This post was originally published in June 2018 and was last updated in March 2026. It contains affiliate links. See my disclaimer for more.
Do you love Halloween AND reading? Well then, hello new BFF! We are going to get along famously.
One of the many reasons I've always loved Halloween is it gives you the chance to dress up as anyone — or anything — you want. For one night, you could wander your neighborhood in any costume your spooky little heart desired, and to me, there is something magical about being someone else for a night. Yup, I love a bit of healthy escapism.
But my very favorite way to do that has always been through books. As an English major, I'm naturally a bit of a bibliophile. I have 800+ books in my personal library housed across several very full bookshelves in my house. (See them in my past home tours.)
So when you're a Halloween blogger, how do you combine your love of Halloween AND books?
With a Halloween book club, of course!
In early 2018, I launched The Halloween Book Club, and I was thrilled when more than 200 readers joined within the first month. As of 2026, we're at 5,500+ members — WOW! Seems like I'm not the only one who loves Halloween and reading.
After a little hiatus, the club is back with a brand new format — and I could not be more excited about what we have in store. So if you love spooky reads, consider this your personal invitation to join us:
About The Halloween Book Club:
The Halloween Book Club was created by me — Miranda Enzor, the girl behind spookylittlehalloween.com — in February 2018 as a way for Halloween lovers to come together and share their love of reading. We read fiction that ranges from the classics and novels that are spooky or supernatural to horror favorites and yes, even books set on or during Halloween season.
The Halloween Book Club is hosted in a Facebook group and is open to anyone in the world. We'd love for you to join us!
How The Halloween Book Club works:
We read one book every month, April through December. This is a brand new format for 2026 and I am so excited to read more with you — nine books, nine months, and a whole lot of spooky fun.
Here's how each month runs:
The 1st of the month — A book reminder post goes up in the group with everything you need to know: what we're reading, what it's about, and where to find it. Consider it your starting gun.
The Friday before Week 3 — A discussion reminder goes up so you can pace your reading and know what's coming.
Week 3, Monday through Wednesday — Discussion questions drop one per day. Answer one, answer all, or just read everyone else's takes. Whatever feels right.
Week 3, Thursday — Haunted Scale rating day. We score every book across five spooky categories and tally up the group's verdict. 💀
No pressure. Ever. You are never required to read anything. Skip a month if the book doesn't call to you. Join the discussion halfway through. Come back to a thread weeks later because life happened — we'll still be here and we still want to hear from you.
The questions stay open, the community stays welcoming, and there are no rules about when or how you participate. The only requirement is that you love a good spooky story.
What we're reading in 2026:
This year's list has a little of everything — gothic atmosphere, folk horror, psychological dread, indie press gems, and two perfectly placed classics. Here's what's on the docket:
April: The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas
Newly married and desperate, Beatriz moves into her husband's crumbling Mexican hacienda — and quickly realizes the evil there predates them both. Gothic, lush, and deeply atmospheric.
May: A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
A family agrees to film their allegedly possessed teenage daughter for a reality show. Told years later by the younger sister. Layered, meta, and deliberately unresolved — you will argue about this one.
June: The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
Four Blackfoot men made a terrible mistake on a hunting trip years ago. Now something ancient and furious is coming for them one by one. Visceral, literary, and relentless.
July: Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth
A cursed all-girls school in 1900s New England. A horror film being shot at the same location a century later. Dual timelines, dark academia, and a creeping dread that never lets up.
August: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Merricat Blackwood lives quietly with her sister on the family estate, shunned by the village and protecting a dark secret. Strange, unsettling, and unlike anything else Jackson ever wrote.
September: The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
A country doctor is called to treat the inhabitants of a decaying postwar English manor — and slowly becomes entangled in something he can't explain. Slow burn, literary, and gloriously ambiguous.
October: Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge
A pumpkin-headed creature rises from the cornfields every Halloween night and makes his way toward town — and the teenage boys of this small Midwestern community are sent out to stop him. Whoever kills him gets a ticket out. But this year, one boy is about to learn the terrible truth behind the ritual.
November: A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher
A woman visits her mother and notices something is deeply, quietly wrong — with the house, the roses, and the grandmother nobody talks about. Eerie and propulsive with a dark streak of wit.
December: The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
A governess arrives at a remote English estate to care for two eerily perfect children — and begins to see figures that shouldn't be there. A masterclass in dread and ambiguity, short enough to read in one December sitting.
You can also find these books all linked in my reading list on Bookshop.org.
Want to join our Halloween book club?
We'd love to have you! Just head over to the group on Facebook and ask to join. All requests are approved within a few hours, usually, but please allow up to 24 hours for approval. (I do sleep sometimes! 😉)
I look forward to reading Halloween books with you!
