This is, without a doubt, my favorite time of year. As the weather cools, the trees light up with their multi-colored leaves, and mens’ thoughts turn to football, my thoughts turn to the Reader’s Imbibing Peril Challenge. Now in its’ fifth year (wow!), this is definitely one of my favorite challenge ever and I’m so glad Carl has brought it back again this year! I will be doing, as usual, Peril the First with some Short Story Peril thrown in for good measure. I have a massive pile of books to pull from this year, but have one clearcut goal – to read The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. It is at the top of my list!
- The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
- Dracula by Bram Stoker (hahaha hahaha ha ha ha – is this the fifth year this has been on my list? Yes.)
- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Heart of Darkness and Selected Stories by Joseph Conrad
- Edgar Allen Poe stories!
- The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
- Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott
- The Ghost Writer by John Harwood
- The Seance by John Harwood
- Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin
- The Sister by Poppy Adams
- Nocturnes by John Connolly
- Shirley Jackson short stories (I have a small collection on my iPod! One is The Lottery!)
Reread possibilities
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (Also definite, Jen and I have made it the 4th quarter read for the Classic Reads Book Club! I hope you will join us in reading this fantastic book.)
- The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
Re-listen possibilities
- The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (actually, this is certain. I already started it!)
- The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
- The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Carl has also added a new Peril this year – Peril on the Screen. I’m not much for really scary movies, but I think I can find a couple to watch. I definitely want to see the old classic ghost story The Uninvited starring Ray Milland. It is one of my favorite movies ever, I just have to get my hands on it!
I hope you will considering joining us. Carl always has great prizes and we all have great fun. See Carl’s Challenge Signup Post!
I read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow for what I think was the very first RIP. It's good! (And I was kind of fascinated with his use of semicolons.)
I was going to ask if you'd read Dracula any of those five times, but then I saw your reread category… Maybe we should make Dracula our readalong book in October instead of The Scarlet Letter! Push us both to read what we've been putting off!
I'm glad to hear about The Picture of Dorian Gray. I've read that one several times but a reread in fourth quarter might be just what I need!
Good list. Little Stranger is on my list as well, and I have a du Maurier too.
Yay! You are in! Too cool! My thoughts have also been turning to football. I've played two seasons already on the latest version of Madden on XBox and am gearing up for my fantasy football draft this weekend. Can't wait for the first kick off.
I think I've had The Historian on my list every year, so I wouldn't feel bad about Dracula.
I too am planning on listening to The Graveyard Book. I just love hearing Neil read stories to me. I'll probably sample some audio from Fragile Things as well.
The Historian, Mistress of the Art of Death and the Little Stranger are all on my list as well. I can't think of any challenge that I get even close to this excited! I may start as soon as I finish my current book.
Looks like an amazing list of possibles! A few of those (Rebecca, Dr. Jekyll, Ghost Writer) were on my list before I made myself weed it down…and now, of course, you're tempting me to put them back on!
Such is always the case with RIP though–way too many great books to consume in two short months.
I read Rebecca last year and loved that read. I will probably re-read it at some point in time.
You have listened to The Historian, so how did you like the narration? I am wavering between reading it, and/or listening to it.
Oh…The Picture of Dorian Gray is planned for the Classics club…cool! I am, or I should say, I have read The Handmaid's Tale for the current Classic Club read. Unfortunately, I am not doing to good with the discussion aspect. I ought to pop over and check out what everyone is saying.
Have fun reading with this challenge!
Great list! Ghostwalk is the only one on the list that I didn't really like. Instead of re-reading Dorian Grey, I'm going for a graphic novel version of it this year. Should be interesting!
I listened to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow on audiobook for Jenn's Fright Fest. The narrator was very into reading it! I was quite entertaining.
Enjoy Shirley Jackson. I love her work.
Awesome books on that list. I want to include The Graveyard Book on my pool, as its one of the few Neil Gaiman books I haven't read yet.
Love love love your list
I have some Sarah Waters on my list too! I'm going to try to get to Affinity…though The Little Stranger sounds so good too!! I just don't actually own that one and I'm trying to stick to what I own. But guess what??? I got an email that ROOM shipped to me today!!!! And I can totally count that for RIP, right?? It sounds like it's certainly a horrendous enough tale, albeit a brilliant one. I just had to tell you that though.
It looks like you will enjoy RIP~! I hope everything is enjoyable. (personally, I read the 13th tale 3 years in a row for RIP lol..love that book!)
Excellent list! I don't know what's going in my Peril Pool yet, but I do know there WILL be some Angela Carter this year.
Ha ha. DRACULA has been on my R.I.P. list every year too! Maybe I'll actually get to it this year.
There are so many possibilities for this challenge. Every list I read reminds me of some I have forgotten. Happy reading!
Love your list! I just downloaded the "classic" horror books onto my Nook, can't wait to start them!
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