American Horror Story Fan Reads

Tiffany Borys
Jan 26, 2016
4 min read

On October 5th 2011 my life was changed. I was eighteen, just graduated high school thrusted into the world of college, a word with a whole new set of concerns and worries. To destress I threw myself into my interest; the tools of my interest often taking shape within books, television programs, or new films. When I first heard of the show; American Horror Story, I was instantly intrigued. A new series pertaining horror was right up my alley, growing up on ghost storied and horror flicks may have had its influence on that fact. That night I watched the first episode what would come to be known as murder house, I was hooked. So I look to help fellow AHS fans and readers alike with suggestions of books that may help to feed that horror craving till next season!

1. Full Tilt

My first suggestion is Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman.

For those who are looking to visit a world of Freakshow, circus, carnivals, and horror.

"Sixteen-year-old Blake and his younger brother, Quinn, are exact opposities. Blake is the responsible member of the family. He constantly has to keep an eye on the fearless Quinn, whose thrill-seeking sometimes goes too far. But the Stakes get higher when Blake has to chase Quinn into a bizarre phantom carnival that traps its customers forever.

In order to escape, Blake must survive seven deadly rides by dawn, each of which represents a deep, personal fear -- from a carousel of stampeding animals to a hall of mirrors that changes people into their deformed reflections. Blake ultimately has to face up to a horrible secret from his own pst to save himself and his brother -- that is, if the carnival doesn't claim their souls first!"

2. Asylum

My next book choice is Asylum by Madeleine Roux.

As the title suggest this read plays to the mad house, asylum fans. Asylum being the first book within a series has even more to offer with each book. These particular books hold real creepy photos of abandoned asylums within its pages to add to the experience.

"For sixteen-year-old Dan Carwford, New Hampshire College Prep is more than a summer program -- it's a lifeline. An outcast at his high school, Dan is excited to finally make some friends in his last summer before college. But when he arrives at the program, Dan learns that his dorm for the summer used to be a Sanatorium, more commonly known as an asylum. And not just any asylum -- a last resort for the criminally insane.

As Dan and his friends, Abby and Jordan, explore the hidden recesses of their creepy summer home, they soon discover it's no coincidence that the three of them ended up here. Because the asylum holds the key to a terrifying past. And there are some secrets that refuse to saty buried."

3. House of Leaves

The third suggestion I have is House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.

House of Leaves plays to the murder house feel with different horriflying traits and details.

"focusing on a young family that moves into a small house on Ash Tree Lane where they discover something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.

Of course, neither Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson nor his companion Karen Green was prepared to face the consequences of that impossibility, until the day their two little children wandered off and their voices eerily began to return another story -- of creature darkness, of an evergrowing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams."

4. White is for Witching

My witchy suggested read is White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi.

White is for Witching has everything you need for your witch kick and coven desires.

"In a vast, mysterious house on the cliffs near Dover, the Silver family is reeling from the hole punched into its heart. Lily is gone and her twins, Miranda and Eliot, and her husband, the gentle Luc, Mourn her absence with unspoken intensity. All is not well with the house, either, which creaks and grumbles and malignly confuses visitors in its many rooms, forcing winter apples in the garden when the branches should be bare. Generations of women inhabits its walls. And Miranda, with her new appetite for chalk and her keen sense for spirits, is more attuned to them than she is to her brother and father.

She is leaving them slowly--

Slipping away from them--

And when one dark night she vanishes entirely, the survivors are left to tell her story."

5. Hotel Ruby

For the season of Hotel I suggest Hotel Ruby by Suzanne Young.

"When Audrey Casella arrives for a unplanned stay at the grand Hotel Ruby, she's grateful for the detour. Just Months after their mother's death, Audrey and her brother, Daniel, are on their way to live with their grandmother, dumped on the doorstep of a DNA-matched stranger because their father is drowning in his grief.

Audrey and her family only plan to stay the night, but life in the Ruby can be intoxicatiing, extending their stay as it provides endless distractions -- including handsome guests Elias Lange, who sends Audrey's pulse racing. However, the hotel proves to be as strange as it is beautiful. Nightly fancy affairs in the ballroom are invitation only, and Audrey seems to be the one guest who doesn't have an invite. Instead, she joins the hotel staff on the rooftop, catching whispers about the hotel's dark past.

The more Audrey learns about the new people she's met, the more her curiosity grows. She's torn in different directions -- the pull of her past with its overwhelming loss, the promise of a future that holds little joy, and an in-between life in a place that is so much more that it seems... Welcome to the Ruby."