Love The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous? Readers share 100 books like The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous...

By Asa Simon Mittman (editor), Peter J. Dendle (editor),

Here are 100 books that The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous fans have personally recommended if you like The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Monster Theory: Reading Culture

William M. Tsutsui Author Of Godzilla on My Mind: Fifty Years of the King of Monsters

From my list on why we love monsters.

Why am I passionate about this?

I saw my first Godzilla movie when I was seven years old, and I immediately fell in love: what kid doesnā€™t want to be a giant radioactive monster with attitude? But unlike baseball cards, I never outgrew Godzilla and, over the decades, came to appreciate the cultural significance of one of the worldā€™s most enduring film icons. In my writing on Godzilla, I explore my own fascination with monsters and contemplate why all societies, from the dawn of time to today, have compulsively created imaginary creatures that terrify them. The books on this list have helped me understand the human obsession with monsters, and I hope you will find them equally enlightening and enjoyable.

William's book list on why we love monsters

William M. Tsutsui Why did William love this book?

I am generally not a big fan of hardcore academic theory, but this collection of essays edited by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen gave me a steady stream of "aha!" moments when I first read it about twenty years ago.

I struggled a bit with some of the jargon here, not to mention the fact that it only deals with monsters in the Western tradition, but I know of no better book for helping readers understand why humans create (and need) monsters, what roles monsters play in affirming (and undermining) social norms, and what the study of monsters can reveal about the anxieties and fault-lines in the cultures that spawn them. ā€œMonsters are our children,ā€ Cohen writes at one point: that still blows my mind after two decades of chewing on it.

By Jeffrey Jerome Cohen,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Monster Theory as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Monsters provide a key to understanding the culture that spawned them. So argues the essays in this wide-ranging collection that asks the question, what happens when critical theorists take the study of monsters seriously as a means of examining our culture? In viewing the monstrous body as metaphor for the cultural body, the contributors consider beasts, demons, freaks, and fiends as symbolic expressions of very real fears and desires, signs of cultural unease that pervade society and shape its collective behaviour. Through a sampling of monsters as a conceptual category, these essays argue that our fascination for the monstrous testifiesā€¦


Book cover of Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and the Haunting

Michael E. Heyes Author Of Margaret's Monsters: Women, Identity, and the Life of St. Margaret in Medieval England

From my list on understanding monsters.

Why am I passionate about this?

What could possibly captivate the mind more than monsters? As a kid, I eagerly consumed books from authors like R.L. Stine, Stephen King, and HP Lovecraft. I watched George Romero, Wes Craven, and John Carpenter, and played games like Dungeons and Dragons, Vampire: The Masquerade, and The Call of Cthulhu. When I discovered monster studies in my PhD yearsā€”a way to read monsters as cultural productions that tell us something about the people that create themā€”I was hooked. Ever since, I get to continue reading my favorite books, watching my favorite movies, and playing my favorite games. Itā€™s just that now someoneā€™s paying me to do it.

Michael's book list on understanding monsters

Michael E. Heyes Why did Michael love this book?

Ok, youā€™ve read Cohen and Monsters and the Monstrous. This monster stuff is getting pretty good, and you might be able to feel around the edges a bit. How does it apply to contemporary America which ā€œno longer believes in monsters?ā€ This is where Pooleā€™s book comes in. Poole walks through monstrosity in the US from Columbusā€™ first steps to just shy of 2020. All the juicy topics that Americans have used monsters forā€”sex, race, and politicsā€”emerge in this monstrous tour de force of US history. This is one of the first books I recommend to my students.

By W. Scott Poole,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Monsters in America as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Monsters arrived in 2011aand now they are back. Not only do they continue to live in our midst, but, as historian Scott Poole shows, these monsters are an important part of our pastaa hideous obsession America cannot seem to escape. Poole's central argument in Monsters in America is that monster tales intertwine with America's troubled history of racism, politics, class struggle, and gender inequality. The second edition of Monsters leads readers deeper into America's tangled past to show how monsters continue to haunt contemporary American ideology. By adding new discussions of the American West, Poole focuses intently on the Nativeā€¦


Book cover of Gothicka: Vampire Heroes, Human Gods, and the New Supernatural

Michael E. Heyes Author Of Margaret's Monsters: Women, Identity, and the Life of St. Margaret in Medieval England

From my list on understanding monsters.

Why am I passionate about this?

What could possibly captivate the mind more than monsters? As a kid, I eagerly consumed books from authors like R.L. Stine, Stephen King, and HP Lovecraft. I watched George Romero, Wes Craven, and John Carpenter, and played games like Dungeons and Dragons, Vampire: The Masquerade, and The Call of Cthulhu. When I discovered monster studies in my PhD yearsā€”a way to read monsters as cultural productions that tell us something about the people that create themā€”I was hooked. Ever since, I get to continue reading my favorite books, watching my favorite movies, and playing my favorite games. Itā€™s just that now someoneā€™s paying me to do it.

Michael's book list on understanding monsters

Michael E. Heyes Why did Michael love this book?

Part theory, part media analysis, and all awesome, Nelsonā€™s work traces the rise of the ā€œProtestant Gothicā€ tradition in the United States and the way in which this dark and gloomy literary tradition came to inform most of the media we consume today. From zombies to vampires, HP Lovecraft to Guillermo del Toro, Nelson reveals the ways that the Protestant Gothic has shaped modern literature, television, and film into a space of religious imagining that we donā€™t even recognize.

By Victoria Nelson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Gothicka as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Gothic, Romanticism's gritty older sibling, has flourished in myriad permutations since the eighteenth century. In Gothicka, Victoria Nelson identifies the revolutionary turn it has taken in the twenty-first. Today's Gothic has fashioned its monsters into heroes and its devils into angels. It is actively reviving supernaturalism in popular culture, not as an evil dimension divorced from ordinary human existence but as part of our daily lives.

To explain this millennial shift away from the traditionally dark Protestant post-Enlightenment Gothic, Nelson studies the complex arena of contemporary Gothic subgenres that take the form of novels, films, and graphic novels. Sheā€¦


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Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctorā€”and only womanā€”on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route upā€¦

Book cover of Religion and Its Monsters

Steve A. Wiggins Author Of Holy Horror: The Bible and Fear in Movies

From my list on bringing horror and religion into conversation.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up religious but loving scary thingsā€”horror movies, scary comic books, Dark Shadows, and The Twilight Zone. Even the music of Alice Cooper. While Iā€™m no longer religious, I have a doctorate in religious studies and I still have a fascination with media that cause fear. I also write horror stories. Beyond Holy Horror I have written two more books on religion and horror and I read every book about this odd combination as soon as I can get my hands on it. I believe you should never judge people by their tastes in mediaā€”they can be decent folk even if they like horror.

Steve's book list on bringing horror and religion into conversation

Steve A. Wiggins Why did Steve love this book?

Religion and Its Monsters started this whole conversation.

Timothy Beal successfully transitioned from an author of academic books to an author of trade books, and this one shows how he did it. He selected two unexpectedly compatible subjects and demonstrated that they lurk in the same mental spaces.

I was inspired by this book to allow myself to reclaim my childhood interest in monsters as an adult. If serious scholars wrote about such things, why shouldnā€™t I read about them?

Unfortunately, Beal never followed up with another book on the topic.

By Timothy K. Beal,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Religion and Its Monsters as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Religion's great and powerful mystery fascinates us, but it also terrifies. So too the monsters that haunt the stories of the Judeo-Christian mythos and earlier traditions: Leviathan, Behemoth, dragons, and other beasts. In this unusual and provocative book, Timothy K. Beal writes about the monsters that lurk in our religious texts, and about how monsters and religion are deeply entwined. Horror and faith are inextricable. Ans as monsters are part of religious texts and traditions, so religion lurks in the modern horror genre, from its birth in Dante's Inferno to the contemporary spookiness of H.P. Lovecraft and the Hellraiser films.ā€¦


Book cover of Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics

Gianni Simone Author Of Otaku Japan: The Fascinating World of Japanese Manga, Anime, Gaming, Cosplay, Toys, Idols and More!

From my list on otaku Japan.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have lived in Japan for the last 30 years but my love for manga, anime, and games is much older and dates back to when UFO Robot Grendizer was first shown on Italian TV a fateful summer evening in 1978. Many years later, I was able to turn my passion for all things Japanese into a job and now I regularly write about politics, society, sports, travel, and culture in all its forms. However, I often go back to my first love and combine walking, urban exploration, and my otaku cravings into looking for new stores and visiting manga and anime locations in and around Tokyo.

Gianni's book list on otaku Japan

Gianni Simone Why did Gianni love this book?

This book came out only a few years after my first encounter with anime and just blew me away, introducing me to a completely different world ā€“ a world that at the time was mostly out of reach because Western translations were still rare. 

Having been published in 1983, it may be considered outdated, but manga translator and historian Frederick Schodt is a master narrator and does a great job of explaining how Japanese comics evolved during mangaā€™s golden age. Now we can find any kind of information on the internet, but Schodtā€™s thorough analysis and engaging prose are second to none. 

If you are into cultural history and like to go beyond simple manga talk, this is still a must-read.

By Frederik L. Schodt,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Illustrated with the most representative examples of the genre, this book in English explores the world of Japanese comics. Since first published in 1983, Manga! Manga!: The World of Japanese Comics has been the book to read for all those interested in Japanese comics. It is virtually the bible' from which all studies and appreciation of manga begins. More than that, given the influence of Japanese manga on animation and on American-produced comics as well, Manga! Manga! provides the background against which these other arts can be understood. The book includes 96 pages'


Book cover of The Tale of Murasaki

Pamela S. Turner Author Of Samurai Rising: The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune

From my list on pre-modern Japan.

Why am I passionate about this?

I write books for young readers about history, science, and nature. I lived in Japan for six years and became fascinated with Japanese historyā€”particularly the late 12th-century civil war recounted in the medieval classic The Tale of the Heike. I especially loved stories about Minamoto Yoshitsune, the warrior who won the war but was destroyed by his elder brother Yoritomo, who became the first Shogun and kicked off the 700-year reign of the samurai. I spent two years researching Samurai Rising: The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune and loved every minute of it. Iā€™m also a second-degree black belt in kendo (Japanese sword fighting).

Pamela's book list on pre-modern Japan

Pamela S. Turner Why did Pamela love this book?

The perfect companion piece to The Tale of Genji, The Tale of Murasaki is a modern historical novel about Murasaki Shikibu (author of The Tale of Genji). Author Liza Dalby is a scholar of Japanese culture as well as the only Westerner ever to become a geisha. A meticulously researched, evocative window into Heian Japan.

By Liza Dalby,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Tale of Murasaki as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Tale of Murasaki is an elegant and brilliantly authentic historical novel by the author of Geisha and the only Westerner ever to have become a geisha.

In the eleventh century Murasaki Shikibu wrote the worldā€™s first novel, The Tale of Genji, the most popular work in the history of Japanese literature. In The Tale of Murasaki, Liza Dalby has created a breathtaking fictionalized narrative of the life of this timeless poetā€“a lonely girl who becomes such a compelling storyteller that she is invited to regale the empress with her tales. The Tale of Murasakiis the story of an enchantingā€¦


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Book cover of The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever

The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier,

The coaching book that's for all of us, not just coaches.

It's the best-selling book on coaching this century, with 15k+ online reviews. BrenƩ Brown calls it "a classic". Dan Pink said it was "essential".

It is practical, funny, and short, and "unweirds" coaching. Whether you're a parent, a teacher,ā€¦

Book cover of The Wild, White Goose: The Diary of a Female Zen Priest

Elles Lohuis Author Of A Pilgrim's Heart

From my list on biographies of Western Buddhist women.

Why am I passionate about this?

I write novels that enthrall, enrich, and enliven you. I've been student of Buddhism for more than thirty years and spend long periods of time with the most generous Tibetan Buddhist nuns in their monasteries in the remote Himalayas, relishing the solitude and contemplative life. Their tales of resilience are an enormous inspiration to me. The biographies of Western Buddhist women Iā€™ve selected are everything I look for in ā€˜great writingā€™. The stories are engaging and entertaining, but also make us pause and reflect to appreciate the astonishing opportunities of the privileged times we live in, and challenge us once again to be and do betterā€”every moment of this precious life.

Elles' book list on biographies of Western Buddhist women

Elles Lohuis Why did Elles love this book?

This is a diary of an English woman who moved to Japan in the 1950s to study Zen at one of the most prestigious temples at the time and become the first female to be sanctioned by the Soto School of Japan to teach in the West. The diary takes us through her years of arduous training in Japan, through the challenges that beset her, and gives a truly moving account of her brilliant mindset throughout her grueling ordeal to become a Zen priest. 

By Roshi P.T.N.H. Jiyu-Kennett,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Wild, White Goose as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This book, first published as two volumes in 1977 and 1978, was published purely for the purpose of showing how Buddhist training was done by the Reverend Jiyu-Kennett in the Far East. The material for the book was taken from diaries covering eight years spent by the author in Far Eastern temples, and describe her religious training and her growth of a Zen priest into a teacher, running her own temple.


Book cover of Japanese Woodworking Tools: Their Tradition, Spirit and Use

Scott Wynn Author Of Woodworker's Guide to Handplanes: How to Choose, Set Up, and Master the Most Useful Planes for Today Workshop

From my list on kicking your woodworking up a notch.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been designing and building furniture professionally since before 1976. From the beginning Iā€™ve had an avid interest in what might be called ā€œappropriate technologiesā€ā€” when to use a hand tool or power tool ā€” that is, for a specific use, which one gives the best results for the least time and effort? If you read the journals of 18th Century woodworkers youā€™ll find they were unbelievably fast ā€”using only hand tools. I believe that by the 1970s much of that knowledge and many of the tools themselves had been lost. I set out to rediscover them.

Scott's book list on kicking your woodworking up a notch

Scott Wynn Why did Scott love this book?

This is the definitive book in English on Japanese woodworking handtools. Anyone who is or contemplates using Japanese handtools ā€” and I strongly suggest that you take a second look at them if you havenā€™t already as there are a number of them that are superior in their performance to their western counterparts ā€”needs to be familiar with this book.

By Toshio Odate,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Japanese Woodworking Tools as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The classic work on the tools and spirit of the Japanese master craftsman.

In Japan, a woodworker spends years learning to use his tools with great speed and skill. Only after he has proved his mastery can he proudly call himself a shokunin, a master craftsman.

Japanese Woodworking Tools brings the traditions and training of the shokunin to the Western world. Calling on his own apprenticeship as a tategu-shi (sliding-door maker), and on 40 years of woodworking experience, Toshio Odate here offers a complete guide to Japanese tools: thin saws that cut on the pull stroke, laminated chisels with hollowedā€¦


Book cover of The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently...and Why

Gloria Mark Author Of Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity

From my list on attention and why it is the ultimate currency.

Why am I passionate about this?

In 2000, I entered the University of California, Irvine as an assistant professor. Suddenly faced with multiple research projects, courses, committees, grant-writing, and student mentoring, I found myself switching screens and tasks like crazy. But I was also glued to my computer. I began to wonder if this was normal? Trained as a psychologist, I decided to study empirically what was happening to our attention. I began research over two decades on attention and discovered how our attention spans have shrunk over time (to a mere average of 47 seconds). Fast forward, I've continued to study our relationships with our technology, uncovering different types of attention and busting myths associated with focus and productivity. 

Gloria's book list on attention and why it is the ultimate currency

Gloria Mark Why did Gloria love this book?

When I visited Asian countries of China, Japan, Korea, and Singapore, food was always a highlight. But what also stood out for me was the social nature of eating. I was also struck by the simple gestures of people that indicated politeness and respect. We might think of culture as influencing behavior, but this book argues that culture can penetrate our thinking.

Nisbett contrasts how eastern and western cultures think differently about context, the individual vs. the group, and our relationship to the environment, among other differences.

In our age of the Internet, cultural differences on the surface may be eroding globally but there may be deeper influences of culture on thought that are harder to erase.

By Richard E. Nisbett,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Geography of Thought as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An award-winning professor of psychology examines the divergent ways in which eastern and western cultures view the world, offering suggestions about how today's interdependent global cultures may be bridged. Reprint. 15,000 first printing.


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Book cover of Loveland

Loveland by Susan Ostrov,

What happens when a feminist who studies romance turns the lens on her own romantic adventures?

Loveland is about how the author came to understand this journey to the far country of loveā€”dating, marriage, a forbidden love affair, an unusual love affair as an older womanā€”as part of a largerā€¦

Book cover of Heller with a Gun: A Novel

Allison M. Azulay Author Of Propositions and Proposals

From my list on romance in any style and era.

Why am I passionate about this?

I freely admit to reading romancesā€•"Nurse Janes," as one of my teachers used to call themā€•whenever I need a break from heavier material or just from life. While I have some favorite authors (who doesn't?), I do not limit myself to any particular era or style of romance. To me, romance has many shades and flavours, and I enjoy them all. Believe you me, choosing just five to recommend was no piece of cake.

Allison's book list on romance in any style and era

Allison M. Azulay Why did Allison love this book?

I know, it sounds absurd to recommend a book entitled Heller with a Gun as a romance. But in fact many books of the Western genre have all the elements of romance along with the ultra-American setting, action, and adventure that gave them their own niche. In this particular book, I found the Mr./Miss Right versus Mr./Miss Wrong dilemma and could not put the book down until the problem resolved itself in classic Western style.

By Louis L'Amour,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Heller with a Gun as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Tom Healy was in trouble. His theatrical troupe needed to get to Alder Gulch, Montana, and the weather was turning. Andy Barker promised Tom he could get them there safely, but Tom was reluctant to trust him: he had the lives of three actresses to consider, and his personal feelings for Janice further heightened his concern. Then King Mabry showed up. Although Tom didnā€™t like the way he looked at Janice, he could see that Mabry made Barker uneasy. So Tom invited Mabry to join them. Tom was right to be worried, because Barker had a plan. He knew thatā€¦


Book cover of Monster Theory: Reading Culture
Book cover of Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and the Haunting
Book cover of Gothicka: Vampire Heroes, Human Gods, and the New Supernatural

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