We’re at the height of summer here in England. It’s sunny and, by UK standards, hot (32C/90F). It feels a little odd to be writing about a Halloween-themed reading game, but it’s a game I’ve already started to plan for, so I thought I’d share the details here. 

Halloween Bingo will drive my reading for September and October. My aim over those sixty-one days is to read twenty-five novels that match the squares on my Halloween Bingo Card. The squares offer a mix of horror, thriller, crime and speculative fiction. One square is called each day. A bingo is achieved when I’ve read the books for five squares that have been called. A Blackout Bingo is achieved when all the squares on my card have been called and I’ve read a book for each square.

Here is my 2025 Halloween Bingo Card:

For me, part of the fun of the game is planning which books to read for which squares. I enjoy doing it myself, and I enjoy seeing what books the other players choose. In theory, reading twenty-five books should reduce my TBR pile. In practice, seeing the books other players choose normally adds almost as many books to my shelves.

I spent a pleasant afternoon working out a first pass list of books for this year’s Halloween Bingo. Here’s what I came up with:

It’s a first pass list because experience tells me that changes are likely to be made as I play the game, especially if I start to fall behind on my reading.

Even so, I’m looking forward to reading these books.

I’ll be incorporating a Halloween Bingo update into my Saturday Summary posts,where I’ll share my progress and give more details about what each square involves. 

Meanwhile, it’s sunny outside, so it’s time to set thoughts of Samhain aside for now and get myself some fresh air.