Today is a freebie, and I’m going with Halloween-appropriate books because ’tis the season.
Spook, Mary Roach. A playful examination of scientific attempts to discover our fate after death.
Night of the Living Trekkies, David Anderson. Easily the funniest zombie book I’ve ever read, this follows security guard Jim Pike’s attempt to restore order after a zombie apocalpyse unfolds at a Star Trek convention.
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, Max Brooks. A fascinating ‘novel’, this one is rendered as a nonfiction account, collecting testimonies from across the world when a scientifically-based zombie outbreak harrows the world.
Sphere, Michael Crichton. One of the creepiest SF titles I’ve ever read, taking place deep under the ocean.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Jane Austen and Seth Graham. Silly, creepy, and hilarious.
Christine, Stephen King. One of my favorite King novels. Christine is especially uncanny because of the ambiguous nature of the car’s evil.
Daemon, Daniel Suarez. My favorite techno-thriller ever, Daemon depicts a machine intelligence waking up and recruiting human agents to rebuild the world.
The Fear Index, Robert Harris. Harris’ rare book that isn’t a historical fiction thriller; The Fear Index involves machine intelligence and the global financial marketplace.
The Grid, Phillip Kerr. Probably one of my favorite premises ever: a skyscraper that’s embedded with the 1990s conception of an internet of things or smart architecture…..starts killing its tenants.
The Stand, Stephen King. I had The Andromeda Strain in this spot, but then I realized: I can’t not mention The Stand. It was the first Stephen King novel I ever tried, an epic post-apocalyptic novel about a world remade by a pandemic few understand.
Reading Freely 
Cool. As you say, ‘Tis the season! I really must read some Suarez. Sounds like fun. I *think* I have ‘The Grid’. I need to check……..
World War Z was fantastic! It’s a shame the film based on it was nothing like the book.
My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-halloween-picture-books/
Give me the good old fashioned ghost stories by M.R. James. They creep me out like nothing can. I think I’m going to check out the Crichton, though.
Ooh, I should have included Russell Kirk’s “Ancestral Tales”. You might like that if you enjoy ghost fiction!
I love Kirk. I have his Ancestral Shadows. Actually that’s probably the book you’re talking about. I haven’t read him in a couple of years. I need to get that book out too. Thanks for the reminder.
Yes! You’re quite welcome. Unfortunately it’s rare. I was able to read it once through ILL, and that was it..
Pride Prejudice and Zombies sounds interesting. I might have to look into it! Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
One of these days I have to read The Stand…
Lauren @ Always Me
After two years of corona, the beginning of it may be depressingly familiar!
Mary Roach is one of my favorite nonfiction writers. I haven’t read Spook yet, but I will someday!
She just released a title called “FUZZ”, about when nature (animals, mostly) breaks human laws. 🙂