Halloween isn’t just about the scare factor, at least in my opinion. It’s also about the bizarre. I recently read a few of Franz Kafka’s short stories that I think would make for some nice, brief Halloween reading.
Depending on who you ask, The Metamorphosis is either a short story or a novella. Published first in 1915, it is probably one of Kafka’s best known works. It’s the one that begins with the rather famous first sentence (translations vary a little, but the gist is the same):
“When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from troubled dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous insect.”