As I mentioned here, the NPR summer reading poll for 2018 was HORROR!The final list of the 100 Best Horror Novels and Stories came out last last week and it was posted here. I waited until today to put it on the blog however, so I could get the maximum number of eyes on this post.
Why? Because too many of you give me the excuse that you can’t help horror readers because there aren’t enough trusted resources. Back in 2010, I started a resource to help you. In 2012, ALA Editions published the second edition of my book to give you more. And since then, I have kept up my horror site and use it as a free update to the book.
But now we have this awesome, easy to use, crowd sourced AND expert approved list that is super easy to use as we work at the service desk and encounter readers. This list really is one of the best RA tools you will even find to help horror readers because of its breadth and ease to use while actively engaged in conversations with patrons.
The list is broken down into categories, and you can jump directly to a specific category. Each title also has a short annotation, meaning, you don’t have to have read the book yourself to talk about it knowledgeably with readers. As I say often, you can use the words of others to booktalk [It’s even in my 10 Basic Rules of RA Service.] You can also use the categories in real time to narrow things down as you chat.
The list is also an excellent pre-Halloween collection development tool. Check your collections, replace some of your tattered classics, and add a few "new to your library" titles. And then when Halloween comes around, don’t complain that you cannot find enough interesting horror. Use this list to build you displays; you can even use their headings like, “Horribly Ever After” or “The Kids Aren’t Alright” to draw attention.
The only problem with the list is that the judges didn’t feel comfortable adding their own titles to the list even though they have written some of the best horror novels ever. [Seriously, My Soul To Keep by Due is one of the all time best.] So, take the list of the 100 books and add to the books by the panelists [linked in the list below with my “Start with” suggestion] and now you have more like 150 titles to suggest right now:
- Stephen Graham Jones: Start with, Mongrels
- Ruthanna Emrys: Start with Winter Tide
- Tananarive Due: Start with My Soul to Keep
- Grady Hendrix: Start with My Best Friend’s Exorcism
The NPR Summer Reads coverage also contains articles by experts on horror and its enduring appeal which you can also use to help readers. Click here for all of the 2018 coverage.
And of course, NPR Books has made it easy for you to access past Summer Reads coverage. For example, click here for 2017’s Comics and Graphic Novels, and here for 2015’s Summer of Love.
The moral of today’s post-- I am not the only one who can help you find scary reads for your patrons. Stop being afraid of helping horror readers. They are not monsters, they just like to read about them. And now you are armed with plenty of resources to aid them in their frighting adventures.
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