Welcome to Litsy!

In last weeks irl grp we read this memoir by Shirley Jackson of bringing up her 3 very young children. I laughed from the opening chapter and continued to chuckle throughout as the author manages to rise above the madness. Wonderful writing this was a joyful treat from a writer who normally has me listening out for creaks on the stairs as I pull the duvet up around me.

Finishing this book makes me want to cry. It‘s like losing a friend.

This is the new Hill House novel, sanctioned by the Shirley Jackson estate. While it may not feel quite as timeless as Jackson's novel, it is an excellent continuation. Hill House is still menacing and creepy and the characters are worthy successors. The novel stands alone in its own right as a creepy haunted house story as well. I highly recommend this one.

#WickedWhispers #day16 #Haunt

Shirley was an Elvis fan. Also Fats Domino, much to the distress of everyone else in the household.

I wouldn‘t care so much, but she‘s so specific about everything but her reading material, now that‘s she‘s out of college. She‘s always reading mysteries but never says which ones.

During a leisurely reread of The Haunting of Hill House I decided to snag a copy of the letters. I love reading correspondence, and Jackson‘s somewhat eccentric personal correspondence is a blast. This is an excerpt of a letter to her future husband, Stanley Edgar Hyman (“seh” of the excerpt) while on summer vacation from college.

My stack of books from NYC. Sarah and I had so much fun! ❤️
The top one with faded spine is a collection of short stories by Cora Sandal (not in the database). Especially pleased with the 1st edition Laurie Colwin. (And grateful to @sarahbarnes for climbing the ladder to retrieve it at Westsider Books.)
Proud to report I've already read tagged book courtesy of a prolonged travel day home. So well done me! 😁

Boy oh boy was I excited about this one, and then… it didn‘t work for me. Liked the first half, but it just left me wanting more. And, one thing that really drove me nuts was that it didn‘t seem like the house in the cover matched the house description. I know it‘s not like plot but I didn‘t love that. Anyways, it just made me want to reread The Haunting of Hill House. I wish the delivery had matched the promise of what it could have been.

Reading this, I get much the same feeling as I did when reading Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk. I'm feeling like the story is pulling me in and I'm just along for the ride, going wherever the story takes me. Both books are considered queer, gothic horror, so maybe it's the genre? Probably not.

I liked this book. Not scary, but definitely creepy. I wasn't expecting much from this, but I'm glad I enjoyed it.