But look at the cheerful yellow of the cover of the first edition of Dracula! Nothing too scary there.
As I recall, though, it scared the bejeezus out of one of my friends who was reading it late at night. (What is the bejeezus? Oh, a curse.)
By coincidence (and the coincidence of Halloween) Dracula is the book recommended on Facebook this week by Goodreads. They are showing an ebook version.
I was in the play version of Dracula in high school, as Lucy, and somewhere there is a picture of--uh oh, I found it!--me fainting into the arms of...an old boyfriend as Dracula. What I had forgotten was another picture of me about to bite the neck of poor, innocent Harker. And Curt, there you are with wild hair as Renfield, eating a fly.
High school yearbooks are very, very scary.
I remember being truly chilled by In Cold Blood, reading it in a farmhouse way too similar to the one in Holcomb, Kansas. And, in second grade, scaring myself by reading stories in an Alfred Hitchcock anthology when my parents were out and we had a babysitter who couldn't really comfort me.
What's a book that scared you?
10 comments:
Stephen King's Christine scared me in junior high so much I still haven't read anything else by him. Frightful!
I have only read Stephen King's On Writing, which was right on! I think I am too scared to read Christine, The Shining, etc. But my dad enjoyed Misery.
Stephen King's Carrie scared me. And so did Jaws. I found both of those books much scarier than the movies . . . the kind of scary where you have to stop reading, wait to catch your breath and then, go back even though you don't want to. But, then, I don't EVER seek out scary so I'm probably not a very good barometer of the scary.
I was scared by Dracula but I was reading it outloud while driving across wide open lonely spaces in Texas. I can picture Curt as Renfield! Shiver!
Thanks rhyming commenters after Sandy!
Tim, I think I stopped seeking out scary after the 2nd grade Hitchcock moment.
Kim, didn't you actually SEE Curt as Renfield?! If not, he's in your 1973 yearbook.
Dracula is going up at the local community theatre, so keep an eye on the blogroll to see if Julie Kistler follows it with her Follow Spot!
Stephen King's PET SEMATARY did it for me in Jr. High. I slept with the lights on for a long, long time after reading that one. I loved the movie, too -Fred Gwynne was not the friendly Herman Munster I remembered...
Stephen King's PET SEMATARY did it for me in Jr. High. I slept with the lights on for a long, long time after reading.
I loved the movie, too! Fred Gwynne was not the friendly Herman Munster I remembered...
I have a new stack of books and will send an update, soon!
Fear not, marydee! If your comment does not show up the first time, it is probably still there. I publish them after I receive an email. I am happy to post both your comments, to double the pleasure, double the fear, it's Wrigley's minty spear...
Love that yellow cover. I also really liked Stoker's "Dracula."
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