanne. I don't like scary books or movies. That sense of danger, impending doom, or dread is not something I enjoy feeling. When I was young (and stupid), I used to read most anything without much forethought. One of the scariest was The Exorcist. I had nightmares for a very long time afterward. The Shining bothered me greatly as well.

Being that those flying monkeys had me hiding behind the sofa from a very young age as soon as the witch appeared, I really have never done scary - movies or books. However, The Handmaid's Tale which I read when the mass market paperback came out, is by a mile, the scariest book I ever read. Still gives me chills.

Don’t particularly care for Scary either.

Scary is not a genre I go out of the way to read. The Exorcist was beyond scary. The Handmaid's Tale was very scary also, but for different reasons. I also remember being spooked by Rosemary's Baby, and still don't know why my mother let me read it when I was 13!

I'd say that Horror is one of my least favorite genres. And I don't care for page turning suspense. I tend to skip to the ending to relieve the tension. I don't like the manipulation of a scary story. I dislike blood and gore. I don't want to read gross descriptions whose only purpose is to arouse disgust.

That said, I surprise myself when I enjoy books with exactly those features. I've enjoyed Gaiman's Neverwhere and The Graveyard Book. Rowling/Galbraith has plenty of gore, suspense and violence in her Cormoran Strike series. For that matter, Harry Potter has plenty of horrific crime and suspenseful horror. All of those books balance the scary factor with likable characters, some humor, and the expectation of a positive ending. (I do avoid the scary parts before bedtime.)

Sad to say, the scariest things I've ever read have been in daily newspapers.

I think this is quite a tricky question to answer, because books can be scary in different ways.

I don't really like scary books if they are classed as horror and are just designed to scare the reader, but I do quite like books that are scary because of the suspense which helps to move the plot forward, though I try not to read them too late at night! I made this mistake with The Hidden One by Linda Castillo a couple of months ago. This is a series that I really love and I tried to finish the book before I went to sleep but was too tired. I thought I would be fine to leave finishing it until the next morning, but about 10 minutes after I had turned off my light, I had to get back up to check in all of the rooms, behind doors and in cupboards and even the bath in my house to make sure that no-one else was there before I could go to sleep.

I also read lots of books that are scary in terms of politics / social issues, whether fiction or non-fiction, as I think it's important to read about these topics and be aware of what either is, or could happen, in society.

I actually like "scary" books about politics or dystopias or disasters, especially non-fiction, but do not care for horror or thrillers. I think the latter triggers my anxiety/depression, which I've dealt with for years. Funny, I just now made this connection.

I like suspense, thrillers, horror and dystopia.

I really like the edge of my seat "what's going to happen next". But, not "OMG what just happened!?" I'm not at all interested in gore or violence - more psychological "scary".

This discussion is interesting. My theory is that what is scary for one in a book or another is a reflection of what internal fears the reader/viewer actually has, whether ever conciously or not. Add in that some like 'poking the bear' as an adrenalin junky type response or a wayvof confronting ... and you have those who love scary.

I read crime fiction so clearly violence, blood gore, suspense, thrillers, gothic, ghost stories, etc. don't bother me at all. Psychological thrillers where someone plays mind games seeking to control and manipulate...nope, mostly avoid. Generally speaking the books I don't read and consider disturbing and scary are those where taking control over oneself and/or one's situation is front and centerer. Which are the very situations in life I fear so to speak.

I am someone who is slow to real anger and it burns out quickly. I also am extremely calm in crisis or when all others losing control. It is only situations like being in NYC on 9/11 for example, where I could not wrest control, calm or some reason to the situation, that give me fear.

I like to read horror- especially in October.

I get tired of the movies- the blood and gore aren’t scary when you see worse in real life, and getting startled isn’t scary, either. The scariest movie I’ve seen is Apocalypse Now. I saw it in high school and it still gives me the shivers. Deliverance was freaky, too.

The pictures in my brain, however, can be pretty scary after reading a book. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, early Stephen King, Rosemary’s Baby and The Fisherman are examples of some of the scariest I’ve read so far.

But real life is scarier than anything that can be made up.

As Theresa says what is scary is pretty relative and what one person finds scary another doesn't.

One Halloween night I picked up one of those Reader's Digest Condensed books and read The Possession of Joel Delaney and it was one of the scariest books I ever read.

The other book that scared me was James Patterson's Kiss the Girls. It had one of the most horrifying scenes ever and that was the first and last I read by him.

Both of those books had things that really scare me, but I'm not going to talk about them.

I am a fan of scary books, not horror per se. The earlier novels by Stephen King such as 'Salem's Lot, Pet Sematary and Misery were quite spine tingling. Books that deal with true crime such as Columbine and Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders are horrific. I also found Hour of the Witch, Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster and The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus absolutely frightening for completely different reasons.

Tracy wrote: "The scariest movie I’ve seen is Apocalypse Now. ..."

I remember when my brother and his good friend in high school accompanied me to see Audrey Hepburn in Wait Until Dark. His friend had seen it already (unbeknownst to us). I was seated between the two of them. At a key scene David touched my arm and I screamed bloody murder! I think I frightened the boys with my scream more than the movie did!

Book Concierge wrote: "Tracy wrote: "The scariest movie I’ve seen is Apocalypse Now. ..."

I remember when my brother and his good friend in high school accompanied me to see Audrey Hepburn in Wait Until Dark. His friend..."

I saw Wait Until Dark in college, and it was definitely scary. Right afterwards I dropped in at a friend's dorm room. She had been baking bread and she answered the door brandishing a giant knife!

I am trying to figure out why I don't like horror. I think I have had a sheltered life, so horror and thrillers always seem to me "unrealistic". I have no problem with Regency romance, sci-fi in space, fantasy with talking creatures. They are set in their own worlds that are internally consistent. But I have trouble accepting that extreme violence and psychological manipulation exist in our world (even though I know they do from the news and other people's experiences).

If I care about the characters, I can read darker books in a series like Cormoran Strike or Walt Longmire. But I really dislike when innocent family members are targeted. I guess I assume the main character will survive, since there are more books. But there's no guarantee the wife/daughter (seems like it's always a woman or child) will.

The scariest books to me are about the Holocaust or massacres in Cambodia, Rwanda, etc. that really happened.

Book Concierge wrote: "Tracy wrote: "The scariest movie I’ve seen is Apocalypse Now. ..."

I remember when my brother and his good friend in high school accompanied me to see Audrey Hepburn in Wait Until Dark. His friend..."

We were about the same age when this came out-My awful sisters took me (I ended up on the sticky floor for the entire movie)

I love scary books/movies, but really haven't found anything that really scared me all that much.

My brother "made me" watch all kinds of scary movies when we were kids. I still really dislike them. I'm always the first to scream with my hands over my eyes.

I've honestly been a bit perplexed by this tag this month. I read lots of books with monsters and they indiscriminately attack and kill many but none are tagged scary. Is it not scary if it is fake? Maybe this is why I'm able to read them?

I'm finding this thread so interesting to read. We are hearing more from the people who don't like scary books so much. I'd be interested in hearing from some others who really like the genre. What draws you towards it?

I'm in the camp that says, "Life is scary enough. I don't need to go out of my way and purposely read something that will scare me out of my mind!" :0)

@Jen, I think movies can be scarier than books because you are immersed in what's being shown on the screen.

Holly R W wrote: "I'm finding this thread so interesting to read. We are hearing more from the people who don't like scary books so much. I'd be interested in hearing from some others who really like the genre. What..."

@Holly, yes, the music gets me EVERYTIME! If I'm home, I definitely need to be elsewhere when the music comes on.

I love horror. I love scary movies and scary stories.
And I love them for a lot of reasons, but I think there are a couple of reasons in particular.
One, it is almost like riding a rollercoaster (I didn't come up with this analogy, but someone else did and it is so fitting). You are getting so close to the danger but there is no real threat of death or harm to yourself.
Second, it is surprisingly a lot like the romance genre in that it follows a formula. There are definitely great, ground-breaking horror films / stories that subvert the genre, but it is most often a story of good versus evil and good usually prevails. Of course, there are many examples that prove that theory wrong, like Rosemary's Baby or Saw or Texas Chainsaw Massacre...
The horror genre has always been super progressive too, shining a light on social issues and collective fears.
You can often look at what is popular at a certain period in time to see what was a popular fear of a certain generation.
In the 50s people were preoccupied with stories about aliens invading earth.
In the 60s we seem to be trending more toward fear of the human monster, unsurprising given the political and social upheaval of the time.
There are trends of being worried about the people in rural parts of America in movies like Deliverance, The Hills Have Eyes, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre...
So that reflection of a collective fear has always been fascinating for me as well.

It's not always that deep, but there is a lot to analyze in the horror genre.
Usually people get what they deserve.
Often the protagonist is a woman who through her struggle in the film becomes strong enough to defeat her monster.
Horror runs the gambit.
Some of these movies / stories are just schlocky, predictable fun (like slashers) and others are masterpieces (like Get Out, or The Shining, or The Exorcist).

Meli wrote: "I love horror. I love scary movies and scary stories.
And I love them for a lot of reasons, but I think there are a couple of reasons in particular.
One, it is almost like riding a rollercoaster ..."

Yes, exactly!

There is a lot of social commentary hidden in horror. There’s even information- I wish I could remember where I read it- that points to horror being linked to racism. When you think about the 50s, for example, with the middle class becoming more prosperous and good jobs opening up for everyone- leading to whites fearing integration of neighborhoods- those alien invasion movies take on a different meaning.

And often it’s not as scary as it seems- those slasher movies can end up being comedy. When I was in college, my roommates and I went to see A Nightmare on Elm Street part 3. It was after midterms, and we were stressed. And we laughed our butts off, it was so ridiculous! We wouldn’t have laughed if we’d gone to see the other movie showing at the time- Platoon.

There is a certain safety in horror- those stories are usually predictable, and what real people do to each other is scarier than anything a made up monster could do.

That's what cracks me up about people complaining about horror becoming woke (some in reference to Candyman remake specifically).... horror has ALWAYS been woke.
And I can see that as a reading - white fear as you mentioned. A great documentary that hits that topic is Horrornoire streaming on Shudder.

A Nightmare on Elm Street, in particular 3, is a personal fav of mine. Those kills are gnarly.

The best scary movies / books are those that make you afraid of something you have no reason to fear, or something you may not even believe in.
Like being afraid to go to the bathroom because you might get attacked by a shark (Jaws), or being afraid of demonic possession when you don't even believe in God (The Exorcist).
I don't believe in ghosts necessarily but damned if I don't get scared as hell going into my basement in the dark.

One of the funniest things I’ve seen:
my mother and I went to see Cujo in the theater, around Halloween.

When we came out (she was terrified, I was shaking my head at how the book was scarier), the car parked next to ours had a straw scarecrow in the passenger’s seat. Mom got into our Ford Escort with a manual transmission on the passenger side, because she was afraid it would jump at her.

Then, driving to our home 10 miles out of town, in the fog, she couldn’t see my dad’s truck pull in the driveway behind us- of course he turned off the lights and engine and cruised in on neutral.

As we walked up to the house, my brother let our English mastiff out to greet us, and Mom screamed. Poor Buffy didn’t understand what she did. Then as we walked up the steps, Dad snuck up and grabbed Mom’s ankle.

For some reason, I haven’t been able to convince her to go see anything scarier than a Disney movie since.

Oh Tracy, poor Mom! Quite a funny story though

She still hasn’t forgiven me.

I remember a month in which I (re)read both Jaws and The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy: The Shocking Inside Story. Scared myself silly. My boyfriend at the time had a key to my apartment and he would enter and announce himself as "The Great White Bundy" .... Ha ha ... NOT.

Tracy wrote: "One of the funniest things I’ve seen:
my mother and I went to see Cujo in the theater, around Halloween.

When we came out (she was terrified, I was shaking my head at how the book was scarier), ..."

I don't know whether to laugh or run and give your mother a hug and a bottle scotch!

Really great points about the value of horror movies as social commentary. But my understanding (since I don't watch them) is that a lot of them have women in peril or getting slashed - more than men. Maybe women get to be heroes more now.

The comparison to the roller coaster makes a lot of sense - I can't stand them either. I don't even like going fast on a bike and would never ride a motorcycle. I also hate bumper cars, I can't understand the thrill of attacking other people (of course I never could figure it out and ended up spinning in circles while other people hit me. ) My husband thinks they are absolutely delightful. Maybe something about breaking all the rules?

There have been studies about how gory fairy tales are ok for kids because it helps them deal with scary things in their own lives.

Like Meli, I'm a fan of horror, too. Moreso books now. I used to watch a lot of horror movies, too, but living by myself, my imagination gets away from me and I (mostly) avoid that (though I do usually try to find something horror to have on (in the background while I hand out candy).

I wonder if there's an adrenaline thing going on? ETA: I guess that would match with the roller coaster theory.

Meli wrote: "I don't believe in ghosts necessarily but damned if I don't get scared as hell going into my basement in the dark. ..."

Ditto for me!

Tracy wrote: "She still hasn’t forgiven me."

LOL! Well, it made me laugh, but I don't blame her for being upset! LOL!

Robin P wrote: "Really great points about the value of horror movies as social commentary. But my understanding (since I don't watch them) is that a lot of them have women in peril or getting slashed - more than men. Maybe women get to be heroes more now."

This is mostly coming from a very specific subgenre of horror - slashers. Horror is so much more than that. There are creature features, folk horror, ghost stories, machines as monsters, human monsters, deep sea horror, space horror, religious horror, etc etc.

I am not sure how slashers became the posterchild for horror and now people think that's all it is, maybe the boom in the 80s?, but horror truly runs the gambit.

But to your point regarding slashers, I've seen hundreds and no one is off limits. I haven't crunched the numbers, so I would guess there are probably more women on the whole but there are always men getting slashed in there too. Maybe more women because the movies are geared toward a young, male demo, but women love these movies too. And almost always, 99% of the time, the last one standing is a woman, also known as the Final Girl. They have always been the heroes of these movies.