Just an Ordinary Day

This collection of short stories is absolutely amazing. I love everything she has written, just wish there was more.

Beautiful collection of precise, perfectly edited stories. A delight from the first page to the last. Shirley Jackson's writing is clear, effortless, and completely free from self-indulgence. A master craftsman of the story.

This is a wonderful collection of Shirley Jackson's short stories in a new easy to read book. Jackson's "The Lottery" continues to shock and mesmerize readers sixty years after it's publication in "The New Yorker". To this day, this story holds the record for generating the most mail and telegrams in "the New Yorker's" history and Jackson, until her death, contended that this was "just a story." Her writing is a wonderful guide for all people who wish to write. It's a satisfying smörgåsbord of a wide variety of work, all of it centered on character and the inner workings of the human mind. As a fan of writers such a Richard Russo, Charles Dickens, Barbara Kingsolver, Stephen King, Alice Walker and John Irving, Shirley Jackson belongs at the top of this list. You must read everything she wrote, but this book is a wonderful way to get your feet wet. Used or new, it's a book that you will return to many times and you may even want more than one copy so that you can lend it but still have it while your reading buddy takes his or her time savoring each story. This is an example of the power of the written word and an example of why William Shakespeare and Aristophanes are still remembered and read today.

well, i just loved it. i adore shirley jackson's style: the way she caputured a time period long gone and dosed it with play and shivers. i haven't had such a delightful time with a short story collection in eons. if you've never read shirley jackson, start with 'the lottery' short story collection & you'll be so itchy for more, you'll hug this book to your chest just before you begin eating the pages.

that's how i felt when i saw this book on my library shelf. it helped to quell a hunger that i have had for many years. thank you laurence and sarah for compiling these works. i would love to see the out of print works of shirley jackson back on bookstore's shelves.

There has been tons of controversy over this book about whether or not is should have been published. My personal opinion is that is should not have been published because these stories were private stories and were not published for a reason. However, now it has been published and there is nothing anyone can do about it but enjoy it as a learning experience. The reason I gave the book five stars was because it is a very accurate representation of Shirley Jackson. Writing was always theraputic for her -- she used it to express the other dimensions of her life and her self which no one could understand. Writing was a way of putting everything that went on in her mind down on paper. Therefore, reading these stories is like reading her diary -- she expressed her emotions through fiction, and the variety of characters and plots that can be seen in this collection are a representation of a certain period of her life through her eyes. If you are looking for the edited fiction that made Shirley Jackson famous, this is not the book for you. However, if you are interested in the inner workings of the author's mind, this collection of stories and essays is the closest one can get.