Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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“Is everyone really crazy but me?”

The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson

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30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 4 Book 25/30 This is one of the best short story collections I’ve ever read. 3.7 stars is the actual number averaging all the stories out, but that’s really high for me and short stories, especially literary ones. And also, I’m rounding up. Specific thoughts on all the stories in my updates, but overall this is a great collection of stories about the ways that arbitrary social rules degrade our humanity. Brief thoughts on each story below. [3.70, rounded […]

It seems I can love horror

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

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CBR15 BINGO: Dwelling. Hill House is not only integral to the story but also a character in itself. Like many American high school students, I read Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” in ninth grade and then proceeded to ignore Jackson for the majority of my book-consuming life. First published in The New Yorker in 1948, “The Lottery” was shocking for its twist and has been banned or challenged in school districts for being, among other things, anti-family. Given the influence Jackson had on American literature, I’m […]

The Sundial

The Sundial by Shirley Jackson

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If this had been shorter. I am sure I would have loved it. But it just went on and on and it took me most of last night and this morning to get through. I loved the plot, and even the opening by Victor LaValle. But the whole book just wanders and then eventually we get to what I consider an odd and open-ended ending. At least I had a chance to read this while I had candles burning nearby. “The Sundial” with an introduction […]

Dark Tales, wooo-ooo

Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson

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This collection of short fiction by Shirley Jackson is not all previously uncollected or unpublished, but if you have a copy of The Lottery and Other Stories, there are no repeats for this one. About a third of these stories are found in the Library of America collection though. The stories here are called Dark Tales, and minus the memoir pieces, all Shirley Jackson stories are dark stories. What sets off most of these stories is the intrusion of darkness into otherwise ordinary lives. Sometimes […]

*Jaws Theme* dun dun dun dun

The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson

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I have an MFA in short fiction and don’t do a damn thing with it. But I love a good collection of short stories that teach me something about craft. Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery and Other Stories taught me the art of the ominous subtext. Jackson’s stories feature a lot of isolated or lonely people, who decidedly don’t get their happy endings. There is a dread running underneath (and sometimes overrneath…) her stories. Mundane details can say something about the character or the atmosphere. In […]

…perhaps, vehicle for every kind of fear, she contained enough for all.

The Hauting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

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Here is where I admit to relegating Shirley Jackson to a middle school English reading requirement.  I have hazy memories of reading The Lottery and thinking it was super creepy but not much more than that. I know, I know. Just wanted to start with a little honesty here. The only reason that I FINALLY grabbed a Jackson book from the library was that I fell completely in love with The Haunting of Hill House adaptation on Netflix. Not to make this a tv review, […]



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