5 Classics for Halloween

With October thirty-first less than a week away, urges for scares and thrills have been dancing around in my skull.  When you think of Halloween tales, you might think of ghost stories, told around a blazing bonfire, preferably paired with s'mores.  But a creepy classic and a mug of hot spiced cider while snuggled on the couch works just as well.  Ever since my sister Jill read Dracula for her history class, she has been raving about it.  The classic vampire novel seems like the perfect Halloween read.  But why stop with Stoker?  Poe and Shelley deserve some All Hallow's Eve time, too.  So here is a list of classics I've been wanting to read that also create some Halloween spirit.

1.  "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving.

Ghosts of Revolutionary War heros and score-long naps.

2. Dracula by Bram Stoker.

The original modern vampire novel.

3. Macbeth by William Shakespeare. 

Shakespeare's darkest tragedy. Witchcraft, murder, tyranny, Scotland.

4. "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe.

Anything by the master of horror will chill your bones, but these two tales of murder and guilt are gruesomely popular.

5.  Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.

Published when she was 21 years old, the daughter of feminist heroine Mary Wollstonecraft spins a tragic tale of an evil scientist and his horrific monster.

Happy Halloween reading!