Book review: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Rating: ★★★★☆
Links: Amazon • TBD • Goodreads
Publication Date: 1959
Source: Purchased

First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a “haunting”; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

A courtesan, a pilgrim, a princess, and a bullfighter. Hill House has surely never seen our like.

I bought this book shortly after I finished We Have Always Lived in the Castle. As usual, it took me a little while to actually get around to reading it, but my goodness, was it worth it. I don’t really do well with spooky things, as we’ve previously established, and I don’t tend to make great decisions about when to read spooky things, as we’ve also previously established. I read this book while alone in my friend’s house and I jumped at every tiny noise.

So, I put a sticky note in this book every time I freaked out. The comments I put on each sticky note range from “WHAT” to “OMG WHY” to “WHAT THE FUCK” to “oh GOD.” I also put a sticky note in this book every time I laughed or smiled, and there are almost as many of those stickies are there are spooky ones. I didn’t expect to have nearly this much fun with a horror novel, but I did.

I’m going to stop the review here to avoid accidentally spoiling anything. Four stars because I didn’t have trouble putting it down (it took me four days to read 182 pages), but I really love Shirley Jackson’s writing.

#mm18: don’t turn out the light

---

Have you read The Haunting of Hill House? What’s your favorite spooky book?
Let’s talk in the comments!

---

Find me all over the internet: Goodreads | Twitter | Bloglovin’

Book review: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Rating: ★★★★☆
Links: Amazon • TBD • Goodreads
Publication Date: 1962
Source: Borrowed

Merricat Blackwood lives on the family estate with her sister Constance and her Uncle Julian. Not long ago there were seven Blackwoods—until a fatal dose of arsenic found its way into the sugar bowl one terrible night. Acquitted of the murders, Constance has returned home, where Merricat protects her from the curiosity and hostility of the villagers. Their days pass in happy isolation until cousin Charles appears. Only Merricat can see the danger, and she must act swiftly to keep Constance from his grasp.

I was in the library picking up my copy of Godsgrave when I saw a whole entire pile of We Have Always Lived in the Castles by the door. It was a little odd, but I wasn’t going to say anything. I ended up checking out a copy along with Godsgrave and then reading it (mostly) on a plane. And what can I say, I usually end up really liking books that I read on planes.

This was my first book by Shirley Jackson, and as soon as I finished, I dragged my best friend to a bookstore with me where I almost bought The Haunting of Hill House before I realized that I literally did not have any room left in my suitcase. It’s okay, though, because I bought it once I got back to New Jersey.

I’m not really sure what I can say about this book other than it’s creepy and I liked it. I don’t really ever read books like this, but I think I might start now?

#mm18: vacation reads

---

Have you read We Have Always Lived in the Castle? Is it on your TBR?
Let’s talk in the comments!

---

Find me all over the internet: Goodreads | Twitter | Bloglovin’