Jacques Barzun: has died, at age 104.
Still missing you, Ray Bradbury.

Book Menage: Shirley Jackson edition.

I just finished Shirley Jackson's fiction/nonfiction parenting memoir Raising Demons, and I continue to be fascinated by Shirley Jackson. Because it's also a somewhat spooky time of year, and Jackson was mainly known for her spooky writing, I thought now might be a good time to host a book menage, featuring Shirley Jackson as our featured author.

So here's the plan:

1. Read one work of nonfiction by or about Shirley Jackson. This would include either of her parenting memoirs, Life Among the Savages or Raising Demons (the sequel to Life...). If you're not interested in either of those titles, please try and track down Judith Oppenheimer's biography of Jackson, titled Private Demons.*

2. Read one work of spooky fiction by Jackson, such as her infamous short story The Lottery,** or her novels The Haunting of Hill House (Penguin Classics) or We Have Always Lived in the Castle.***

3. Meet back here the week of December 3, and we'll discuss whatever we've read.

*Apologies: Some of these titles may be hard to find. If you can't track them down, consider reading the Wikipedia page about Jackson instead, or just read one of her novels.

**Please be aware there's some advertising at this page, which provides the full text of the story, or you could check out any short story collection of Jackson's and find it there.

***She wrote a lot of other novels, but is most well-known for these.

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