If You Like This Element of Tim Burton, Read This Book

Tim Burton has created some truly awe-inspiring films, and each of them carry a distinctly Burton element. Here are some book recommendations that fit those elements perfectly.

Brea Lawton –
Fandom Fantasy Horror Pop Culture Recommendations

Tim Burton’s films stand in a lane all of their own, original in concept and style. As Halloween draws closer, there is no better time of year to binge-watch some of his movies and binge-read some books that we recommend to all fans of Burton.

Animation/Aesthetic 

Films: Coraline, Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride 

A black and white sketch drawing of two girls, one is holding a black cat. Behind them are village people that are smiling, and some look angry.
A dark blue/purple night sky with stars and a crescent moon. A young girl stands in the center with a young boy as they walk through a town with lanterns lit.
A dark blue forest with branches turning into claws and eyes peering out of the darkness. A small woman is standing at the bottom with a weapon in her hand as she looks to the forest.

We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson

Considered a staple of the gothic genre, this book follows a peculiar girl who lives with her older sister and ailing uncle in a large, isolated house. When their cousin comes to stay with them, the rumors following their family begin to take a deadly turn.

Lantern Lane by Tessa Greene

This is a middle-grade novel set in a kingdom where people who enter into the dark, ominous forest are never seen again. To combat this, the area bordering the forest is lined with lanterns. After Letty’s father disappears, she is whisked away to the castle, where she must learn what happened to him. 

Something is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV

Children are going missing and often never returning; the ones who do are haunted by stories of terrifying creatures that live in the shadows. The only one who believes them is a mysterious stranger who has just arrived in town and kills monsters. This comic book has a gory art style similar to that of The Walking Dead.

Comedic Horror

Films: Sweeney Todd and the Demon Barber of Flint Street, Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice 

An '80s style movie cover. A girl takes up most of the cover, with red glowing eyes and a cross that she's wearing floating upside down. A girl stands beneath her, flinching from crows. Below them are two girls holding hands as balloons float around them, near a lake with two more girls in a lake.
A weathered/wrinkled paper look with a small girl in a red hood at the bottom. Most of the page is covered by a black wold with glowing white eyes.
A white and black painting with a skeleton man's face in the center

My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix 

When Abby’s best friend, Gretchen, starts acting weird, she believes she must have a demon living inside of her. Hendrix perfectly encapsulates possession both literally and metaphorically in this ‘80s supernatural horror story. 

How to be Eaten by Maria Adelmann

A fairytale retelling set in modern-day New York City where each of the fairytale characters are in a trauma support group, this book is deeply comedic and highlights the natural horror present within fairy tales.

John Dies at the End by David Wong/Jason Pargin

Friends David and John unknowingly take Soy Sauce, a drug that, while normally killing others, allows them to see creatures from another world. It is now up to them to save their town and, of course, the world. 

Gothic

Films: Corpse Bride, Sleepy Hollow, Sweeney Todd

Anatomical depictions of bats. The top half has a red background, and the bottom half is white.
A painting of a woman staring at the audience in a white dress. She appears frightened.
A black staircase with a woman standing and staring at the wall. A light shows the shadows of the title of the book.

Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Laura lives with only her ailing father in an isolated castle deep within the Austrian forest. When Carmilla is forced into her path, the two become friends, but it is soon apparent that Carmilla is not who she says she is. The original vampire story before Dracula, this book is considered a classic in the horror genre for good reason.

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

A Victorian mystery novel about a young art teacher who encounters a woman in white who is lost in London. This woman he encounters is being pursued by someone, and he helps her escape without knowing all of the details. 

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

An orphaned lady’s maid, the heroine is ecstatic when Maxim de Winter proposes and whisks her away to Manderley Manor. Once there, it becomes clear that his first wife has never completely left. Knowing next to nothing about her new husband, the heroine’s picture-perfect life begins to unravel rapidly.

Fantastical

Films: Alice in Wonderland, Dark Shadows, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

A girl stands with her back to the camera. She is wearing an outfit made of nettle and bones.
A bright pink and purple background. A woman is crouched in a dump, she is wearing a mechanics jacket and has a metal hand and leg. She is holding what appears to be a robot part.
A woman and a man in regency outfits appear in gray against a black background. A circle in the center shows a circus tent in red, black, and white.

Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher 

When Marra learns that her sister has been married off to an abusive man, she is determined to protect her at all costs. After seeking help from a powerful grave witch, Marra is offered the tools to kill the prince if she can complete three impossible tasks.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

A young-adult fairy tale retelling set in a dystopian Beijing, Cinder follows our main character, a cyborg. From evil lunar queens to bio-engineered wolf-men, this series stays true to the original fairy tales while also creating a completely new story. 

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The circus arrives without warning; there one day and gone the next. But behind the tent, two magicians, who had been trained for this moment, dueled, and only one could be left standing.

One of the greatest minds in film, Tim Burton, created his own genre as a director. There is no better time of year than fall to throw on a Tim Burton film in the background and burrow down with a spooky book. Have you read any of these? Let us know on our socials. 

Curious to read more about the mind of Tim Burton? Click here!

If you want more gothic recommendations, click here!

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