Hey bookworm friends, BOO👻! I’ve got another themed book & song list for you but first, a question: Do you believe in ghosts? I do, but only in October 😉. Whether the spirits are literal supernatural creatures, figurative concepts of loss or isolation, evil entities, or friendly ghosts this list has us covered. After all, it’s the post with the most ghosts!
This list will contain 10 books (a mix of Read and TBR) and 10 songs that I love! For some extra fun, I tried to match up each book with the song that I felt matched it best. I hope you find something you like 😜!
The Post With The Most Ghosts 👻
📚 The Sad Ghost Club – Lize Meddings
YA Contemporary graphic novel; When one sad ghost sees another lonely ghost at a crowded party they decide to leave together and form The Sad Ghost Club. It’s a love letter to anyone who’s ever felt invisible or like they don’t belong.
🎵Ghosts That We Knew is a hopeful tune by British folk band Mumford & Sons. It begins by saying “You saw my pain, washed out in the rain” and then later “But you saw no fault no cracks in my heart”. If that’s not a song about kindred spirits finding each other, I don’t know what is!
⟡😱⟡
📚 Taproot – Keezy Young
YA Queer Fantasy Romance graphic novel; Blue is a ghost and when he meets Hamal, a gardener they develop a friendship that turns into something more. But being dead makes it a bit hard to connect with the living.
🎵Casper’s Lullaby from the “Casper” Soundtrack was composed by James Horner. Every time I hear it, it sends such a shot of 90’s Halloween nostalgia directly into my bloodstream! The feeling I get is a mix of whimsy, longing, and romance.
⟡👻⟡
📚 The Ghostkeeper: A Graphic Novel – Johanna Taylor
YA Paranormal Historical Fiction; Dorian Leith listens to ghosts’ problems and helps them to move on to the afterlife. His ability to speak to the dead makes him an outcast in his town but when the key to ‘Death’s Door’ is stolen, Dorian is the only one who can save everyone.
🎵Ghost Town by synth-rock band Shiny Toy Guns is about a post-apocalyptic “ghost town” where the population is dead. The sing-songy ghostly wails in the intro lead the way into a very catchy and rebellious rock song.
⟡😱⟡
📚 The Ghost Bride – Yangsze Choo
Supernatural Historical Fiction & Romance; Li Lan is chosen to be the wife of a wealthy family’s only son. The catch? He recently died under mysterious circumstances and the tradition of ghost marriages is used to placate restless spirits. Every night she is drawn into the world of the Chinese afterlife and must discover family secrets before she is trapped in this ghostly life.
🎵 Ghosts by Irish folk singer James Vincent McMorrow is dreamy and full of yearning. A sentiment I easily associate with ghosts.
⟡👻⟡
📚 The Ghost In The House – Sara O’Leary
Literary Fiction; Fay is married to the love of her life and has her dream house. But one day she wakes up on top of her piano with a niggling feeling that something is amiss. Furniture in the wrong places, the walls of different colours than she remembers and worst of all her husband has abandoned her and married someone new. With a sinking feeling, Fay realizes there’s a ghost in the house and it’s her.
🎵The Ghost of You by My Chemical Romance deals with losing a loved one. “And all the things that you never ever told me
And all the smiles that are ever gonna haunt me”
This book and song contend with people’s past actions and those they will now never take.
More Ghost Books & Songs
📚 The Screaming Staircase – Jonathan Stroud
YA Fantasy Horror; England has been beset by an epidemic of ghosts. Various Psychic Investigations Agencies sprung up to tackle the dangerous apparitions. A young agent comes to London hoping for a successful career fighting ghosts but joins the smallest agency, Lockwood & Co.
🎵 Ghost Opera by the Power Metal band Kamelot is about ghosts in a different way. It tells the story of an old woman haunted by her unrealized dream of performing at the Opera. She dreamt of a crowd calling her name but it was never to be.
⟡😱⟡
📚 The Restorer – Amanda Stevens
Paranormal Mystery & Urban Fantasy; Amelia Gray is a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. When the body of a woman is found in a cemetery she was hired to restore and she meets a haunted police officer, her life changes in a direction that’s increasingly courting danger.
🎵 Ghosts by the Gothic Doom Metal band Paradise Lost is the heaviest song on this list. It speaks about personal demons or “ghosts” that haunt or destroy us and expresses hope that Faith will defeat them.
⟡👻⟡
📚 The Woman In White – Wilkie Collins
Classic Gothic Horror; A young teacher encounters a lost woman all dressed in white and gives her directions. Later he discovers she’s escaped from an asylum. The Woman in White is the first and most influential of the Victorian genre that combined Gothic horror with psychological realism.
🎵Ghost‘s cover of Roky Erickson’s If You Have Ghosts is perfect for this list! It’s a song about loneliness and it’s seen as an anthem for the outcast by many fans.
⟡😱⟡
📚 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow – Washington Irving
Classic Gothic Horror; A Short story originally published in ‘The Sketch Book’ of Washington Irving. Ichabod Crane is the new schoolteacher in town. The townspeople’s stories about ghosts terrified him so much that he would hurry home singing to distract himself. Then one night a horrifying apparition on a horse follows him through the woods…
🎵 Haunted by Evanescence is about a little girl who walks into a haunted mansion and is mesmerized by the decaying opulence only to wake up years later as a young woman to find that she’s been kept prisoner by an elusive shadowy presence.
⟡👻⟡
📚 The Black Feathers – Rebecca Netley
Gothic Horror; When Annie marries widower Edward Stonehouse she moves to his estate on the Yorkshire moors. There she meets Iris, Edward’s sister, who urges Annie to be careful of black feathers—they mark the spot where a spirit has visited.
🎵 Ghost In The Rain is an emotional ballad by Power Metal band Beast In Black. The lead singer, Yannis Papadopoulos’ voice gives me goose bumps practically every time. This song is about star-crossed lovers who have been separated by traumatic circumstances.
Let’s chat in the comments!
Have you ever seen a ghost? Or, which of these books would you want to read?
Those posts are so much 🙂 I have some of those books on my tbr
Thank you, Vero! That’s awesome. I hope you love any that you pick up! I’m curious, which one appeals to you the most?
I’m not sure if I believe in ghosts or not. It’s one of those things that I don’t tend to think about too much but kind of? My mum has a few stories about them that make it hard not to wander.
Song wise I knew a few this time, the Casper one as I watched the movie loads when I was younger, the Evanescence & MCR ones and maybe the Mumford & Sons one although I’m not sure if I’ve heard the particular track with their one 🤔 they all have different ghostly vibes that you’ve explained wonderfully.
Book wise some of these are new to me & some were already on my TBR. Black Feathers, Screaming Staircase & Ghost Bride are three that I’ve been meaning to read most. I know Sleepy Hollow but only from the movie 😂 the graphic novels sound like they could be good if I get into the genre and I’ve added a couple of the others too. I love the variety you’ve included here
Just as a heads up you’ve left the last line of your posts about vampires. I did the same a few weeks back with a review so don’t worry, I just thought I’d let you know.
I can’t think of any ghost books I’ve read but surely there must be some 🤔 if not it’s a sub genre I majorly need to check out.
Yeah that’s fair, not a question you might necessarily have the answer to. I don’t really though I think it is kind of fun to believe. I haven’t had any ghostly experiences myself but sometimes people do have stories! Creepy!
Oh wow yay That’s awesome you know a lot this time around hehe 😉 Thank you 🥰🥰
Yes the ones you’ve been meaning to read the most are ones I really want to read too! I also know Sleepy Hollow only from the movie but I’m hoping to read the short story soon! Thanks, I try to give recs as varied as I can so I’m glad you appreciate that!
Ughhh I forgot to change that line! Thanks for pointing it out, you’re the best! I’ll go fix it 🖤. Ahaha that’s fair :)!
I think learning the stories can be fun. Although if I had an actual experience myself I’d panic like mad 🙈😂 a holiday house I stayed in once was supposedly haunted (I think people basically joked it was in the guest book due to some of the pictures) and I kind of freaked out atthe time. I’d just seen The Others & the pictures on the wall looked just like some from there. Plus the sheep used to stare a lot 😂
Less than half but close to it 😅
Hopefully we’ll both manage to get to them soon then 🤞
I hope the story works for you. I’ll have to try it out one day too. Let me know if/when you read it.
🥰🥰
haha yes I’m with you there, I don’t think I would handle a haunting experience well either 😂. Oh no, haha that’s kind of creepy lol. ahaha the SHEEP? I hope you didn’t go anywhere near it, lol.
Less than half is not bad at all :)!
Thanks & okay sounds good and will do.🥰
I’m not remotely scared of them in general but these ones really did stare and paired with the stories in the guest book and creepy pictures I guess it played on my mind 😂
Ahaha that’s fair, some things are just THAT creepy.
Yay, another playlist post 😍 I don’t think I have read many books featuring ghosts but they are an interesting creature to write about and they have creative potential. Cemetery Boys was a YA book I read a while back and it was a lot of fun, even if emotional at times.
The Ghost Bride and Ghost in the House sound right up my alley. I want to know how they end already.
Thank you for all the song recommendations. I love Mumford and Sons, I could save a lot of their lyrics!
🥰🥰
Yes I agree, ghosts have so much potential to interpret in countless ways! 🙂 Oh Cemetery Boys is a good one to add to the list, I read it but somehow I didn’t think of it here! Thanks! 😁
I want to read Ghost Bride too and Ghost in the House was short and emotional and heartwarming, I really liked it even though it’s literary fiction which isn’t my type of genre typically.
Yes Mumford and Sons have such beautiful songs! 🙂 Thanks for popping by my blog, Sophie 🖤
I love the Sad Ghost Club books so much! 🥰 The Ghostkeeper is on my TBR for November, it sounds great!
Aww that’s great! I feel like I saw one of your posts recently mention sad ghost club too? & Nice I hope you enjoy the Ghostkeeper next month 🙂 !!