So, you would think that given I have just completed a three month, 20 book challenge, that a new challenge would be the last thing I would want to dive into.

But…

I have a very soft spot for R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril which is now in its sixteenth year and kicks off on 9th September. It’s a challenge I have done once or twice before and one that gets me firmly in an autumnal frame of mind.

I wasn’t going to participate this year, but I have seen a lot of your lovely (or should that be creepy?) posts detailing your plans and just couldn’t resist. Plus, this is a very relaxed challenge and you can read as much or as little as you like.

• Mystery
• Suspense
• Thriller
• Dark Fantasy
• Gothic
• Horror
• Supernatural

I’ve had a look through the old TBR and NetGalley backlog and have found 10 options. I am hoping to read at least four of the following before the end of October (click on the links for Goodreads descriptions).

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Sisters by Daisy Johnson

I haven’t read Johnson’s award-winning debut Everything Under but was drawn to the premise of Sisters, a gothic tale of siblings caught in an emotional web and struggling to understand where one ends and the other begins.

I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir

Billed as an ‘out-of-this-world ghost story that will leave you shivering’, this Icelandic thriller explores the troubled history of a remote village through the experiences of three newcomers who are renovating a dilapidated house in the woods.

The Elementals by Michael McDowell

A classic slice of Southern Gothic set among a group of summer homes on the Alabama pan-handle, The Elements combines two of my favourite creepy tropes – the gothic, and a haunted house!

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

Does McCarthy’s famous western fit the R.I.P. challenge? From the short amount I’ve read of it, I’d say yes. Some of it is pretty horrifying. Based on historical events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s, it traces the fortunes of the Kid, a fourteen-year-old Tennesseean who stumbles into a nightmarish world where Indians are being murdered and the market for their scalps is thriving.

The Other by Thomas Tyron

Tyron’s horror classic was originally published in 1971 and features creepy twins! What more do you need?

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Reprieve by James Han Mattson

I spotted this on Netgalley and was intrigued by the premise of a group of people thrown together in a full-contact escape room. They need to hold their nerve through six terrifying challenges to win a huge cash prize. By the end of the challenge one of the group will be dead. The ultimate locked room mystery!

White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

More creepy twins! This time Oyeyemi combines the haunted house genre with a coming-of-age story with a smattering of vampire lore thrown in for good measure…

The Cipher by Kathe Koja

Koja once described The Cipher as “the story of two people who don’t belong together investigating what should not exist” and her 1991 novel explores the relationship between a couple who discover a mysterious hole in a storage room in their apartment.

Ghosts by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews

Argentine author Aira’s short novel focuses on a family who are squatting in a building site for an apartment block. Their unpleasant circumstances are made worse by the presence of a series of ghosts.

Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

Set in 1900, this Australian classic is about a group of female students at an Australian girls’ boarding school who vanish at Hanging Rock while on a Valentine’s Day picnic. This is one of those books (and films) that I feel I know, because I’ve heard about it for years, but have never actually read.  

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I’m not making any grand plans to read all of these, I’ll just include them in my reading over the next few months. I’m looking forward to some dark evenings in front of a warm fire, cuddled in a blanket with these scary pals for company.

To follow along with the challenge, follow Readers Imbibing Peril on Twitter or Instagram (@perilreaders) and use the hashtag #ripxvi

Do any of these take your fancy or are there any you would recommend? Is anyone else taking part in the R.I.P. challenge this year?

Reading Challenge The 746 #ripxvi reading challenge ripchallenge