Why 'Something Wicked This Way Comes' is the perfect October read

October means longer nights, colder weather, Halloween -- and, of course, horror books.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Ray Bradbury's haunting carnival tale Something Wicked This Way Comes. The 1962 classic follows two young friends, Jim and Will, living in a small town in Illinois. When a mysterious carnival arrives in the middle of the night, it's up to Jim and Will, along with Will's father Charles Halloway, to unravel the secrets of this carnival and protect the town from its horrors.

Listen in below as we chat about terrifying carnivals, what makes Ray Bradbury's horror writing so evocative and the existential morals found in Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Then, inspired by the fact that Something Wicked is a lesser-known Bradbury novel (compared to Fahrenheit 451), we talk about lesser-known books by famous authors -- including Stephen King's fantasy novel The Eyes of the Dragon, After Dark by Haruki Murakami and The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan.

And as always we close the show with recommendations.

• Peter recommends The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley. "It's very atmospheric."

• Aliza recommends The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis. "It's very interesting and dark and fun." She also recommends two web series: Edgar Allen Poe's Murder Mystery Dinner Party and Carmilla.

• MJ recommends Sarah Jean Alexander's poetry collection Wild Lives. "I picked up this book because the cover is beautiful and what I found inside this book are completely beautiful, devastating poems about loneliness." You can check out a preview here.

Next week we'll continue the theme by chatting about our favorite Halloween books. We hope you'll join us!

Also, if you are looking for something new to read, check out our official MashReads October book club selection: Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead. Whitehead will be chatting with MashReads IRL on Oct. 25, at 6:30 p.m. ET, at MashableHQ in New York City. RSVP here if you'd like to attend our bookclub discussion. 

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