It's ghastly, ghostly big book energy for you and all your ghoul-friends! Five treats (and perhaps some tricks!) for you in this roundup of creepy reads, including:

• Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito
• Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda (yes I am a re-reader)
• Woo Woo by Ella Baxter
• The Body by Hanif Kureishi
• Termush by Sven Holm
• The Shining by Dorothea Lasky

Plus a peek at my spooky season TBR, featuring historical folk horror, Hitchcockian obsessions in academia, freaky short fiction, and more: in print, Grey Dog by Elliott Gish, Jawbone by Monica Ojeda, Organ Meats by K-Ming Chang, A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez, Exit Zero by Marie-Helene Bertino, Spells, a collection of occult poetry edited by Sarah Shin and Rebecca Tamas; in audiobook, The Hounding by Xenobe Purvis, Midnight Timetable by Bora Chung, These Violent Delights by Michael Nemerever, We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad.

Resources

• Last year's Halloween books episode: S04:E01 | Retread: On Coming Back to Creativity + Five Fave Creepy Reads
• The Hauntings micro-series books episode: S02:E20 | Hauntings III: Books About Crossing Over (feat. Aoko Matsuda, Gus Moreno, & Jessica Johns)
• Find even more Big Book Energy in the Little Oracles Archive

IG: @littleoracles

Part two of 2025's most memorable, featuring the TV and movies that gave me pause last year, featuring:

• TV: Task (2025, created by Brad Ingelsby); Black Rabbit (2025, created by Zach Baylin and Kate Susman); The Bear (2022, Christopher Storer); Ren Faire (2024, created by Lance Oppenheim); Duster (2025, created by J.J. Abrams and LaToya Morgan); Sweetpea (2024, created by Kirstie Swain); The Hardacres (2025, created by Amy Roberts and Loren McLaughlan).
• Film: Nosferatu (2024, directed by Robert Eggers); Frankenstein (2025, directed by Guillermo del Toro); Sinners (2025, directed by Ryan Coogler); Wages of Fear (1953, directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot) and Sorcerer (1977, directed by William Friedkin); Cube (1997, directed by Vincenzo Natali); They Live (1988, directed by John Carpenter); Crank franchise (2006, directed by Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor); Transporter franchise (2002, directed by Louis Leterrier & Corey Yuen); Poor Things (2023, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos); The Loveless (1984, directed by Monty Montgomery & Kathryn Bigelow); Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975, directed by Peter Weir).

Resources

• Deadliest Catch cameo: S04:E07 | Refract: On Mirror Rot, Idiosyncratic Inspo, and Hailing the New Year
• Talking with Peter Gaucys: S01:E20 | Creative Chat with Peter Gaucys: On Conversations, Conductors, and Contextual Ghosts
• Participating in Peter's annual group show: S04:E02 | Reconnect: On Prompts, Cross-Pollination, and Creative Elasticity
• Reading roundup 2022: S01:E02 | My Top Books of 2022 & Relational Reading
• Reading roundup 2024: S04:E08 | Review: 2024’s Most Meaningful Reads & What I’m Digging in 2025
• Find even more Big Book Energy in the Little Oracles Archive

IG: @littleoracles

Revisiting the megasode that started it all: a massive reading roundup, featuring faves of 2025 in this belated bijou of big book energy, organized into three categories, plus an Honorable Mention section:

• Looking Back: The Lover by Marguerite Duras; Good Material by Dolly Alderton; A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith; The Details by Ia Genberg.
• Is This Real Life: The Position of Spoons by Deborah Levy; Any Person Is the Only Self by Elisa Gabbert; Architect by Alison Thumel; The Art Thief by Michael Finkel.
• Weird Women: Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson; Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield; Creep by Emma van Straaten; Poor Things by Alisdair Gray.
• Honorable Mention: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson; The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde; Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Tales from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty.

Resources

• Reading roundup 2022: S01:E02 | My Top Books of 2022 & Relational Reading
• Reading roundup 2024: S04:E08 | Review: 2024’s Most Meaningful Reads & What I’m Digging in 2025
• Find even more Big Book Energy in the Little Oracles Archive

IG: @littleoracles