false 131191 7 Can this be the author of such chilling tales as <I>The Lottery</I> and <I>The Haunting of Hill House</I>? An ordinary housewife stuck in a big, shabby house with three marvelous, demanding children and a charming husband who takes detached interest in the chaos they generate? Yes, it's Shirley Jackson all right: the precision of her observations and prose is familiar, even if her humor is something of a surprise. Not until Anne Lamott's <I>Operating Instructions</I> in 1993 would another woman write with such honesty about the maddening multitude of trivial, essential chores that constitute a mother's life. But Jackson nailed it first, 40 years earlier, in her hilarious chronicle of life in a small Vermont town, where getting the kids to school on time requires the combined gifts of a drill sergeant and a lady's maid. The saga of her son's bumpy adjustment to kindergarten, frequently anthologized as <I>Charles</I>, is justly famous, but Jackson's account of the Department Store Trip from Hell (two kids, two toy guns, one doll carriage and doll, mayhem in revolving doors and escalators) is even funnier. Although her memoirs are as merciless as her ghost stories, you may not notice because you're laughing so hard. <I>--Wendy Smith</I> 2683066 1953 Life among the Savages total:366|5:142|4:130|3:77|2:17|1:0| 366 1495 574 82 5 5 false false Mon Mar 16 13:32:20 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 03 05:49:24 -0700 2009
The life of a housewife with four children, a husband, a dog and two cats doesn't seem like it could be a lot of fun but Shirley Jackson does exactly this. Even though this book of short...more...]]> 5 3 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Mon Aug 13 19:33:31 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 13 19:34:34 -0700 2007 The Haunting of Hill House...more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Sep 05 11:46:21 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 05 11:58:40 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Apr 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 20 08:33:15 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 26 21:10:48 -0700 2009 Raising Demons. Maybe it suffers from what I privately consider the "Tom Robbins syndrome", which to me means that certain authors (or musicians, or artists generally) actually suffer from their originality. I mean, the first time I read T...more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 12 15:50:50 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 20 16:40:40 -0700 2009 .5 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2003 Tue Jul 03 18:04:41 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 03 18:04:53 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Nov 28 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 28 22:45:55 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 28 22:59:36 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Aug 20 20:00:01 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 20 20:02:47 -0700 2007
If you want to know the single greatest influence on my writing style, this is it.

Also, it never fails to make ...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Sep 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 26 13:26:09 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 29 11:30:25 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Oct 31 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 30 10:38:15 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 31 09:48:40 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Jul 20 14:05:34 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 20 14:05:34 -0700 2007 3 0 false false Fri Jul 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon May 25 06:06:48 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 10 12:51:26 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Feb 22 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 17 21:21:59 -0800 2009 Wed Sep 09 11:48:26 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jun 24 18:17:46 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 24 18:19:54 -0700 2009
Extraordinary family living a wonderfully ordin...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Feb 09 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 24 18:19:38 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 09 05:41:20 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 12:07:18 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 12:07:18 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 14 16:53:42 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 14 16:56:59 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1987 Wed Jul 15 06:49:34 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 15 06:52:03 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1972 Tue Apr 08 18:19:16 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 08 18:19:16 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1972 Wed Jun 10 18:55:07 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 10 18:57:04 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=131191