Gothic Books 🗝️🖤 Faves + TBR 🪦 | The Book Castle | 2023

[@felina2014]

Alice, you should definitely read The classics The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins. It's a gothic mystery and boy is it good! I can't recommend it enough.

[@shelleyobrien8180]

Victoria Holt was my favorite gothic writer. I loved all her books.

[@suzannebousquet2710]

Rebecca is a definite must, you won't be disappointed. After you read it, check out the movie with Sir Lawrence Olivier and Joan Fontaine. Not to be missed!

[@jackiesliterarycorner]

My favorites: Jane Eyre, Rebecca, Wuthering Heights, Frankenstein, Mexican Gothic, Shadow of the Wind, The Secret History. I enjoyed Perfume, Essex Serpent, and And Then There Were None.

[@Tara.Tripathi]

Mr. Rochester has dark, dark secret. That's how you get me interested in a book

[@bonnieleary1197]

I loooooooove “Rebecca”

[@rosetheline6357]

You really should read Rebecca! I think you'll really like it! Better to read it now, otherwise everyone will tell you to do so and then your expectations will be so incredibly high that you may not like it that much, if you know what I mean ;) Going in not knowing too much about it is the best, actually 😊

[@booklover6963]

You might like Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney. I think it is a retelling of And Then There Were None. Also The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth.

[@Nurse_Kathy]

I re-read Jane Eyre last month-it had been a few decades. Such a perfect read for Autumn/Winter! 🍂

[@kimberlynewsom9876]

The Tell-Tale Heart is my all time favorite Poe work. Love, love, love it! Thank you for another lovely video with great book recs!

[@robertstanton3835]

Hi Alice, Anna here. So many great gothic books, and so many of my favorites mentioned. I loved Frankenstein, Burial Rites, The Silent Champions and many others. However my all time favorite is Rebecca, I urge you to read it. Thanks for adding some new titles to my TBR list. I’ll have to try Love and Fury and Strings of Murder, they sound great. Love this video, thank you 😊

[@ladyaymie]

I loved The Silent Companions! I'm a huge horror fan, so I usually am completely unflinching in the face of horror elements in stories, but this one pressed all the right buttons and actually creeped me out.

[@lindaleehall]

I read Perfume years ago. It is so disturbing and hypnotic I couldn’t put it down.

[@silversun1203]

The Monk by Matthew Lewis is the most gothic book I've read and its fantastic.

[@catsandbats77]

Burial Rites is fantastic and also sad. I forgot about The Strings of Murder! I really enjoyed that book when I read it.

[@ulan25]

After my comment on one of your recent videos where I asked about “We Have Always Lived in the Castle,” this video popped up 😁 YT algorithm FTW. I would recommend Florence and Giles by John Harding. Hope to hear your thoughts on it some time. ☺️ I noted a couple of titles on this video to add to my pile!

[@munglejoela]

I love this. So many good books! Highly recommend Shadow of the Wind, it's one of my all time favourite books.

[@-ParisTexas-]

Read Rebecca already! 😂 But seriously, you will enjoy it. I'm currently re-reading The Thirteenth Tale. If you like Jane Eyre and Jamaica Inn, you will probably like it.

[@TheBookCastle]

I know!! 🤣

[@majan5643]

I'm almost half way through Rebecca. I was super excited to get to it, but damn so far I'm just annoyed. I assume I know the "twist" already, the obsession everyone has over Rebecca reminds me of how eeeeeeevryone was soooo obsessed with Elena in The Vampire Diaries (which was annoying af because she was really nothing special), and the narrator ... Ugh. The whiny, insecure, obsessive, naive child. Does she ever grow a spine? Or get therapy? Oh, and the guy is absolutely obnoxious. Every time he speaks I feel like screaming. Pleeeease, tell me what I'm missing? Does the second half save the book?

[@-ParisTexas-]

@@majan5643 Lol. Apparently it's not for you. Also love the comparison to the Vampire diaries. 😂😂😂 I would give up if I were you.

[@majan5643]

@@-ParisTexas- ah well. On to the next one then. I'm glad you enjoyed Rebecca, no hate there, it's clearly just not for me 😅

[@sandyokey1019]

I agree with you about Wuthering Heights, but I fall in the didn’t like camp. I don’t hate it, but I didn’t like it and would never reread. I love gothic books too, my favorites include Rebecca, Edgar Allan Poe, Dracula and The Alienist. I’ve added quite a few of the contemporary books you mentioned to my tbr list. Have a great week ahead.💕

[@cindyurban150]

Loved The Alienist by Caleb Carr,and all the books you mentioned.

[@potatoesofdefiance]

A fine set of recommendations!!! Frankenstein is such an apt beginning for this list. In the decades that have passed since I first came across this most extraordinary of unforgettable, undying classics, I have come across many renditions (and of all these renditions, Penny Dreadful series is by far my favorite) that have presented the creature and its creator and their doomed relationship from sundry angles...the classic debate of whether 'creature' is / is the only monster in the story. Wuthering Heights is another one of those selected few, which, once read, looms large in the dark recesses of one's imagination forever. The barrenness that colors backdrop of the dismal wilderness is mesmerizing and unendingly, unforgivingly haunting. Some others, which may make deserving additions to this list: 1. Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake 2. The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole 3. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James 4. Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu 5. Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola 6. Dragonwyck by Anya Seton 7. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield 8. The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe 9. Dracula by Bram Stoker 10. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova 11. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins 12. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

[@Mandy2919]

I feel like Carmilla went over my head. I loved the atmospheric archaic writing style but the actual plot seemed ridiculous to me. Is it worth a reread?

[@briartime3024]

The Meaning of Night is another good read. You'll love Rebecca! Shadow of the Wind was excellent.

[@fi_reads_books]

Shadow of the Wind is one of my all time favorite books!

[@michalaharesnape5434]

Great video, we have very similar tastes in books. I loved ‘The Silent companions’, I don’t reread much but it’s one I want to return to soon. I wonder if you’ve read ‘The Little stranger’ by Sarah Waters or ‘The taxidermist’s daughter’ by Kate Mosse, both great gothic novels.

[@cfick]

Good video but I would quibble with skipping the "ship bit." 2 reasons; 1) the nested structure is a key element, like a meta layer, and 2) the captain and Victor are parallel characters - men pushing into the unknown.

[@bonnieleary1197]

Great I found this video! Plus the comments are amazing too!

[@charlenechen3818]

“The Girl Who Couldn’t Read” by John Harding is a gothic fiction too. I love Laura Purcel’s books, highly recommend “The Shape of Darkness” and “Corset”. Her “Silent Companion” is also very good.

[@MiruMSO]

I loved so much the 'The Cemetery of forgotten books' series ( the shadow of the wind) such great books ❤❤

[@cindyurban150]

Perfume is one of my very favorite books ! I love The Secret History,it is considered "Dark Academia" however I can see it being Gothic. Rebecca is wonderful !

[@shellkay]

Last year I read & loved The Last Tale of the Flower Bride, also Kate Morton is a favorite author for Historical gothic vibes

[@ReadingNymph]

I am super intrigued by Burial Rites, adding that to my tbr I just finished Mexican Gothic, it is perfect for this time of year

[@gianpieraboi8046]

Really interesting choice of books! I've read all the classics you mentioned, with the exception of Jane Eyre, which I'm reading now, and Frankenstein, which I'm going to read next. I agree on the Gothic vibes of The Secret History. But this is such an amazing and multilayered book that can be placed in so many categories.

[@CandySoulAndSoil]

I just posted a gothic lit tbr video as there's a tag called gothlitnovember....this video was so great and added loads more books to the mix ❤

[@amena7387]

Thank you for these beautiful recommandations ! They just give the autumnal vibe so well. Just watching you I feel the wind, the rain, and the mysteries. Thank you Alice❤❤❤

[@FaeryLaume]

I'm surprised no one mentioned The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. Your list is filled with awesome choices.

[@rozarahman1671]

I have the book and most say its difficult to read and I don't wanna bore myself out. What are ur opinions? Is it too hard to read?

[@rozarahman1671]

I have the book and most say its difficult to read and I don't wanna bore myself out. What are ur opinions? Is it too hard to read?

[@FaeryLaume]

@@rozarahman1671 I didn't find it difficult to read at all. It's written in a different era, so the language is a bit of a different rhythm, but if you've read other classics, it should be no problem. It's creepy and suspenseful, I'd compare the vibe to The Haunting of Hill House by Jackson or The Silent Companions by Purcell.

[@rozarahman1671]

@FaeryLaume I haven't really read classics because they always bore me out except for little women. But since it's close to silent companions I will read it for sure. If its not a bother to you how is haunting the hill house? Did u like it?

[@FaeryLaume]

@@rozarahman1671 Yes, I did. Keep in mind that all the mentioned books depend on slow, psychological confusion and unreliable narrators. You're supposed to feel like you aren't really sure what's going on, that's the unease that makes it gothic.

[@lindylouwho550]

What a fantastic video! Many brilliant gothic book recommendations. Have had Burial Rites on my TBR for an age so going to read it next. Many thanks 🌹

[@ameerahalgohary]

I didn't know that "The Fall of the House of Usher" is by Poe! Thanks for the info 😍 I was intrigued by the show based on it, because it's directed by Mike Flanagan. And now I'm gonna read the short story first, before watching the mini series.

[@lindacasalgrandi292]

I saw the Fall of the House of Usher series is on Netflix….looking forward to watching it

[@marginsofmarisa]

That Frankenstein cover is GORGEOUS! Rebecca is also on my fall tbr this year (just now realizing how incorrectly I pronounced Daphne du Maurier… oops)

[@TheBookCastle]

I know right!! To be fair, I might be saying it wrong, I have no idea 😅

[@marginsofmarisa]

@@TheBookCastle Better than me for sure! I somehow added an 's' in there haha

[@tonihammes33]

Rebecca is one of my favorite books. I hope you love it.

[@ephinygale]

Great video as always! I think you might really like House of Longing by Tara Calaby as well.

[@lindacasalgrandi292]

All are fantastic recommendations but I would like to add one more….Dracula

[@starlasell5698]

❤📚♥️ Such good, Gothic books! I didn't realize We Have Always Lived in the Castle was a creepy book...and I own it! It's moved It's way into my Fall tbr, thank you!

[@KristyStrange]

As a Gothicist, this is a fantastic collation of great recommendations! And yes, Gothic as a mode versus a genre is a slippery slope, but an important difference and there is certainly such a thing as contemporary Gothic (at least my research argues for that 😅).

[@KristyStrange]

Also, if you're interested in Mexican Gothic, I'd highly recommend The Ghost Woods by C.J. Cooke. I just finished it and it was incredible!

[@RachelB.BookReferences]

I hated Jane Eyre and Frankenstein. We Have Always Lived In The Castle was a tiny bit better than those. I think, overall, gothic reads are probably not for me, lol. But I loved Rebecca. However, I didn't find it creepy or unsettling or anything. I just could relate to the main character's thoughts and personality so much. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle was great, too! I'm a sucker for time loops, and I haven't found many books about them. And Then There Were None is on my list to get to before the year ends. I'm interspersing a couple of Christie's standalones with the Poirot series, and I've been mildly disappointed with some of my recent Christies, so I hope this one lives up to the hype.

[@steadfast9326]

loved mexican gothic!

[@Anthony-w3q3m]

Just discovered your channel - looks good so I subscribed - big reader of horror/ SF/ Gothic literature/ comics so this channel seems interesting so far - thanks for posting.

[@spexi513]

I tripped up on that Evelyn title - thought you said 7 husbands of Evelyn Hugo….. heard seven and Evelyn. Blahdiggityblah. Appreciate the video 📖🪱💚

[@louiseevans6121]

I never hear anyone reading this one but I read it long ago and loved it: Bellefleuer by Joyce Carol Oates. Gothic and strange and wonderful.

[@cindyurban150]

I read Bellefleuer by JCO years ago,and I found it alluring,yet confusing at times.

[@falcongirly]

Me all the beginning thinking "Victor Frankestein is literally a 20 year old college dropout, he's not a doctor in any sense of the word" 😅

[@bujobyfilo]

Amazing recommendations! I love so many of them and I just read Jamaica Inn. I enjoyed Rebecca but My Cousin Rachel is definitely my favourite! Can't wait to see what you think of some of those last ones so I can decide if I add them to my tbr too, bc we seem to share the same taste.

[@lindaleehall]

I agree. My Cousin Rachel is unforgettable.

[@lkitten]

I'm trying to get through Jane Eyre. I'm enjoying it but it's a lot for me so I might try to find an audio book to assist. Only on chapter 10, hope to get done by the end of October.

[@janethughes7661]

The book covers are absolutely gorgeous! Where do you get your books?

[@TheBookCastle]

Bookstores and online 🖤

[@LoveAlwaysAlana]

I think you might like The Woman in Black by Susan Hill.

[@Tara.Tripathi]

I love your look ma'am

[@ladysmug]

Where do you get your book editions? They’re all so beautiful! (I live in the US so not sure if your editions reflect US editions!)

[@TheBookCastle]

I usually order them online, or find them in bookstores here 🥰 I think in Norwegian bookstores we have a little bit of a mix between US and UK covers, but online I can usually find both.

[@ladysmug]

@@TheBookCastle thank you so much for the feedback! Enjoy your content! ♥️

[@sykoelf]

Rebecca is a top tier book. Mexican Gothic kinda sucked.

[@Rebeccas_penmanship]

Thank you! Rebecca is one of my favorite novels! I hate to say I don't particularly consider it one of the greatest pieces of literature ever, but it is beautiful and puts me in a mood I can't find elsewhere--I read Mexican Gothic last summer, hoping to find that mood, and it was barely tolerable. It just isn't on Rebecca's level. The writing wasn't near high art, the ending got so ridiculous, and it just felt..how can I say...like, if it were a film, it would have bad acting. It did indeed kinda suck.

[@lisapoe888]

No why did it suck everyone loves it!

[@lacycrowe7342]

I respectfully disagree about Mexican Gothic. I loved it. However, it has a lot of elements that bother and disgusts people. I listened to the book first and that might also be why I enjoyed it so much. The narrator did a great job.

[@lilaccottage]

📚😊

[@MaryAmongStories]

🤎🍂

[@lindaleehall]

Love and Fury is very good, but it also made me very angry.

[@helenm4357]

reading 'The Silent Companions' and so far it is creepy

[@TheBookCastle]

I think I'm going to start it today!

[@jacksonjackson514]

How are you gonna make an onion layers analogy and not credit shrek? Cant believe you smh 😔

[@TheBookCastle]

You’re not gonna believe this next part either; I’ve never watched Shrek 🫣

[@BrookeReadsBooks333]

I just finished Burial Rites today and it was 4/5! Loved it, and was completely engrossed. 🤍🕯️