Reading List
Guillermo del Toro
Filmmaker & Author
Guillermo del Toro is a Mexican filmmaker, novelist, and one of cinema’s foremost fantasists, an Oscar-winning director whose films, from Pan’s Labyrinth to The Shape of Water, blend fairy tale, horror, and deep humanity. Alongside his movies he is a prolific author, co-writing the vampire saga The Strain and other genre fiction, and a famous collector whose notebooks and “Bleak House” of curiosities feed a lifelong obsession with monsters and the fantastic.
The Friedkin Connection
A Memoir
by William Friedkin · Film
“Frank, brutal and inspiring memoir/filmmaker's journey by a true maverick of cinema.” — via Tweet, March 2016
The Decapitated Chicken and Other Stories
by Horacio Quiroga · Fiction
“Quiroga is one of the very best storytellers and you will never forget his otherworldly images and gut punch endings.” — via Tweet, December 2021
You Can’t Win
A Story from Life
by Jack Black · Memoir
“a deep dive into the underbelly of America, William Burroughs loved this book- a chronicle of Purgatory.” — via Tweet, December 2021
Serenade
by James M. Cain · Crime
“This is lesser-known Cain but a really dark hardboiled story of passion, desire and murder” — via Tweet, December 2021
Fairy Tale as Myth/Myth as Fairy Tale
by Jack Zipes · Literary Criticism
“Tracks the emergence and transformation of fairy tales through the centuries.” — via Tweet, June 2016
Jung on Alchemy
by C. G. Jung · 1995 · Nonfiction
“Jung & Alchemy have been crucial in my creative / thought process.” — via Tweet, January 2016
Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination
by Edogawa Rampo · Fiction
“Japanese collection of feverish, bizarre tales by master Rampo.” — via Tweet, December 2015
The White People and Other Weird Stories
by Arthur Machen · Fiction
“Rooted in pagan panic and atavistic fear, Machen tales weave a subtle sense of dread.” — via Tweet, October 2015
The House on the Borderland
by William Hope Hodgson · Fiction
“Adored by HPL. A summit of Cosmic horror. Scary, disturbing and magical” — via Tweet, November 2015
Stinger
by Robert R. McCammon · Fiction
“For some reason McCammon is still not as big as he should be. One of the finest genre writers working today” — via Tweet, July 2016
The Book of Three
by Lloyd Alexander · 2006 · Fantasy
“The Chronicles of Prydain is a masterful book series full of magic and chills” — via Tweet, May 2016
A Dictionary of Symbols
by Juan Eduardo Cirlot · 2002 · Nonfiction
“A vital book. It helps me interpret paintings, cipher and decipher art and view the world.” — via Tweet, April 2016
Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley · 2003 · Fiction
“First favorite book. Frankenstein” — via Tweet, April 2020
Hark! A Vagrant
by Kate Beaton · 2011 · Humor
“Erudite, hilarious and irreverent. Beaton has a total cultural grasp on her targets and subject.” — via Tweet, November 2015
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
by Alvin Schwartz · 2017 · Fiction
“Allegedly a Y.A. book retelling of campfire tales.” — via Tweet, November 2015
The Book of Imaginary Beings
by Jorge Luis Borges · 2006 · Fantasy
“My favorite Borges is the curator of miscellanea: the erudite Virgil of the dreamtime.” — via Tweet, February 2016
Making Movies
by Sidney Lumet · 1996 · Film
“Lumet's book on directing is a beautiful text no matter if you are starting or very experienced” — via Tweet, April 2020
The Devils of Loudun
by Aldous Huxley · 2009 · History
“It is INCREDIBLY pertinent to what we are going through and how autonomy can be destroyed in times of crisis.” — via Tweet, April 2020
Piranesi
by Susanna Clarke · 2020 · Fantasy
“Amazing labyrinth- nimble, brief but profound and unforgettable. A puzzle, a fable, a parable.” — via Tweet, December 2021
Through the Woods
by Emily Carroll · 2014 · Fiction
“This book inspires me. Provides solace and hope in the lonely toil of finding beauty in the dark.” — via Tweet, April 2016
Pet Sematary
by Stephen King · 2019 · Fiction
“Unrelentingly dark and emotional. Compulsive reading. Would kill to make it on film.” — via Tweet, October 2015
