31. Short Story Club: Horror Story by Carmen Maria Machado and spooky book recommendations

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Today Chelsey and Sara are discussing “</span><a href= "https://granta.com/horror-story/"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Horror Story</span></a><span style= "font-weight: 400;">” by Carmen Maria Machado for this season’s installment of Short Story Club. Each quarter, we choose a short story that’s widely available and discuss its genre, themes, and important moments before recommending books to pair with it. For spooky season, we decided to go with a fresh, new voice we both love. This super short “micro story” felt like the right balance of spookiness for two readers who don’t</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">love</span></em> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">horror. Of course, we end up taking a bit of a deep dive into the horror genre anyway. If you read the story and join us for this mini book club, please let us know what you think of the story!</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Our discussion includes:</span></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Machado’s striking imagery and sparse prose</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">What does the horror genre do? Why is it popular?</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Gaslighting in horror stories</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Deeper themes and metaphors</span></li> </ul> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Plus, as always, we’re recommending six pairings,  including a modern gothic novel and a few scary short story collections. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Shop the pairings:</span> <a href= "https://bookshop.org/lists/novel-pairings-for-horror-story"><span style="font-weight: 400;"> https://bookshop.org/lists/novel-pairings-for-horror-story</span></a></p> <p><br /> <br /></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Books mentioned:</span></em></p> <p><a href= "https://bookshop.org/a/1300/9781644450031"><em><span