MashReads Podcast: Why 'The Haunting Of Hill House' is the perfect Halloween book

If you're looking to get in the Halloween spirit, look no further than Shirley Jackson's classic horror novel, The Haunting of Hill House.

The book follows a group of people — the scientifically-minded Dr. Montague, the paranormally-vulnerable Eleanor Vance, seemingly telepathic Theodora, and future heir to the house Luke — who spend a few weeks living in Hill House, tasked with investigating its mysteries. But as the group explores, they soon learn that Hill House has a demand of its own: "Help Eleanor come home."

Chilling from its opening warning on the very first page — "Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within" — The Haunting of Hill House is a must-read for anybody looking for a Halloween horror novel.

Join us in the MashReads Podcast episode above as we talk about reading scary books and why Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House is especially terrifying.

Then, inspired by The Haunting of Hill House, we chat about our favorite horror novels including House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski, Coraline by Neil Gaiman, The Shining by Stephen King, and Universal Harvester by John Darnielle.

And as always, we close the show with recommendations:

• Aliza recommends watching the movie version of The Haunting of Hill House. She also recommends listening to the podcast My Favorite Murder

• Peter recommends watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

• MJ recommends reading "The guerilla philanthropist: How Shea Serrano went from middle school teacher to the uncensored general of Twitter’s happiest army," an article by Mashable's assistant editor Brian De Los Santos about writer Shea Serrano. MJ also recommends listening to Paramore's NPR Tiny Desk Concert.

• Also be sure to check out Aliza's interview with Stephanie Perkins for Halloween.

And speaking of Stephanie Perkins, next week, we're keeping Halloween alive by reading Stephanie Perkins' horror-themed slasher YA novel, There's Someone Inside Your House.

Also, if you're looking to sink your teeth into something longer, we have a new MashReads book club book for the month — I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sánchez. We'll be chatting with Sánchez about the book IRL on Monday, Nov. 13 at 6:30 p.m. ET. RSVP here and join us!

And if you're looking for even more book news, don't forget to follow MashReads on Facebook and Twitter.