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Post by dirtypillows on Sept 14, 2018 5:36:15 GMT
She's my favorite author, bar none. She also wrote my favorite novel "We Have Always Lived In the Castle"
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Post by wickedkittiesmom on Sept 14, 2018 15:34:26 GMT
I have only read The Haunting of Hill House and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'll have to look for other titles by her and give them a try.
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 14, 2018 15:49:47 GMT
If I’m remembering correctly, I’ve only read The Haunting of Hill House and a few of the short-stories (including “The Lottery,” of course). Do you recommend starting with We Have Always Lived in the Castle, dirtypillows?
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Post by amyghost on Sept 14, 2018 20:55:35 GMT
Have read every thing by her, essays included. My favorite short story of hers is 'Elizabeth', which now makes me groan since finding out it was actually part of a projected novel which she didn't live to write. She's that rare writer you can't get enough of, and of which there was not nearly enough.
Has anyone here ever read 'Hangsaman'? Probably her most baffling novel, and rewarding on each re-reading.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2018 23:28:46 GMT
The Lottery is obviously fantastic. The Haunting of Hill House was very disappointing.
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Post by deembastille on Sept 14, 2018 23:41:14 GMT
merricat said Constance would you like a cup of tea? no no said merricat you'll poison me.
merricat said Constance would you like to go to sleep? down in the bone yard ten feet deep.
I heard they are/were making a movie with that boring actress from American horror story 1 and 3 playing merricat. I actually wont think she will be boring in this if this is to happen and if they do choose her.
and get this -- Marty McFly's father will play Uncle Julian!!!! that is actually how I pictured UJ.
premiering in California Film Festival sept 22 or something.
I saw the pics on the imdb site and they exactly match my imaginations of the story [minus the 'today' objects like cell phones. (rofl)] I had back when I was in high school in 1993!
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Post by dirtypillows on Sept 14, 2018 23:50:04 GMT
merricat said Constance would you like a cup of tea? no no said merricat you'll poison me.
merricat said Constance would you like to go to sleep? down in the bone yard ten feet deep.
I heard they are/were making a movie with that boring actress from American horror story 1 and 3 playing merricat. I actually wont think she will be boring in this if this is to happen and if they do choose her. and get this -- Marty McFly's father will play Uncle Julian!!!! that is actually how I pictured UJ. premiering in California Film Festival sept 22 or something. I saw the pics on the imdb site and they exactly match my imaginations of the story [minus the 'today' objects like cell phones. ] I had back when I was in high school in 1993! That totally gave me a big chill right down my back! Ohhhh!!! What a deliciously warped point of view Miss Jackson had. And there was a delicacy in her writing that is unparalleled. “I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita Phalloides, the death cap mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead”.
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Post by dirtypillows on Sept 15, 2018 8:18:50 GMT
If I’m remembering correctly, I’ve only read The Haunting of Hill House and a few of the short-stories (including “The Lottery,” of course). Do you recommend starting with We Have Always Lived in the Castle, dirtypillows ? Well, Salzmank, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is an excellent, deliciously creepy and sinister little gem. And it's pretty short, too. Under 180 pages, I think. But Shirley Jackson was also equally skilled at writing short stories, and to get a really nice idea of her breathstopping range, I might want to suggest her collection of short stories "Just an Ordinary Day", which is just jam packed with goodies! I did love, love, love that opening line in "The Haunting of Hill House" ...
"No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone."
Yikes! She could just get right down to the real stuff verrry quickly! I actually just posted my a list of favorite Shirley Jackson short stories! Hey, let me know if you get around to reading any of them, will you? "An Ordinary Day, With Peanuts" "Mrs. Melville Makes a Purchase" (hilarious) "The Night We All Had Grippe" (top, top notch Jackson, breathtaking funny) "Trial By Combat" "Come to the Fair" (a big huge sweet tear-jerker, just lovely) "The Possibility of Evil" "I.O.U." (there was something so sweet and so special about the very ending of this one, that upon reading it I unexpectedly burst into tears) "Deck the Halls" (another very touching one, she could spin gold out of next to nothing) "The Wishing Dime" "Party of Boys" (what a good handle she had on the typical 12 tear old boy! I cannot imagine her children not adoring her.) "The Lottery" "It Must Have Been the Car" "My Grandmother and the World of Cats" "What A Thought" "Dinner for a Gentleman" "About Two Nice People" "The Friends" "Family Magician"
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Post by dirtypillows on Sept 15, 2018 8:24:57 GMT
Have read every thing by her, essays included. My favorite short story of hers is 'Elizabeth', which now makes me groan since finding out it was actually part of a projected novel which she didn't live to write. She's that rare writer you can't get enough of, and of which there was not nearly enough.
Has anyone here ever read 'Hangsaman'? Probably her most baffling novel, and rewarding on each re-reading. You know, I tried to read "Hangsaman" about two years ago, and I couldn't get into it? It was Miss Jackson's second novel, yes? I did read her first book "The Road Through the Wall" and I liked it, but you could tell she was still developing her gifts. That story had a LOT of characters, but it was never boring. Have you read "The Bird's Nest", amyghost? I guess you probably have! What did you think of it? Actually, "Elizabeth" is one of the very few short stories of hers that I have not read. I will have to correct that sin in the very near future!
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Post by amyghost on Sept 15, 2018 12:37:22 GMT
Have read every thing by her, essays included. My favorite short story of hers is 'Elizabeth', which now makes me groan since finding out it was actually part of a projected novel which she didn't live to write. She's that rare writer you can't get enough of, and of which there was not nearly enough.
Has anyone here ever read 'Hangsaman'? Probably her most baffling novel, and rewarding on each re-reading. You know, I tried to read "Hangsaman" about two years ago, and I couldn't get into it? It was Miss Jackson's second novel, yes? I did read her first book "The Road Through the Wall" and I liked it, but you could tell she was still developing her gifts. That story had a LOT of characters, but it was never boring. Have you read "The Bird's Nest", amyghost? I guess you probably have! What did you think of it? Actually, "Elizabeth" is one of the very few short stories of hers that I have not read. I will have to correct that sin in the very near future! Hnagsaman took me a couple of tries before really getting into it. Once Natalie gets off to college and her story proper is really underway, things get tricky; how much of what she experiences may be 'supernatural' in origin, how much possible mental illness? Jackson interweaves the two possibilities so skillfully it's nearly impossible to tell where the borderline between the inexplicable and the insane lies. And that became the signature theme of her subsequent novels and many of the stories. Road Through the Wall hadn't arrived at that thematic point quite yet, but I love the book--I've read it several times. Actually, The Bird's Nest was the one I started and put down on several attempts, just because the dichotomy between outward 'unnatural' events and inward 'natural' (in terms of being rationally explicable) madness is so hard to grasp at times. But once I settled down to it, I had to agree that it might have been her masterwork. It's a shame that most of her novels have fallen into relative obscurity, apart from The Haunting and We Have Always Lived in the Castle. The former is becoming something of a perennial Hollywood favorite, though I think the Robert Wise 1963 version is the only one that comes even close to capturing the essence of Jackson's work (in one sense she reminds me of Ray Bradbury in that she creates an almost physically palpable atmosphere on the page that's all but impossible to translate to film. That's one reason I have major reservations about the upcoming film treatment of Castle--I recall the awful Liam Neeson Nineties remake of The Haunting with a sense of horror that had nothing to do with the story itself, lol). I am glad to note that she's experiencing a bit of a mini revival where her short stories are concerned--she goes through periodic cycles of re-discovery--and the one good thing that may come out of a Castle film is the possibility that it could resurrect some of her other novels (Bird's Nest, Hangsaman and The Sundial, as well as TRTTW) to the reading public's attention. That might be hoping for a bit too much, but you never know; let publishers see sufficient gold in them thar hills, and that may get the presses rolling. That would be a turn of events that would make me very happy--I think she's a real treasure, one of America's best, comparable in style and feel to Robert Aickman and even Elizabeth Bowen. I definitely recommend 'Elizabeth'. It's a great example of Jackson's gift for razor-edged characterization and the most subtle malice (it also contains the 'Jim Harris' meme that ran through several of her stories, and which she might have codified into the novel that Elizabeth sadly never became), and I suspect you'll feel as I did, what a real loss that she didn't live to expand the story into its full, final form.
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Post by jinx on Sept 15, 2018 20:13:35 GMT
My first Shirley Jackson book was Life Among the Savages. I was completely stunned when I read The Lottery. I couldn’t believe it was the same author. I read Raising Demons, which was a sequel to Life Among the Savages, The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle. She is an amazing author who can write humorous books and can scare you out of your skin.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2018 22:29:24 GMT
I have only read The Haunting of Hill House. I enjoyed it. Well written. It built up to an ending that was not entirely satisfying. I love the movie, though.
Comparison to Matheson's Hell House are inevitable. I think Matheson's is a better and scarier novel. Don't like the movie so much. Due for a remake.
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Post by dirtypillows on Sept 17, 2018 6:06:54 GMT
My first Shirley Jackson book was Life Among the Savages. I was completely stunned when I read The Lottery. I couldn’t believe it was the same author. I read Raising Demons, which was a sequel to Life Among the Savages, The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle. She is an amazing author who can write humorous books and can scare you out of your skin. I know! You can scarcely believe it's the same author! Her best known piece is cold to the bone, and then you read "Life Among the Savages" and it is absolutely hilarious. I think she was just a really perceptive individual, who could, very astutely, see the amusing and the horrifying equally clearly and sometimes coming from the same places. I loved "Life Among the Savages" and you would never assume in a thousand years that the 'savages" in the title refers to her four young children! There exists not a boring page throughout! Have you, by any chance, read her short story "The Night We All Had Grippe"? Oh my God, it is funny. It is probably my 2nd or 3rd favorite Shirley Jackson short story, followed by "An Ordinary Day, With Peanuts" and "Mrs. Melville Makes a Purchase". "AOD,WP" is probably my all-time favorite piece of literature, as it manages to be amusing and disturbing at the same time and for the same reasons. The twist ending is the dilly to end all dillies. Rod Serling would have been knocked over, I have no doubt. Actually, that's kind of how I regard Shirley Jackson, as a Rod Serling accompanied by the essential mystery of feminine charms.
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 17, 2018 13:30:50 GMT
If I’m remembering correctly, I’ve only read The Haunting of Hill House and a few of the short-stories (including “The Lottery,” of course). Do you recommend starting with We Have Always Lived in the Castle, dirtypillows ? … Thanks, dirtypillows—I was on the lookout for something spooky for this Hallowe’en, and I’m going to look into We Have Always Lived in the Castle and the short stories.
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 17, 2018 13:40:10 GMT
I have only read The Haunting of Hill House. I enjoyed it. Well written. It built up to an ending that was not entirely satisfying. I love the movie, though. Comparison to Matheson's Hell House are inevitable. I think Matheson's is a better and scarier novel. Don't like the movie so much. Due for a remake. What about the ending didn’t entirely satisfy you? I thought that by ending it full-circle, not giving a real conclusion to the stories of the, er, other characters, it left you wondering—but that made it even scarier. I go back and forth on the movie: so much of it is very well-done, but it gets bogged down in these longueurs (Wise has some amazing visual sequences, but then directs, say, the scene with Nell and the sister as if he’s never made a movie before), and I find Julie Harris’s constant whining ridiculously annoying. I find the book’s Eleanor much better. I’m interested in seeing how this new Netflix series is going to turn out. You prefer Hell House? Interesting; it’s not a take I’ve seen before. I haven’t read it, but I have seen the movie, which I just find dull as dishwater (notwithstanding the lovely Gayle Hunnicutt). I agree that someone could probably do a good job remaking it, though.
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Post by dirtypillows on Sept 17, 2018 14:06:34 GMT
Thanks, dirtypillows—I was on the lookout for something spooky for this Hallowe’en, and I’m going to look into We Have Always Lived in the Castle and the short stories. You're very welcome, Salzmank! I hope you get the heebie jeebies, good and proper!
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Post by dirtypillows on Sept 17, 2018 14:08:37 GMT
I have only read The Haunting of Hill House. I enjoyed it. Well written. It built up to an ending that was not entirely satisfying. I love the movie, though. Comparison to Matheson's Hell House are inevitable. I think Matheson's is a better and scarier novel. Don't like the movie so much. Due for a remake. What about the ending didn’t entirely satisfy you? I thought that by ending it full-circle, not giving a real conclusion to the stories of the, er, other characters, it left you wondering—but that made it even scarier. I go back and forth on the movie: so much of it is very well-done, but it gets bogged down in these longueurs (Wise has some amazing visual sequences, but then directs, say, the scene with Nell and the sister as if he’s never made a movie before), and I find Julie Harris’s constant whining ridiculously annoying. I find the book’s Eleanor much better. I’m interested in seeing how this new Netflix series is going to turn out. You prefer Hell House? Interesting; it’s not a take I’ve seen before. I haven’t read it, but I have seen the movie, which I just find dull as dishwater ( notwithstanding the lovely Gayle Hunnicutt). I agree that someone could probably do a good job remaking it, though. Gayle Hunnicutt! Wow, that's not a name that you hear too often! And, so funny, I watched "Eye of the Cat" a few nights ago and she was in it. She also played a nun on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show".
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Post by Terrapin Station on Sept 17, 2018 14:11:21 GMT
I've only read the Haunting of Hill House, on Stephen King's recommendation, and . . I hated it, unfortunately. I hate the original Haunting film, too. Maybe I'll check out something else she wrote, though.
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 17, 2018 14:15:42 GMT
What about the ending didn’t entirely satisfy you? I thought that by ending it full-circle, not giving a real conclusion to the stories of the, er, other characters, it left you wondering—but that made it even scarier. I go back and forth on the movie: so much of it is very well-done, but it gets bogged down in these longueurs (Wise has some amazing visual sequences, but then directs, say, the scene with Nell and the sister as if he’s never made a movie before), and I find Julie Harris’s constant whining ridiculously annoying. I find the book’s Eleanor much better. I’m interested in seeing how this new Netflix series is going to turn out. You prefer Hell House? Interesting; it’s not a take I’ve seen before. I haven’t read it, but I have seen the movie, which I just find dull as dishwater ( notwithstanding the lovely Gayle Hunnicutt). I agree that someone could probably do a good job remaking it, though. Gayle Hunnicutt! Wow, that's not a name that you hear too often! And, so funny, I watched "Eye of the Cat" a few nights ago and she was in it. She also played a nun on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". We were talking about her somewhere around here… Ah, here. She was the greatest Irene Adler of all time in the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes adaptation of “A Scandal in Bohemia”; I had a silly crush on her when I first saw that episode as a kid.
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Post by dirtypillows on Sept 17, 2018 14:21:39 GMT
Gayle Hunnicutt! Wow, that's not a name that you hear too often! And, so funny, I watched "Eye of the Cat" a few nights ago and she was in it. She also played a nun on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". We were talking about her somewhere around here… Ah, here. She was the greatest Irene Adler of all time in the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes adaptation of “A Scandal in Bohemia”; I had a silly crush on her when I first saw that episode as a kid. She was appealing. Very pretty girl.
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