298: Spooky Reads 2025 Edition

Do you like spooky reads, or do you tend to steer clear of anything too creepy? In Episode 298, Jen and Ashley share our favorite books for the season, and we talk about what makes the perfect fall read.

We start with our Bookish Check-in: Ashley is listening to Thorn Season (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) by Kiera Cass, and Jen’s revisiting Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm). Then we each bring a fall pick to the table: we share about Megan Bannen’s The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) and Adriana Mather’s How to Hang a Witch (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm). Both picks have ghosts, magic, and just enough spookiness to feel seasonal without being nightmare fuel.

Just a reminder that if you purchase books using our affiliate links for Bookshop.org and Libro.fm, or if you shop on Bookshop using our Unabridgedpod shop, we get a small percentage of those sales, which supports us and the companies.

We wrap things up with a Lit Chat question about DNFs: do you finish every book you start? We share a little honesty about how hard it can be to stop reading something once it’s begun. Join us, and let us know on Instagram what your favorite spooky reads are (and whether you’re a completionist or a proud DNFer)!

Bookish Check-in

Ashley - Kiera Azar’s Thorn Season (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)

Jen - Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)

Our Spooky Reads Recs

Ashley - Megan Bannon’s The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)

Jen - Adriana Mather’s How to Hang a Witch (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)

Lit Chat Game

Listen in to hear what we discuss from Book Riot's Lit Chat Game!

#shownotes #spookyreads #seasonal

(A note to our readers: click on the hashtags above to see our other blog posts with the same hashtag.)

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Full Transcript for Episode

[00:00:00] Ashley: Welcome to the Unabridged Podcast. I'm Ashley,

[00:00:05] Jen: And this is Jen.

[00:00:06] Ashley: Join us for bookish episodes and check out our website at unabridgepod.com, where you can find lots of new bookish content to grow your TBR.

[00:00:13] Jen: Sign up for our newsletter to find out more about online book discussions and upcoming events.

[00:00:18] Find us on Patreon for extra unabridged content. Join us on Instagram and Facebook at unabridged pod and message us there, or see our website to get plugged into the unabridged community. You want opinions about books? We've got 'em.

[00:00:35] Hi everyone, and welcome to Unabridged. This is episode 298. It is our annual Spooky Reads episode, which we always look forward to in the fall. Before we get started,

[00:00:46] and I do just wanna point out that you can support bookshop.org and us by going to our shop, the address is bookshop.org/shop/unabridged pod.

[00:00:57] We also put affiliate links for Bookshop and for Libro FM in all of our show notes, so you can check that out as well. Alright, to get started, we are going to do our bookish check-in. Ashley, what are you reading?

[00:01:10] Ashley: Well, this should be good for spooky season, but also, I just started this morning while walking my dog for the audio, thanks to Libro FM. I can't report very much yet, but I like it thus far. It is Kiera Azar Thorn season. This is the first in a series. In the beginning. All that I know so far is that Alyssa is the protagonist, and she is with someone, and they are trying to remove a hunter's mark from a door.

[00:01:41] And we know that this is like a thing that they're doing, but also that doing it is illegal, treasonous, like not right, and so we see them doing that and then hiding because you know, somebody like a government official is on the move and they're trying to get outta the way. And then we quickly realize that Alyssa is a wielder. And I don't know yet exactly what that means, but clearly she has a power that the government is trying to suppress, and that it is dangerous for that to be discovered in the place where they live. And right in the beginning, there is also this sense of

[00:02:19] whatever is happening in their regime is not true in other places. So she has this like, you know, desire to be elsewhere where she could wield openly, and it would not be a problem, and then as they're hiding. They're hiding in this home of Marge, who seemed to be a friend of hers who had been taken by the government, and she'd had this realization after Marge was taken, that they both had this ability all along, as friends, both of them are hiding it.

[00:02:46] So she did not know. And so right in this opening scene, there's this sense of like, she could have had this camaraderie with this person, but then she. Doesn't have it because, again, everybody's hiding in secret the things that they're afraid they're gonna get in trouble for. And then the next piece that happens right at the beginning is that as she's thinking that they've gotten away from this person and they step out, the guard is still there.

[00:03:08] And had like, been waiting, to see, and so she turns and I'm thinking she's gonna get, you know, picked up or whatever, and then he realizes who she is and is super apologetic. And so she's like an heiress of some kind. So again, not clear to me yet, but clearly she is in this important family.

[00:03:27] There would be an assumption that she doesn't have any of this power or couldn't have been the one doing this thing. I've only heard the opening part, but I am really compelled. I think that the writing seems really strong at the beginning, and I am interested in what is happening that is causing all of that.

[00:03:44] Yeah, so we'll see. I don't know. I haven't read a book like this in quite a while. So this is Kiera Azar Thorn season.

[00:03:49] Jen: Oh, that sounds really good. I love books that start off with initial chapters like that, just put you right in the middle of things. Yeah. World-building, I'm sure, will be interesting.

[00:03:58] Ashley: Yeah, exactly. I felt like it was very inviting, which, right now, especially with audio, I really am looking for things that suck me in, so we'll see. What about you, Jen? What are you reading?

[00:04:07] Jen: I am reading Richard Matheson's. I am Legend. I am listening to this one as well, and I'm reading it because Tournament of Books is doing an Octoberpop-up bracketand I'm not committing yet to reading all 16 books. I've read eight already. Like, just in my life, I've read eight. And it turns out I'd actually read, I Am Legend before, but remember absolutely nothing about it, and it's quite short.

[00:04:32] So I was like, oh yeah, I can knock that out on audio. So Matheson published this in the fifties, but it is set in the seventies, and it is about a character named Robert Neville, who, as far as he knows, is the last living man on the planet because everyone else has turned into a vampire. And so he is just.

[00:04:51] sustaining life by locking himself up at night and creating this sort of protective series of obstacles around his home to keep out the vampires who are knocking at his door and trying to break down his walls every night. But he has some scientific understanding of why people turn into vampires, and he thought he might be able to cure it, but he's not sure.

[00:05:14] So he's trying to scientifically go through all these different methods that he'd heard of, you know, why does garlic keep them away? Why does the cross work? And it's really just in his head. You see someone who is. Debating whether it's worth it to keep on going if he's the only living person. I know there was a movie with Will Smith.

[00:05:31] I have not seen the movie, but I think the dog was a big part of it, and the dog is not in the book a whole lot. So I feel like it's probably one of those loosely based on movies. I might watch it after I'm done. But yeah, it's really compelling and you know, the audio's good and I'm enjoying it. It's funny 'cause I sort of figured it would come back to me once I started listening, and I'm like.

[00:05:51] It has not. So I don't know if I just read it so long ago or if I wasn't in the right headspace to read it at the time, but I'm enjoying it. It's good. We're recording this before October hits, so it's a pre-October read, and if you're interested in the Tournament of Books, you still have time to join.

[00:06:09] You know, you can just read the discussion about the different books, even if you haven't read anything. That's always fun. So, yeah. So this is Richard Matheson's. I am Legend.

[00:06:19] Ashley: That is so interesting, Jen, and I was thinking that there was a movie that was all coming back to me, but I also did not see it largely because I knew the dog played an important role, and I worried the dog would die, and Jen knows full well that I essentially avoid all things where dogs die. So

[00:06:35] Jen: Oh, wait till you hear my bookish Check-in for the other episode. We're recording today. You're gonna be out immediately, so. So.

[00:06:42] Ashley: It did immediately make me think, though of Peter Heller's Dog Stars, which is still one of my favorite books ever. But that is one listener where Jen was like, I need to tell you things don't go well for the dog, but I really think you're gonna like the book. And she was right. It's one of my favorites.

[00:06:57] So there you go.

[00:06:59] Jen: It can happen. It can happen. Very selective circumstances there. All right. Well, we are going to move on to our main discussion, and each of us is going to recommend something spooky. That is perfect for the season. Ashley, what do you wanna recommend?

[00:07:12] Ashley: Oh gosh. Well, long-time listeners know that number one, I don't do spooky for the most part. I usually don't like anything that's like a thriller, or true crime is a definite no-go for me most of the time. Although we just did an interesting one for our Buddy Read that was very powerful, and I'm glad I read it.

[00:07:29] So anyway, I tried a couple that I enjoyed but that didn't feel like they were right. And the one that I am going to share, I still think is not atmospherically spooky at all, but there are a lot of things that are fitting to this season. So I want to share Megan Bannen's The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy.

[00:07:51] And Hart and Mercy are the names of the protagonists in the book. And Mercy is an undertaker, and she's coming from a family of undertakers and so her job is to prepare bodies for funeral services, and she is in a family. Birdsall and Son is the name of the family, and Birdsall is her dad, who is like, largely, Roy, I think, is his first Roy.

[00:08:21] and he is the one who, you know, it was his business. And, his son Zevy is supposed to be taking over the business, but right at the beginning of the story, Zevy has come back from three years of school where he was supposed to be training for all this and comes for his first day with her and he's supposed to be like helping her with the body and he has to like go vomit multiple times.

[00:08:41] And she's like, of course it's hard. Like, okay. You know, he can get used to it, and they're in their world also, you prepare boats, boat making as part of what they do. And so instead of having the caskets, they make boats from different woods in order to take care of the bodies.

[00:08:58] And so she's like, well, maybe he can help more with the boat taking and then kind of ease into this. Well, within a couple of days of being back, he unveils that. He made it through like a week of the school and in the last three years he studied, I think it was philosophy instead. And so, clearly, he's been lying to the family. He cannot take over the business because he cannot stand the business. And he's like, please don't tell Dad. So Mercy's continuing to do this. Well, this kind of thing happens with each member of her family, that all of them have these secrets that they're keeping from each other, and Poor Mercy is trying to hold onto all of those. There is an elaborate world-building that is happening in the book that I really enjoyed, but I did have to kind of work at like it is a world that is very different from our world. And so it takes a lot of time to understand, like the funeral process and like there are these keys involved and like figuring out what the keys mean, and you have a birth key and a death key, and people who love each other have like different keys for the different family members.

[00:09:57] There are a lot of pieces that would be too complex to explain in my little overview here, so the reason I brought that up is because Mercy is noticing there's more and more of these like people who,

[00:10:08] are like lost souls, kind of, that just need somebody to take care of the body, and that, for some reason, there's this huge uptick of this happening of people who are kind of unclaimed, but who need their bodies to be processed. She's noticing that from the undertaking side, Hart is a marshal, and his job is to keep watch for these things. They're called dur these souls that did not carry correctly out into sea. And so now they're like adrift, and they can take over corpses and animate them, but of course that's bad news for

[00:10:46] people for the people. People. And so, his job is essentially to rid that problem when it comes up. Like that's what he's supposed to do. And so he's a marshal, and that is what his process is. And then because of that, when he resolves the durge. Gee. He still needs that body to be taken care of.

[00:11:05] So then he takes it to the undertaker. So that is how Hart and Mercy connect. And they, in their very first encounter, things just don't go well. So he had worked with Roy prior, and then Mercy was there to take the first body, and they had this really terrible first encounter and really started to hate each other.

[00:11:24] And so they have a very contentious relationship. And meanwhile, Hart is noticing also this uptick of things where all of a sudden there's a lot more corpses, there's a lot more of these durges, and they don't know why. And so there's this mystery happening. Both of them are coming at it from very different directions and trying to figure out what

[00:11:46] is causing this problem, and if there's any way to resolve it, because it is precarious, particularly for the lands that are being affected by this uptick. So, in his loneliness, Hart writes this letter to a friend and starts revealing all of these things about what he really feels inside.

[00:12:09] Aside from that, he's living a pretty lonely existence, and the letter gets delivered through these mysterious means to Mercy. And so Mercy writes back to a friend. So you have the two levels of things happening, the like letter level that is like their internal world, where they don't know who the other person is.

[00:12:29] And then there's like the actual outplay of what's happening. And there's a lot of hijinks and humor. But it is also, it's funny because I was likeIsis it spooky? I mean, it is not spooky in an atmospheric way, but there is a lot of talk about bodies and souls and what happens and all of that. So, like, yeah, I don't remember if anyone has said, like, I don't know if I saw this as a reference or not, but it makes me think of Tim Burton. There's a lot of this setting and book that is Tim Burton-like in the sense of like, I feel like when I watch things that he's directed, there is like a world that is accepting of mortality in a way that is different, I think, than the world that we live in. So, just if you see the cover of the text, like I feel like the cover image also reminds me of just, you have these skeletal hands that are holding a Heart, and then there are people inside of it.

[00:13:30] And so I mean, I really enjoyed it. There's at least one more in this series, and I would stay with it because I love the world-building. I did think, like I said, it, there's a little bit of a lift for the reader to like figure out what all is going on, but I think that Bannen does a nice job of building all of that, and I think that. that world building, you get this really interesting place where they're exploring some interesting ideas about how to care for each other and like what community looks like. So again, that is Megan Bannen's undertaking of Hart and Mercy. And I do think it's seasonally appropriate.

[00:14:02] Jen: Yeah, that sounds so good. I've seen that cover everywhere, but had absolutely no idea what the book was about. So, yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun. I'm gonna have to check that out.

[00:14:11] Ashley: Yeah. It is, it's a fun one. And I think, interesting and, you know, a good seasonally, but not too heavy despite all the dead bodies.

[00:14:24] It's a good compromise. You go. What about you, Jen? What is your recommendation, and are there dead bodies involved?

[00:14:29] Jen: Oh, there are dead bodies and ghosts, and witches.

[00:14:33] Mine is Adriana Mathers. Pay attention to that name, How To Hang A Witch. And the tagline for this is it's the Salem Witch Trials Meets Mean Girls, which I feel like is pretty accurate. So it focuses on a character named Samantha Mather, who is, this is a young adult book, I should say.

[00:14:51] So she lives in New York City with her dad and her stepmother, and something happens with her father, and he is in a coma that is going on way longer than anyone thinks is explainable. And so through a series of machinations, her stepmother decides that the best answer is to move the dad to Boston, and for the stepmother and Samantha to move into the home where her dad grew up in Salem, Massachusetts.

[00:15:25] So their last name is Mather because they are descended from Cotton Mather, who was one of the progenitors, I would say, of the Salem Witch Trials. And as Samantha goes to schools, she realizes that the descendants, they call themselves the descendants who are the descendants of the people who were killed during the Salem witch trials, still very much bear resentment toward Mather and his descendants.

[00:15:53] So Samantha, she's immediately sort of an outcast because, of course, Mather is not a popular figure in Massachusetts history and Salem history. He came down on the wrong side of that argument for sure, and Samantha understands why people don't like that history, but also feels like she should not be blamed for it and totally outcast.

[00:16:18] So the only people who really welcome her are her neighbor and his mom. So her neighbor goes to school with her, and he does sort of welcome her into the school and tries to make her feel like she belongs. His mom was her dad's best friend growing up, but her dad has refused to return to Salem since he was quite young.

[00:16:39] And so Sam has never really gotten to talk to her dad's best friend and find out what their childhood was like. So eventually Sam realizes there is actual witchcraft happening in the town amongst the descendants, that there are ghosts around, and that she has a target on her, not just from these mean girls, but also from some force that she cannot figure out.

[00:17:08] And so she is both. Sort of competing against the descendants, but also trying to make forays to work with them to figure out what is happening because it's clear that they're being targeted as well. There have been some deaths that have been unexplained and very coincidental, especially with who is dying and the ways that they are dying.

[00:17:32] And so she feels like there's an answer that is not just natural, you know, it's not just natural causes. Something weirder is going on. So she starts trying to work with the descendants. Yeah, just to solve this mystery of why people are being targeted, who are descended from the Salem Witch Trials folks.

[00:17:51] There is also a particular ghost whom she befriends, and you get his story. There is a bit of a love triangle. You get his story as the book develops. So I really enjoyed this, I used to teach The Crucible at my previous school, and I love to teach the Salem Witch trials every year 'cause I think it's such a fascinating part of our history, and I feel like so many of the themes are so relevant about what constitutes proof of something, and that sort of mentality of us versus them and

[00:18:28] I thought that this book did a nice job of exploring all of that. The author herself, Adriana Mather, is a descendant of Cotton Mather, and she has this great note at the end of the book talking about how she didn't really know much of her own family's history until later in life, and she became really fascinated by it, and that was what inspired her to write the book.

[00:18:47] So I thought that was a nice touch as well. So yeah, it's fun is a weird word because there's a lot of bad stuff that happens in it, but it was a really engaging, spooky read for young adults, and as an adult, I enjoyed it too. So that is Adriana Mathers, How to Hang a Witch.

[00:19:02] Ashley: Well, Jen, I dunno that I've heard of that one.

[00:19:05] Jen: I don't feel like it got a lot of buzz, and technically, there's a sequel, but I read the description of it, and it doesn't sound connected at all. So I would consider it to be a standalone. I think it's more a companion kind of sequel than an actual sequel. So it does feel like it wraps up at the end.

[00:19:20] I was not left on a cliffhanger, which I appreciated as well.

[00:19:24] Ashley: Oh yeah. I didn't think to say that about the one that I read, but it’s similar, like, I think it's Talia Hibbert, The Brown Sisters, where it's like different characters with different circumstances, 'cause the next one, yeah, I can't think of their names, but the next one is like these other people.] And so similarly, like, yeah, it is the same world that it's set in, but definitely not sequential. It ends. It reminds me, did you read Erin Sterling's The Ex Hex? Have you read any of her books?

[00:19:51] Jen: I have not.

[00:19:52] Ashley: It reminds me of The Ex Hex,  there's The Kiss, curse, the Ex Hex, and there's a third one

[00:19:58] Jen: Anyway, I, I really like those, but it also deals with generational impact and things that are long-standing that affect the current world. It's interesting, but not as historically aligned.

[00:20:12] Ashley: So came to mind, and also like fun, despite the very heavy,

[00:20:16] Jen: Right?

[00:20:17] Ashley: The very heavy permits.

[00:20:20] Jen: Alright, well, we are going to round out our episode with the Lit Chat game.

[00:20:25] Ashley: So, we're gonna do the Lit Chat game now from Book Riot. The question today is, do you finish every book you start? What makes you stop reading a book?

[00:20:35] Ooh, that's a good question. I have evolved a little bit with this, but because I have tried like occasionally, I really will actually stop a book. But in general, yeah. As soon as I start, I do feel obligated to, I'm definitely in the completionist camp in general, and I hate that really. I think I would like to continue to loosen that because what happens for me is that I will get stuck because I don't love the book, and then it's just like

[00:21:05] sucks down my entire reading life for a period of time because if I were to just stop the book, then I would be more likely. I mean, I do it with audio also. In fact, I am worse with audio, I would say, than with the Kindle. 'Cause when I read at night, whatever I'm reading, I'm just gonna keep reading. So I might be going slower, but I'm probably just going to stay the course.

[00:21:22] Whereas, like with audio, I just don't keep listening. Like I'll just. Find that I am going long periods of time where I could have put my headphones in and been working on the book, but because I don't like the book, I'm not doing it. So, especially with audio, I would like to move toward not finishing more books and being like, this one's not for me, and just stopping.

[00:21:41] Both audio and print, and e-reader, I still very much feel pretty obligated to finish the book. What about you, Jen?

[00:21:48] Jen: Yeah, I'm the same way, and I feel like a hypocrite because I'm always preaching to my students that, of course, you can not finish a book that you're not enjoying, but I think partially because I'm a pretty fast reader, so I always just feel like I can power through. And so what ends up happening is I read a book not very well, just to get to the end and feel like, yes, I've done it.

[00:22:12] I finished it, which again, I wish I could stop, but there are occasions that I don't finish a book, but it is quite rare still, even though I have worked hard at it over the years. Not finishing any at all is progress, like you said, but it's still a process and not just a yeah, I'm not liking this.

[00:22:30] I'm amazed at people who can say, I'll give it so many pages and if it's not grabbing me, 'cause I always think, well, what if in the next chapter, that's where it grabs me,

[00:22:40] Ashley: I, right. I think there are a lot of things that come into play that make me keep going with it. Like, these days, if something is super triggering, I am better to be like, oh. This is very triggering. I don't think this is the right fit. And so occasionally that will happen, and I will be like, Oh, can't read this one.

[00:22:55] Like, I didn't know about that particular topic. That's gonna be really prominent in it. So if I'm not reading for a group or whatever, then I will stop those. And even that is like progress for me. But yeah, it does seem silly because like, you know, there's way more books and we're ever gonna read in our lives out there to read.

[00:23:10] Philosophically, I feel very at peace with saying like, Stop the book if you don't like it, but I'm with you. I can't do it.

[00:23:18] Jen: Well, and you just brought up an interesting point. I think both of us are often reading for so many purposes. Like if I'm leading a buddy read, I'm not going to just bag out of the conversation we read for the podcast, I read for schools. So I think. There is some sense of obligation for some of those reasons to finish reading, but yeah, it's a goal. It's an ever-evolving goal.

[00:23:40] Ashley: Yes, well, and I think something I would like to work on that I do think I could just work on doing is not marking, and I have, simply by my own procrastination, gotten better at this, but not marking that I'm reading it until I'm further in it. I think that actually would really help. So,o like if I'm tracking my reading and I have indicated that I'm currently reading something, then once it is on that list.

[00:24:01] I might be reading it for two years, but it is still gonna sit there because I just won't undo that. And I think if I were to just wait longer before putting it on there, that would be helpful to me.

[00:24:11] Jen: Yes.

[00:24:12] Ashley: 'Cause then I would feel more like then the DNF is like easier because I don't have to worry about the fact that I haven't indicated that I'm reading it. So what?

[00:24:19] Jen: Yeah, that's a great point. Yeah.

[00:24:22] Ashley: It might help.

[00:24:22] Jen: Alright, everyone, what we would love to know is what spooky reads you recommend, and what's your DNF philosophy? You can let us know at unabridged pod@gmail.com or on Instagram at unabridged pod. And thank you so much for listening.

[00:24:37] Ashley: Do you have comments or opinions about what you heard today? We'd love to hear them. You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @unabridgedpod or on the web at unabridgedpod.com for ways to support us to get more involved. You can sign up for our newsletter. Join a Buddy Read or become an ambassador.

[00:24:57] Jen: Thanks for listening to Unabridged.

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