Spooky TBR 2025
Every year around this time I get excited to put together my TBR list for the spooky season and every year, without fail, I do not adhere to that list even a little bit. Hell, I’m lucky if I actually finish at least ONE book I include on my list for the season instead of just reading what comes in from my library holds.
But this year? This year will be different! …Maybe.
This time around I’ve done my best to set myself up for spooky reading success with a list made of several short novels, a manga, a graphic novel series, and one novel made up of short stories. I’m keeping it short, I’m keeping it easy, I’m keeping it (fingers crossed) doable. Keep reading to find out which books I think can turn my terrible spooky season reading track record around!
Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
“Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans—though no one calls them that anymore.
His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the “Transition.” Now, eating human meat—“special meat”—is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing.
Then one day he’s given a gift: a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he’s aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost—and what might still be saved.”
Why’d it make my list?
I’ve been hearing about Tender is the Flesh for YEARS, about how brutal and shocking the story is, and about how people either love that about it or don’t. I’m really interested to see on which side of the line I fall knowing that I’m usually a fan of dark or ugly plot choices in my books but if they’re told in an uninteresting or boring way it doesn’t really matter how much I like the risky plot (I’m looking at you The Lamb.)
“Countless tombstones stand in rows throughout a small community, forming a bizarre tableau. What fate awaits a brother and sister after a traffic accident in this town of the dead? In another tale, a girl falls silent, her tongue transformed into a slug. Can a friend save her? Then, when a young man moves to a new town, he finds the house next door has only a single window. What does his grotesque neighbor want, calling out to him every evening from that lone window?”
Why’d it make my list?
This and Junji Ito’s Tomie have been on my TBR cart for literal years at this point and dammit it’s time I give them some attention. Tombs, with its mention of a story taking place in a town of the dead, seemed like a good fit for this list and hopefully WHEN I FINISH IT THIS MONTH I’ll be primed to check out Tomie next. Also, I loved Uzumaki. It was weird, it was kinda funny, and the imagery was *chef’s kiss* so I have a lot of faith in Tombs.
“Every night, in the college’s ancient cemetery, five people cross paths as they work the late shift: a bartender, a rideshare driver, a hotel receptionist, the steward of the derelict church that looms over them, and the editor-in-chief of the college paper, always in search of a story.
One dark October evening in the defunct churchyard, they find a hole that wasn’t there before. A fresh, open grave where no grave should be. But who dug it, and for whom?
Before they go their separate ways, the gravedigger returns. As they trail him through the night, they realize he may be the key to a string of strange happenings around town that have made headlines for the last few weeks―and that they may be closer to the mystery than they thought.”
Why’d it make my list?
I really loved M.L Rio’s book If We Were Villains so I feel like this one could be a winner. Plus it’s a novella so it’s a shorty which makes me think I could really get it done for the spooky season. I also love the setting and am intrigued at finding out who or what the open grave is for.
The Soul’s Guide to the After Death by Gwenna Laithland
“Susan Chambers woke up feeling like she had been hit by a bus.
Mostly because she had been hit by a bus.
And Susan Chambers wasn’t so much waking up, as she was arriving in The After Death, the place between one life and the next.
After forty-two years as a human, a freshly dead Susan must tackle some of the biggest questions in life, death and everything that comes after.
Why are mosquitoes the way they are?
What lessons can a soul learn from a single life?
Does it really matter if you were a good person?
Is there such a thing as a life that doesn’t matter at all?
With help from Aurora, her guide to The After Death, Susan must navigate through the memories and experiences that defined her before her soul can move on to its next experience. In confronting her past, her choices, and her failings, Susan must reconcile what it means to be alive, to live, and to let go."
Why’d it make my list?
So I wouldn’t say this one is technically spooky but it does deal with the after life and reading about death is inherently perfect for this time of year and if I can get a good laugh out of it, all the better. I also have this one on loan from a friend (along with Graveyard Shift) and I’d love to be able to give it back before the end of the year.
The Walking Dead Compendiums 1- 4 by Robert Kirkman art by Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard
You know The Walking Dead. You at least know the show version of The Walking Dead. This is the graphic novel series the show was based on which follows a group of survivors during the zombie apocalypse and boy do they go through it!
Why’d it make my list?
I’ve actually read through this series already but it has been years and I feel due a re-read. I really love The Walking Dead graphic novel and though I never finished the tv series, from what I know of it, I know they ROYALLY changed so much of it in the later years. Hell, they changed a bunch of it in the early seasons too. Since I already know how this one turns out I feel comfortable recommending you add it to your spooky TBR.
“Morino is the strangest girl in school—how could she not be, given her obsession with brutal murders? And there are plenty of murders to grow obsessed with, as the town in which she lives is a magnet for serial killers. She and her schoolmate will go to any length to investigate the murders, even putting their own bodies on the line. And they don’t want to stop the killers—Morino and her friend simply want to understand them.”
Why’d it make my list?
I mean come on. Did you read that synopsis? It seems dark as hell. A town that’s a magnet for serial killers and two teens obsessed with figuring them out? Things are surely going to get wild. And I owe it to myself to try to get one 300 page novel done for this month.
What do you think? Can I do it? Can I read through the majority of my 2025 spooky TBR list? Or will once again succumb to the fickle friend that is my library holds? Let me know what you think in the comments and tell us what’s on your spooky TBR for this year! Do you think you’ll get through yours?