Whoops, missed one.

15.
Title: [We Have Always Lived in the Castle]
Author: Shirley Jackson
Genre: Gothic Satire
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Work Text
Date Completed: February 23, 2016
Rating: ****

I teach Shirley Jackson's last (and, in my opinion, best) novel as a companion to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest for a unit on madness which explores the complications of "untrustworthy" narrators, the labeling of mental illness, social commentary, and perspective.  Mary Katherine Blackwood is undoubtedly different; though her actions aren't condoned  in the "real" world, the satire of the text offers her a compelling sense of sympathy which makes for a curious and enjoyable reading experience.  My students are often surprised when I bring up what they already know - MK identifies her age as 18 within the first paragraph, but students often gloss over this in reading her tone, which is much younger - and are quick to vilify her for her aggressive fantasies (i.e. wishing death and pain on the townsfolk she is forced to interact with twice a week).  They toss around the work "psychopath," no doubt because of our fist reading of Kesey, and so this time around I found the "test" for psychopathic disorder, and we systematically checked her behaviors against the list, with two other prominent characters - with wonderfully surprising results.  I won't say more, so as to avoid spoilers, but actually attempting to diagnose the characters provided a unique perspective on the text, and brought the satire into sharp focus.

9.
Title: [One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest]
Author: Ken Kesey
Genre: Fiction
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Work Book
Date Completed: January 31, 2014
Rating: ****

I'm leading three separate preparations this semester, and will actually be revisiting Kesey's madhouse in a few weeks...

10.
Title: [Curtsies and Conspiracies]
Author: Gail Carriger
Genre: "Science Fiction" (I'm very interested in how different libraries label this series differently)
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: February 1, 2014
Rating: ***

Curtsies and Conspiracies, the second in Gail Carriger's steampunk-esque Finishing School series, is not quite as tittering and titillating as the first; the interest I found is grounded mostly in my interest in The Parasol Protectorate, and the history that now unfolds.  This second book has similarly silly charm, but isn't wonderful on its own merits. 

The covers of this series are much better than the former, I will say. 


11. 
Title: [MacRieve]
Author: Kresley Cole
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: February 2, 2014
Rating: ****

I find Kresley Cole problematic; she introduces strong female characters, subjects them to extremely brutal circumstances (both emotional and physical), in which they find their "love." The problem is that the "love" is the individual responsible for their torment, and they far too quickly forgive-and-forget - she introduces the idea of "fated mates" to justify rape, shows care by kidnappers, and has one character literally vivisected after being captured by the man she would come to care for.  My "last straw" was Lothaire, which has the protagonist engaging in sexual acts to save her own life, once she is abducted by the titular character. 

I resisted MacRieve both for its own sake - which promises a "slave trade" - and my past experience for the series.  Morbid curiosity eventually lead me to find it in the library.  Ultimately, I was very pleasantly surprised.  Yes, the female protagonist faces great challenges, and even emotional abuse at the hands of her intended, but the titular character himself is reasonably conflicted, and not simply cruel or sadistic.  The story is one of overcoming prejudices (and the emotional turmoil this can generate) as opposed to abuse, and the resolution seems far more reasonable than many others in the series.  For overall improvement, I will happily give this novel four stars.

12. 
Title: [House of Dead Maids]
Author: Clare B. Dunkle
Genre: YA Horror
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: February 6, 2014
Rating: **
This book is not, as the author contends, a prelude to Wuthering Heights; the connection to Bronte's gothic novel is an accident if epilogue, awkward, forced, and without function. It does not follow with either it's supposed source or the time at which it was written, and so failed to meet even one of my limited expectations. It is, however, a juvenile ghost story, and were I twenty years younger just the kind of story I would adore. So, I would argue this novel is best for very young audiences, but anyone over nine, looking for the Heathcliff they know, will be greatly disappointed.

13. 
Title: [Bonds of Denial]
Author: Lynda Aicher
Genre: M/M Romance
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition: Purchase
Date Completed: February 8, 2014
Rating: ****1/2

The genre designation of "romance"  is somewhat comical; the genre can be raunchy, flirty, fun, outrageous, disturbing, or just plain goofy, but they very rarely come across as romantic.  To date, I don't know that I would call any of the "romance" novels I read just that, until now.  In Bonds of Desire, which apparently comes somewhere in the middle of an established series, a closeted ex-military security expert finds himself infatuated with a gay escort who frequents the S/M club of which he is a partial owner.  Deeply ashamed of himself and his sexuality, it is an act of bravery that leads him to schedule his crush's services, only to panic and flee.  What follows is a touching and sweet story of two men helping each other find peace in their identities and personal lives, lending support and understanding that neither believes it possible.  It was simply lovely. 

14.
Title: [We Have Always Lived in the Castle]
Author: Shirley Jackson
Genre: Gothic, Mystery, Satire
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Work Text
Date Completed: February 9, 2014
Rating: ****1/2

Wonderfully complex ideas on genre, society, madness, and the power of stories. 

6.
Author(s): Shirley Jackson
Title: The Haunting of Hill House
Publication: Paperback
Pages: 182
Genre: Classic Horror
Acquisition: Complimentary copy from work book club
Date Completed: January 12, 2011
Rating: 4 stars out of 5

My sympathy lies with Hill House.

To say that I did not enjoy The Haunting of Hill House would be inaccurate, but the further along I got in the narrative the more I was plagued with a sense that I shouldn’t like the narrative. It inspired a sense of unease and irritation that I couldn’t place, and yet still I found myself tripping along the pages.

And then it hit me: I loathed each and every character Jackson spit out.

The characters are vapid and soulless, and the conversations are highly contrived, like some painfully amateur drama composed by someone completely without talent in an attempt to be edgy and mod. Their existence is recycled; I’ve met each of them before, and I can’t image that I enjoyed their company the first time around. As I turned each page I yearned for the house to swallow them whole and spit out the yellow shirt and the red sweater and the “wicked” nailpolish. I wanted something terrible to happen not because I was hoping for a scary story, but rather because I hoped the story would save me from the four temporary residents.

I am exceptionally glad that I had an opportunity to read Jackson’s famous haunted house story, and I am really looking forward to hearing what other readers will have to say at tomorrow’s book club meeting. I wonder if anyone else found Eleanor to be just another Mary Katherine?

92.
Author: Shirley Jackson
Title: Raising Demons
Publication: Paperback
Pages: 310 pages
Genre: Nonfiction
Acquisition:
Date Completed: December 11, 2010
Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Shirley Jackson's Raising Demons is just as delightful and entertaining as her previous memoir, Life Among the Savages. Picking up not long after the first one ends, Raising Demons introduces young Barry as a toddler, and chronicles the family's move to a new house, growing children, magic, baseball games, and endless parade of house repairs, animals, and picking up after people, and the general chaos that inevitably follows a family of six. The blurb on the front of the book proclaims, "It's a very pleasant form of pandemonium and hugely entertaining," and I'm inclined to agree. The insanity of raising a sizable family is a joy, and Jackson's slight-frazzled voice sweeps the reader along for the ride.

91.
Author: Shirley Jackson
Title: Life Among the Savages
Publication: Paperback
Pages: 235 pages
Genre: Nonfiction
Acquisition:
Date Completed: December 6, 2010
Rating: 5 stars out of 5

In Shirley Jackson's obituary, a friend from the NY Times writes of the authors, "the fact was that she used a typewriter {and not the broomstick of legend}--and then only after she had completed her household chores." This image of the house-proud and "well prioritized" novelist has apparently cast a long shadow on the perception of Shirley Jackson, painting her as a rather eccentric "Angel of the house."

Her own writing, however, tells a different story. Of her family life, Jackson herself says, "Our major exports are books and children, both of which we produce in abundance. The children are Laurence, Joanne, Sarah and Barry: my books include three novels, The Road Through The Wall, Hangsaman, The Bird’s Nest, and a collection of short stories, The Lottery. Life Among the Savages is a disrespectful memoir of my children” (Twentieth Century Authors). The first page of Life Among the Savages echoes this view of her life: "When we moved into {our house} we had two children and about five thousand books; I expect that when we finally overflow and move out again we will have perhaps twenty children and easily half a million books ... This is the way of life my husband and I have fallen into, inadvertently..."

I found Jackson's "disrespectful memoir" to be truly delightful. Here she writes a collection of family stories and anecdotes that perfectly emphasize the minor frustrations and confusion of parenthood while maintaining a great sense of humor. Children are loud. And dirty. And have a tendency to say very inappropriate things - but then again, adults can be nervous and bumbling and completely inept when thrown into alien territory like parent-teacher conferences. For all the "disrespect" that Jackson claims, the book itself is simply grounded, and portrays a wonderfully contemporary attitude towards parenthood that I was able to relate to and enjoy.

Successfully raising a horde of children must require a good sense of humor, and Shirley Jackson has it in spades. I cannot wait to get to the sequel, Raising Demons.

31, 89.
Author: Shirley Jackson
Title: We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Publication: Paperback
Pages:
Genre: Gothic
Acquisition: Work text
Date Completed: December 2, 2010
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

I finished my first reading of Jackson's final completed novel around the same time I was considering texts for the fall semester, and I thought for sure that my students would enjoy the creepy tale a bit more than The Picture of Dorian Gray (which remains my favorite novel, despite their opinions). Reading the novel for analysis versus personal pleasure - and both in the same year - has been an interesting experience, and one I've really enjoyed. I am not as blown away as I was with my first reading (perhaps because I know the mystery), but I am nonetheless charmed and delighted by the satirical Gothic. The opinions of my students are split, but I still recommend it.

31.
Author: Shirley Jackson
Title: We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Publication: Paperback, 2006
Pages: 146 pages
Genre: Horror
Acquisition: Purchased April 16, 2010, Recommended by laytonwoman3rd
Date Completed: April 22, 2010
Rating: 5 stars out of 5

We Have Always Lived in the Castle is the story of the reclusive remnants of a wealthy family that died mysteriously before the narrative begins. Mary Katherine, Constance, and their Uncle Julian are all that survive, and Merricat does everything she can to protect her older sister from the world. Shirley Jackson's short novel is haunting and thrilling, and she masterfully creates tension and horror without resorting to trite themes of slash and gore. We Have Always Lived in the Castle is terrifying for its simplicity and honesty, and although the primary mystery is evident from very early the story itself is thoroughly engaging.

I highly highly recommend We Have Always Lived in the Castle, even for those who do not normally enjoy horror novels. Jackson is an exception worth making.