Swap Info:

Looking to try a book in a new-to-you genre? Or looking for an excuse to read a book off your Mt. To Be Read? Every month, we'll explore a different genre by reading a single book and sharing our thoughts with our partner. October's genre is horror (seemed appropriate!). Whether you're new to the scene or just using this swap to read one you've had your eye on for a long time, this is the swap for you.

Genre Definition:

(Wikipedia) Horror fiction, horror literature and also horror fantasy is a genre of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, scare or startle viewers/readers by inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie and frightening atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural. Often the central menace of a work of Horror fiction can be interpreted as a metaphor for the larger fears of a society. The genre has ancient origins which were reformulated in the 18th century as Gothic horror, with publication of the Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole.

Literary historian J. A. Cuddon has defined the horror story as "a piece of fiction in prose of variable length... which shocks or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing."

Horror fiction has its roots in folklore and religious traditions, focusing on death, the afterlife, evil, the demonic and the principle of the thing embodied in the person. These were manifested in stories of witches, vampires, werewolves, mummies, and ghosts.

Swap Instructions:

Choose any horror novel and read it! There are tons of online suggestion guides that might help. I'll list some favorites of the CL mods here at the end of this post to get you started.

Send an email or swap-bot message to your partners with the following info:

• Title & author of the book you read
• Why did you choose this book?
• A brief summary of the book
• A brief review--what did you think of it?
• Your experience with the genre (have you read a lot? a little? was this your first?)
• Your thoughts about the genre overall and if this book was a good representation of it
• Would you read more of this genre in the future?

Some suggestions from your group mods:

These are authors, not book suggestions this time around; PLEASE make sure whatever book you choose is actually horror before you begin it!

• Edgar Allan Poe
• Stephen King
• Dean Koontz
• Bram Stoker
• Bentley Little
• Richard Laymon
• Jack Ketchum
• J.A. Konrath
• Joe Hill
• Brian Keene

These are just suggestions, in case you need suggestions. Feel free to choose an author from this list or from anywhere else as long as it could be considered part of the genre.

Let me know if you have any questions/comments. Group rules & ratings apply.

Previous genres covered so far: romances, picture books, biographies, young adult fiction, dystopias, mysteries