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TBR of Doom Ghost Edition
🕑 Added 2023-05-01 02:31:14 +0000 UTCSpring has sprung where I live and I love it but also my allergies have gone absolutely bananas. Which means I wrote part of this outside because I hate myself, I guess. Anyway, because I felt like it, today's TBR of doom will be all about ghosts. This doesn't mean all the books will be spooky! In fact, they will not. I mean, Brooke is a ghost and she's rarely spooky.
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake (YA, Horror)--this one IS spooky and contained a scene that was gross enough to turn my stomach a little (I mean, I was eating at the time) which I was deeply impressed by. This book is just a delightfully classic ghost story and a fun read. When I realized Kendare was local to me, I basically forced her to be my friend, so I'm horribly biased, just FYI.
Find Him Where You Left Him Dead by Kristen Simmons (YA, Horror) Speaking of horribly biased--this book is both by a friend and not out yet! (But you can preorder!) I blurbed this book and it's full of Japanese ghosts and demons and some truly spooky scenes. And the cover! I cannot recommend this book enough. (Again, horribly biased.)
To stay on the thread of "I'm horribly biased" Molly Harper, has her Starfall Point series, which is all about haunted objects (Molly writes adult comedic romance) as well as Better Homes and Hauntings.
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia--(Adult, historical Gothic Horror) This book is such a wonderful addition to the gothic genre. So very creepy, delightfully written, with an active heroine doing her best in a crap situation. This one was on my TBR for-ev-vor and I just tackled it. I can see why everyone was raving about it.
Jackaby series by Will Ritter (Young adult)--there's a ghost character throughout this series, which has a thread of whimsy along with the mythology and occasional spooky stuff. Again, horribly biased. Will is one of my favorite humans, but luckily his books are also A+.
Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher (Adult, fantasy)--okay, not sure if Bone Dog counts, but it's my post and I DO WHAT I WANT. I love this book. Bone dog forever.
Wilde Life by Pascalle Lepas (Web comic) So I know I mentioned this comic before and I'm woefully behind on it, but it's a great mix of funny, sweet and spooky. The whole premise is that a man answers a Craigslist add to go live in a house rural Oklahoma, only to find out there's a charming ghost there. And a grouchy teenage werewolf. And witches...
The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston (Romance)--this is one that's in the arena of "is it a ghost, or isn't it?" But it's funny and it made me cry and I had a good time reading it. It's about a disillusioned ghost writer who has to go home to her family's funeral home.
Sauerkraut by Kelly Jones (Middle Grade) I swear I read books not written by friends. The thing is, I've been in this business so long that...a lot of my friends write books? Anyway, Kelly writes adorable middle grade books, and this one is about a ghost that just really wants to make sauerkraut to win a contest, but the boy who can see her wants to build his own computer. Kelly has a lot about community in her books, which I love.
The Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger (Adult SFF) if you haven't read this series, it has all kinds of fun stuff--vampires, werewolves, ghosts, etc. and all of them entwined in the British social structure in fun ways. It took me a few chapters to get into the series originally, but then I was all in.
A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore (Adult, Comedic Fiction) It's been awhile since I cracked this book, but it made me laugh when it came out. The book follows Charlie Asher, a sort of hapless guy who ends up being a reluctant grim reaper.
And of course, when speaking of ghosts, sometimes you have to go classic and check out Edith Warton and Shirley Jackson.
What are some of your favorite stories with ghosts in them?
--Lish
Comments
I love TJ Kline, but haven't read the other two! (Yet) I do love me some Wodehouse.
I have a certain fondness for "Strong Spirits" by Elisa DeCarlo -- a takeoff of Wodehouse's Jeeves books where the Wooster equivalent (Aubrey Arbuthnot) is psychic detective, haunted by, among others, his father. I thought it very funny, and the point of view character isn't is a bit more capable than the original model. Does fiction set in the afterlife count as ghost stories? If so I'd have to include Peter Beagle's "A Fine and Private Place" and T. J. Klune's "Under the Whispering Door", both of which are, in their own, different ways, sweet.
