Halloween Reading, Superyachts, Adventure Novels, Textile Art Books & More: Endnotes 23 October

Every Friday, we celebrate the weekend — and all the reading and relaxing and daydreaming time ahead — with Melissa's favorite book- and travel-related links of the week. Why work when you can read fun stuff?!

This post is part of our Endnotes series.

Spooky Season is winding down. [sad trombone in a minor key] On the upside, that means the Night of Candy is almost here! It also means there’s limited time to get your Spooky Season reading done. If you’re looking for something eerie to bring October to a close, I’ve got some ideas for you! First, we’ve got a playlist carefully curated by Dave to get you in the mood for Halloween hijinks and two Halloween-themed podcast episodes: Halloween: Costumed Revelry, Voices From Beyond, and YAY, Candy! and Halloween: About 31% More Gothic than Normal. If you’re in the mood for vampires (and who isn’t, amirite?), here are 6 of Our Favorite Literary Vampires. Looking for something short and sinister? Here are 6 Short Story Collections That Are Appropriately Eerie for Halloween. And sometimes you just have to ask yourself, Are you a Witch?

• News you can use: A Field Guide to Divining a Lover on Halloween. ‘There is a long history of young people consulting the spirits through parlor games and fall produce for clues to their future spouses. These traditions, adapted (or bastardized, in some cases) from Scottish and Irish customs, captured imaginations from the Victorians to Agatha Christie. Some are still popular today, like bobbing for apples, but their romantic connotations have disappeared.’

• Titan Books is a London publisher that specializes in sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, and horror. Here are their horror releases for 2026, ranging from Gothic vibes to ‘read with the lights on.’

• Indie booksellers recommend 31 Spooky, Eerie, and Uncanny Books for Halloween.

• Let the bickering begin: The 52 Best Draculas, Ranked. ‘Although there have been many memorable theatrical incarnations of the Count (I’m looking at you two, Raul Julia and Jeremy Brett, having played Dracula on stage but without having been captured on footage while doing so), we’re only going to rank ones that appeared on film, television, or in other recordings, because that levels the playing field. Vampires by nature don’t always appear on film, but we’re very fortunate that all of these guys were able to.’

• These hand-painted miniature dioramas by Oakland-based artist Shannon Taylor are very beautiful and a little spooky. More on the artist’s website.

• The Best Adventure Novels: The 2026 Wilbur Smith Prize. ‘What makes a great adventure novel? For Alex Bescoby, filmmaker, traveler and judge of the 2026 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize, it’s the ability to transport readers to unfamiliar worlds and bring history vividly to life.’

• I will read this new feminist-slasher novel based on the title alone — This B Just Won’t Die — but this interview with the author is the clincher.

• 7 Fun Ways to Name Characters in Novels. ‘As I work on the manuscript, I’ve been reflecting on how much I enjoy naming characters because it’s such a uniquely creative aspect of writing fiction. Especially since all my books to date have featured the main characters’ names in the titles. Here are the several different ways I go about naming my characters.’

• Ever wonder why European book spines are printed ‘the wrong way’?

• 12 Must-Read Books on Textiles and Fiber Art.

• Is a Bad Jane Austen Adaptation a Victimless Crime? ‘Frankenstein’s creature is green and vaguely square-shaped. Sherlock Holmes wears a hunting cap and smokes a curved pipe. Charlotte Lucas is twenty-seven years old, with no money and no prospects, already a burden to her parents, frightened. It doesn’t matter that Mary Shelley, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Jane Austen never wrote those details; the stories have ballooned past their narrow literary beginnings, destined to be eternally rewritten by culture.’

• As a devotee of the reality show Below Deck, I was honor-bound to read this essay: Excessive Wealth, Extreme Emissions, and Ecocide: What I Learned at Europe’s Big Superyacht Show. It’s informative, infuriating, and funny. ‘To be honest, I’ve come dressed all wrong for Europe’s big annual superyacht trade exhibition. The code for men seems to be crisp and tucked in, blazers and chinos, navy and white, sculpted hair and designer sunnies. (I went colorful, loose, casual). For women, it’s something like Riviera elegance. Everyone – whether they’re Italian, French, English, German, American, exhibitors, buyers, brokers, charterers – seems to know each other. The international superyacht community seems to be a close-knit one, and I’m not part of it. Yet.’

By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. — William Shakespeare

Top image courtesy of Hilmarie Figueroa/Unsplash.