Books about ghosts

[Oriole]

I'd love to get two lists of your favorite titles where the story revolves around ghost(s): one list for the kids (ages 9-12), and one for adults.

[fresh_veggie]

For kids, Stonewords. One of my favorites in 4th/5th grade!!

[mazajo]

Wait Til Helen Comes, by Mary Downing Hahn
The Dollhouse Murders, by Betty Ren Wright

Both among my favorites around 11/12 years old, recently reread them and still loved them!

Can't think of any for adults right now but I'll be watching this thread, I'm in the mood for a good ghost story

[Thalia the Muse]

I love a good ghost story!

For adults:

The Woman in Black, Susan Hill -- this book is EXCELLENT (and scary)
A Face at the Window, Dennis McFarland
Promise Not to Tell (forgot the author)
A Manhattan Ghost Story, T.M. Wright
The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson
Hell House, Richard Matheson
The Turn of the Screw, Henry James
Bag of Bones, Stephen King
Expiration Date, Tim Powers (not scary -- more high adventure, with ghosts)

Ghost Story, by Peter Straub, is about creatures that aren't quite ghosts, but it's excellent and I highly recommend it!

I can also recommend tons and tons of short fiction -- ghost stories seem to work best in that format, for me.

For kids, I second the recommendation for Wait Till Helen Comes. Also, the Green Knowe books are charming and lovely ghost stories. And my daughter has one from Scholastic called "The Ghost, the White House, and Me" -- not sure if it's scary, or how good it is.

[ollyoxenfree]

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. It's inspired by the Jungle Book - about a little boy who grows up in a graveyard.

The Ghost Child by Sonya Hartnett - it's a lovely book, not exactly a traditional ghost story.

L.M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables) wrote some pretty short stories, with ghosts in them. I recall one about a garden filled with ghosts and a little girl and a maiden aunt. I'm sorry, I can't remember which story anthology it is in - possibly Chronicles of Avonlea.

[JessicaS]

Originally Posted by ollyoxenfree

L.M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables) wrote some pretty short stories, with ghosts in them. I recall one about a garden filled with ghosts and a little girl and a maiden aunt. I'm sorry, I can't remember which story anthology it is in - possibly Chronicles of Avonlea.

The name of that book is Among the Shadows: Tales from the Darker Side I bought mine when I was about 9-10

[Amaranth]

for kids - Coraline, by Neil Gaiman

for adults I liked "City of Masks" and "Land of Echoes" by Daniel Hecht

[ollyoxenfree]

Originally Posted by abimommy

The name of that book is Among the Shadows: Tales from the Darker Side I bought mine when I was about 9-10

Thanks - that's actually an anthology I haven't read, so it must appear in a couple. When I was growing up, I read everything by Montgomery that I could get my hands on. After the Kevin Sullivan movies in the 1980's that revived Anne's popularity, there were a bunch of Montgomery story anthologies that were published, but by then I was an adult. I still love Anne and Emily and Marigold and Valancy etc., but I've never read the later Montgomery anthologies, although I've always meant to read them someday. I think another collection was about orphans - another popular Montgomery subject.

I actually came back to post another suggestion - The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde.