Pop Sugar's Annual Ultimate Reading Challenge discussion

I don't really read 'horror' but when I do it actually isn't terribly scary to me. So I'm wondering if folks have books they found to be truly scary in their libraries? Or may we count non-fiction that is psychologically scary like Hot Zone?

the topic is just "book that scares you" so i think non-fiction should totally count. those are the most scary 0n0

I'm started reading this alien story, Communion, because even though I'm not sure if I believe it or not figured it'd creep me out. It did at first, by myself in the dark, but not so much now so I might have to pick something else.

The only book that truly scared me was Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill. The first few chapters terrified me! haha I stopped reading it, so it may have gotten less scary - hey just realized that could fill another category! haha

Agreed. It is what scares you. If it is a non- fiction, so be it.

When I was a teenager, the book Amityville Horror scared me because it was suppose to be based on a true story.

I read Bird Box

I'm going to do Les Miserables For this category. For me the size of the book always intimidated me and the idea of trying to tackle it with its older language and for some reason it scared me in that sense, so I decided that this category was the perfect time to tackle it. So you can always look at it from that point of view as well if that helps

Sarabeth, that's how I interpreted it too!

I picked Night Film by Marisha Pessl, and I'm about 150 pages in. It's properly creepy without being terribly graphic (I prefer polite murder mysteries like those by Agatha Christie). It's an investigation by a so-called "disgraced journalist" into the apparent suicide of Ashley Cordova, the daughter of the most reclusive writer-director of horror films so disturbing that they've inspired copycat serial killers, been banned, and have an underground cult following. There's a lot of media throughout the book - clips of magazine interviews, photos, newspaper articles - which makes the format very cool.

My sister loves scary movies and books, and I bought her Seed...

Nicole wrote: "Sarabeth, that's how I interpreted it too!"

I'm so glad when I read everyone elses posts I was like "oh no I've done this one wrong" lol but if someone else interpreted it that way too I guess I'm not wrong.
:)

I had never even thought of it like that, huh, that is probably a better category - a book that scares you to read, not necessarily a book that is scary. I love how you can interpret some of these categories different ways

thanks for the recommendations - I ended up reading Bird Box due to a few shout-outs and it was a great fit for this category; I am still having dreams/nightmares influenced by it's creepiness and fear-of-seeing scenario!

nice choice! that's what i read too. sorry about nightmares though :| *shudder*

The scariest book I ever read was 'Red Storm Rising' by Tom Clancy. I was on vacation in Nice, France, and that was what I had brought with me (back in 1987 mind you) to read as I love thrillers and espionage type stories, and I was still enjoying his. The book is basically about a (fantasy) WW III which starts in the Middle East and spreads through Europe. It was so vivid, so incredibly atmospheric that I swore I was going to look out the window and see tanks rolling down the street!

Another book that I found scary was 'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood.

Problem with this category is I don't know if it will be scary until I'm reading it, actually.