I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
101 Horror Books to Read Before You're Murdered by Sadie Hartmann Published by Page Street Publishing on August 8 2023
Genres: Adult, Non Fiction, reading guide
Pages: 168
Format: Finished paperback
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: A must-read, must-own book for lovers of horror fiction, 101 Horror Books to Read before You’re Murdered is both fun and informative.
Sadie Hartmann, or “Mother Horror” as she’s known on social media, has been making a splash in the horror field for the past few years, and now she’s written a handy-dandy, horror-filled guide for readers who want to beef up their horror reading resumes. But this isn’t just any guide. This is a carefully curated list of horror from the last twenty years or so from both well-known and up-and-coming authors who are all doing exceptional, cutting-edge work. It’s also a gorgeously designed book, easy to read, and meticulously indexed. I’m going to break this review into parts and talk about my favorite features, and at the end I’ll share just how many of the 101 books I’ve read myself!
CONTENT:
Hartmann has broken the books down into five main categories: Paranormal (ghosts, haunted houses), Human Monsters (cults, slashers, crime, coming-of-age, etc), Supernatural (witches, demons, etc), Natural Order Horror (dystopian, sci-fi, eco-horror) and Short Story Collections. Each section has a chatty, personal introduction, as well as a short essay for each of the sub genres in that category. Following each of these intros are the books. Each of the 101 books has its own page with a full color image of the cover; tags for easy identification (all the tags and their icons are listed in the front of the book—think things like “book to movie,” “dark academia,” “mystery,” “southern Gothic” and many more); a list of themes, tone, style, setting and publisher; and finally, Hartmann’s take on each book. At the end of each section is an essay by a guest author in that sub-genre. For example, Cassandra Khaw’s “I Grew Up With Ghosts” is an eerie and delightful memory of their childhood growing up in Malaysia.
And if that weren’t enough entertainment value right there, Hartmann also drops in “Author Spotlight” sections throughout the book, focusing on several of her favorites. Each full spread author section features an author photo, Hartmann’s impassioned explanation about why that author is special to her, and a page of recommended reading, with full color book cover images included.
Rounding out the meat and potatoes of the book are a (gushing) Foreward by Josh Malerman; an Introduction by Hartmann, explaining, among other things, how she went about making her selections; and a handy check list at the end to keep track of your reading. This is a slim, 168 page book, but there is so much information packed inside it feels like twice that!
DESIGN:
This is such a beautiful little book! I don’t usually mention designers or illustrators in my review, but hats off to illustrator Marco Fontanili, whose spot-on illustrations grace almost every page; and book designer Rosie Stewart, whose black, red and white theme works perfectly, plus her layouts are easy to read. Here’s an example of a typical book recommendation page:
MY THOUGHTS/PERSONAL STATS:
Now comes the fun part. Of course, with a book that lists a bunch of recommended horror books, I wanted to count and see how many I’ve actually read. Technically, there are more than 101 books listed (91 books plus 10 featured authors with multiple books each). Of all of these, I’ve read…40. I feel like I should have done better than that, but if you look at the books I haven’t read yet but own copies of, that number jumps up:
Books reads: 40
Copies owned (of unread books): 21
Out of the authors listed whose book I haven’t read, I’ve read other books by 11 of those authors. For example, I’ve read every single book by Zoje Stage, but I still haven’t read Baby Teeth.
That leaves me a nice pile of books to look forward to, many of which are already on my TBR. Some of these are completely new to me, though, and that makes me very happy.
And of course, everyone has their own personal opinions, and it’s no surprise that I didn’t enjoy a couple of Hartmann’s picks (like The Ancestor). But overall, I found myself nodding my head and saying “yup” as I worked my way through the list. I’ve loved so many of these books, and some of them remain favorites to this day (I’m looking at you The Only Good Indians, The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, The Book of Accidents and especially The Suicide Motor Club!)
For me, there is one noticeable author missing, and that’s Camilla Bruce. Obviously Hartmann couldn’t include everyone, but Bruce wrote one of my all time favorite books, You Let Me In. Maybe if there’s a follow-up book someday, she’ll make the cut!
I expect I’ll be perusing 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered on a regular basis, it’s that much fun to flip through the pages. Highly recommended for horror fans, and for those who are eager to get into the genre but don’t know where to start, this is perfect for you too.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
This looks like a really well-presented book. I’d be interested in seeing how many of the books I’ve read myself and discovering new authors to make my TBR list even longer than it already is 😀
It was fun crossing off the ones I’ve read:-)
This look like a thing of beauty!!
It really is!
This sounds like a must-have for horror fans! I really like the interior lay out.
Rebecca @ Powder & Page recently posted…Can’t Wait Wednesday: A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna
My photo doesn’t do it justice, lol.
Oh those are the types of nonfiction books that I don’t mind reading! I will have to put that one on my wishlist! 🙂
Stormi recently posted…Two Bloggers One Book ~ Finders Keepers by Stephen King
Me too, it’s a bunch of fun:-)
Wow, I think 40 is very impressive!
This sounds fascinating, and as I’m never sure where to start with horror, I may have to pick up a copy of this. Thank you Tammy!
It’s so well put together and full of interesting reviews and info:-)
This looks amazing! I’d love to at least borrow it from the library and see how many I’ve read (and like you, I have a feeling I’ll have read something by many of these authors, even if not the particular book mentioned). This could make a great gift book for horror fans!
It really is a great gift. And there’s a lot of interesting essays and reviews:-)
Requesting this book for my library right now.
Snapdragon recently posted…Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine
Awesome, thanks!
wow, looks fantastic for lovers of that genre! You were the perfect blogger to review this!
Emma @ Words And Peace recently posted…Bout of Books 38
It is perfect for me;-)
I don’t like horror enough to read 101 books prior to my murder… unless my murderer forces me I guess lol
LOL definitely skip it!
I need this one. Thanks for the review because I was on the fence!
It’s definitely worth getting:-)
Ouuuh this sounds like a nice checklist and it’s even well-designed. I’d love to get a copy of it. Great review, Tammy! 😀
Lashaan Balasingam recently posted…The Handyman Method by Nick Cutter and Andrew F. Sullivan
I think you’d love it!
What a beautiful looking book. I don’t think I will have read a great deal from those selected though as I’m usually fairly light on horror. Nice to have a bunch of recommendations and reviews all collected into one handy book though.
Lynn 😀
Yaaaay, great review! I loved this so much and I’m glad you did too. I can’t get over how gorgeous the design is, too!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries recently posted…‘Nothing but the Rain’: a chilling dystopian tale of loss
This sounds like one that would definitely be worth keeping around and looking through occasionally to find a new read. I’ll have to check it out. Thanks for sharing it!
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