Hello all! Just a super quick post today for some super quick spooooky reads. Now, if you’ve been around a while you might know I have a low tolerance for *scary* reads- but being the daredevil monkey that I am, I decided to risk it with a couple of legendary Shirley Jackson books. You know, in broad daylight, so the ghosts couldn’t reach through the pages and get me 😉 Onto the reviews!
We Have Always Lived in a Castle– Ooh the intrigue and spooky vibes were strong with this one! It was enigmatic, creepy and mysterious. There was a distinctive feel for the characters, which made them feel both lifelike and otherworldly. I realllly appreciated the setting as well- everywhere in the novel seemed to have a too-close-for-comfort feel to it. I liked that it left so many questions unanswered- as a good ghost story should. There was some ambiguity at the end as well, though it wasn’t entirely open-ended. I simply adored the writing style too. Overall, this was a definite success!
Rating: 4/5 bananas
The Haunting of Hill House– Ahh Jackson certainly has a lovely turn of phrase. Sadly, it wasn’t quite as tantalisingly terrifying as We Have Always Lived in a Castle. I feel like I made a mistake to read that one first, cos this one didn’t quite blow me away. I think my greatest disappointment was the ending- it didn’t leave me with that blood-chilling oh-my-god-what-just-happened feeling. Ya know, the one we read scary stories to get (why do we read them again? 😉). I didn’t care too much for the characters either, which was a problem in such a claustrophobic setting. Still, I can safely say Jackson has the uncanny feeling down. And even if it seems like all I’ve done is complain about it, I still enjoyed it.
Rating: 3½/5 bananas
So what do you think of these? Did you enjoy them? Did they successfully freak you out? Let me know in the comments
the orang-utan librarian 
yay creepy reads! We Have Always Lived in the Castle is one of my favs 🙂
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Awesome- I’m glad you liked it too 😀
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I feel guilty that I haven’t read either of these, and the recent Shirley Jackson revival has really reminded me of that. I read her short story “The Lottery” in school and went on to read several of her short stories. She has a wonderfully compelling view of the world that really exposes the drama in the ordinary. Even when she’s not being scary her eye for peoples’ prejudices can be quite spooky.
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Yeah that’s definitely what made me curious too. Yeah she really does- I definitely want to check out her short stories now, cos I haven’t read them, so I’m glad to hear you got the same impression from them as I had from these. Such a great point!
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I own a copy of We Have Always Lived in the Castle but haven’t read it yet, I am glad you enjoyed it!
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Hope you like it!!
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I haven’t read either of these surprisingly! Enjoyed reading your thoughts though and glad you enjoyed them overall. 😉
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Ah fair enough. Thank you!!
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I haven’t read these but I’ve heard they’re fantastic! Might have to add these to the ever growing TBR list ha-ha! Great post!
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They were! haha! hope you like them! Thank you!!
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Enjoyed the mini review. The Haunting of Hill House is on my TBR for this year and We Have Always Lived In The Castle is on my linger-term TBR – looking forward to them more now.
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Thank you! Awesome- hope you like them!! 😀
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I just love the cover of We Have Always Lived in a Castle, it always reminds me of the Adams Family!
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Oh good point!!
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Oh no, the dawn of the living zomnkey! Do you suddenly desire to eat the brains of bananas?
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hehehhe always 😉
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Haunting of Hill House was scary! I might have to pick up We Have Always Lived in the Castle
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Oh definitely recommend it if you liked haunting of hill house!!
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I love both of those!
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Awesome!!
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I love Shirley Jackson! You should check out some of her short fiction too.
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I definitely want to now 😀
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I loved The Haunting of Hill House Netflix show but it’s waaaayyy different from the book (based on the book synopsis anyways). The book didn’t sound nearly as interesting to me.
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Yeah the show does look very different (although tbh it looks a little scary for me 😉 I know I wouldn’t be able to handle it!)
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Ah so there is hope for me then! Lol. If you can ‘face your fears’ 😉😄
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hehehe yeah for sure 😉
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I love Shirley Jackson! Those are the only two I’ve read so far. I think I liked Hill House a bit better actually, but they were both fantastic.
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Yeah I think her writing is amazing too. totally understand that! 🙂
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I’ve read We Have Always Lived in the Castle! It was creepy in a good way for me (:
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really agree!
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I felt the same about The Haunting of Hill House. I liked it and thought it was very atmospheric but just felt like it missed something. I’ve had my eye on We Have Always Lived in the Castle for a little while, so I’m glad to hear it’s even better than Hill House – another one for the TBR pile!
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Yeah that’s exactly how I felt about it. But I do recommend we have always lived in a castle- it was so well done!
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Yup, the cover of We Have Always Lived in a Castle already freaks me out. 😭😭😭 I have an uber-low tolerance for creepy reads, same as you, and it’s not great that I spotted it at 3 in the morning when it’s super quiet and dark. Thank you very much for that. 😂
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hehe I can completely understand that! hhahah oops!! Sorry about that 😉
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I’m always too scared to read creepy books but We Have Always Lived in the Castle sounds very intriguing! 😊
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Completely understand that- but these aren’t too bad if it helps (and also if read in daylight- a trick I learnt years ago when I had to read scary reads for uni *do not read scary books at night* lol!)
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Good point! I think I would have just failed the module if I’d been expected to read scary books 😂
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hehehe yeah I don’t know what draws me (a scaredy cat) to so many gothic novels 😉 Also blame the fact it was Scotland and that’s there go-to 😉
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It may be a stupid question you’ve answered before, but why don’t you include a link to the author’s website in your reviews?
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Fair question- I have linked to sites before, but people complain regardless, so I’ve reverted to my lazy ways 😉
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I enjoyed “The Haunting of Hill House” mainly because the author so artfully creates that claustrophobic setting that you mention. Her writing is very introspective and not so much for the ‘jump out of the dark’ factor, I think. Such a wonderful writing style, even in her non-horror works!
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I completely understand that and really agree about it not just resorting to jump scares. That’s really cool to hear cos I definitely want to check out more of her works 🙂
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I made the same mistake of reading “Castle” before “Hill House.” I thought that both the writing and subject matter of “Castle” were more interesting. I generally find atmospheric “what darkness lurks in the hearts of men” kind of horror scarier and more satisfying than supernatural stuff.
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Yeah I really agree with you and felt the same way about them. I definitely recommend people reading them the other way round, cos castle does end up overshadowing hill house. But it was still worth a read 🙂
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Definitely still worth reading! A lot of her short stories are excellent as well. I especially enjoy “Charles” and the much-anthologized “The Lottery”
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Oh I definitely want to check them out- especially the lottery 😀
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Oooh, these sound spooky and fantastic! I’ll definitely have to check them out 🙂 To read… during the daytime 😉 I’ve watched some of Hill House but I hear that it’s really different to the book – so it’ll be a different story to enjoy!
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They really are!! hehehe! makes sense 😉 Hope you like them!! Yeah I saw the trailer for the show (honestly it looks too scary for me to watch personally) and they look really different, so yeah I’m sure you’ll get something out of it! 😀
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Oooh, nice! I know the story of ‘The Haunting of Hill House’, but not the Castle one! I might put it on my ‘spooky’-list 😀 (it mostly has King novels, so a bit of variety won’t hurt!)
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Oh definitely recommend it!
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Wonderful reviews! I’m like you- not a big creepy reader, so I haven’t read these yet, even though I’ve always wanted to. I’ll keep your thoughts in mind and read Hill House first when I finally get to them!
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Ah glad you relate! Great!
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Ah, i really need to read these, don’t i 😀
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hehehe yes 😉
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I’ve read both and I adored Castle. I finished it in a day because I was so hooked. It’s a while since I read House, though, and it can’t have made that much of an impression me since I don’t remember much about it. I wonder if I should give it a reread some day.
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Ah I’m glad you agree there. And yeah I can understand that!
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I also have a low tolerance for scary books, so I tend to stay clear of the horror genre… When October rolls around, I will typically gravitate to gothic novels, OR I will read MG “horror”. I’ve always wanted to read a Shirley Jackson book though… Maybe I’ll try We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
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Oh I completely relate!! Definitely recommend we have always lived in the castle- I think it’s probably only scary by my low standards 😉
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My former blog partner LOVES Shirley Jackson. I’ve always meant to read more of her stuff even though I don’t read a lot of horror but so far I’ve only read The Lottery.
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Awesome! I definitely mean to check that out now!
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Just read A House of Ghosts by W. C. Ryan – so creepy! I’m not sure if I can handle more spooky reads at the moment but will put them on the list anyway – you never know. 😄💕
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Ooh that sounds good!! hehehe!! I can understand that 😉 ❤
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I LOVE Shirley Jackson. LOVE her. I read Hill House first and was also curious why it wasn’t as scary as I expected (I mean “haunting” is in the title lol), but I still really enjoyed it and I’m glad it was my first Jackson book. I looooove WHALITC. So innocently creepy. Love it love it love it. Have you read any of her short stories? The Lottery is a really good/popular one. I’ve read a few others I’ve come across, but I’m always wanting more Jackson! 😄👻
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