The Road: Movie Trailer

Update on The Road: the release date for this movie adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's harrowing post-apocalyptic novel is set for October 2009.

Here is a three minute trailer, which I promise will give you even more chills after you have read the book.

The Graveyard Book

Nobody Owens is anything but ordinary. After his entire family is killed, Nobody (aka Bod) is raised and educated by ghosts, werewolves, and people somewhere between life and death.
When Bod becomes a teen, he longs to learn about life outside the graveyard, and most importantly, to find Jack, the man who killed his family.
Winner of the Newbery Medal in 2009, Gaiman's book is part fantasy, part reality, part adventure, and all macabre.

Appeals: fast pace, elements of fantasy, tinges of horror and adventure

If you enjoy the dark adventure of The Graveyard Book, you might also enjoy Coraline (also by Neil Gaiman), or the Cirque du Freak series by Darren Shan.

Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book. 2008. 312 pages.

Bonus: Want to find out what author Neil Gaiman has been reading? Watch this video, courtesy of Salon.com

Cirque du Freak, Book 1: A Living Nightmare

Darren Shan loves spiders. So when he gets a ticket to a secret freak show in held in the middle of the night, he is of course impressed by the wolf-man and the snake boy, but most of all, he is mesmerized by Madam Octa, the deadly performing spider. But soon Darren's spider obsession gets him stuck in a web of his own making, and before he knows it, he is in for a way more than he had bargained for.

Appeals: Sick of all those sappy vampire love stories? This tale is gross and gruesome, be forewarned. Peppered with humor, this tale will also raise the hairs on the back of your neck.

If you like Darren Shan's horror story, be sure to check out book two: The Vampire's Assistant. Looking for more fun and gruesome horror? Check out books by R.L. Stine.

If you like guy-centered vampire stories, you might also enjoy Thirsty by M.T. Anderson.

Shan, Darren. Cirque du Freak, Book 1: a living nightmare. 2000. 257 pages.

The Road

A nameless father and his son walk through an empty, chaotic, burned America. In this post-apocalyptic tale, the boy and his father must learn to survive in a world without rules, must fend for their lives in a place where acts of unthinkable horror happen every day.

Appeals: Harrowing, post-apocalyptic setting, sparse language, survival tale.

If you enjoy tales of journey and survival, you may also like What is the What by Dave Eggers, How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff, and Blindness by Jose Saramago.

No trailer yet, but the movie adaptation of The Road is set to come out some time in 2009.

McCarthy, Cormac. The Road. 2006. 256 pages.

Rebecca

When a young woman meets and marries Maxim de Winter, the owner of the famous Manderlay estate in Corwall, she becomes haunted by the memory of her husband's deceased wife, Rebecca.

Appeals: Elements of romance, suspense, mystery, horror. Feels like a ghost story even if Rebecca does not actually appear as a ghost. Many details and descriptions of the estate bring it to life, making the estate one of the main characters.

If you like the ghost story atmosphere, you also might enjoy The Turn of the Screw by Henry James.

Like gothic romance and want more? Try Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte or Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

Du Maurier, Daphne. Rebecca. 1938. 448 pages.