While there are many courses and tutorials online, learning from a book is still one of the best ways to greatly improve your skills. Below I have selected top Shirley Jackson books.
- The Haunting of Hill House (Penguin Classics) (2006)
- We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (2006)
- Dark Tales (2017)
- The Lottery and Other Stories (FSG Classics) (2005)
- The Bird’s Nest (2014)
- Life Among the Savages (2015)
- The Sundial (Penguin Classics) (2014)
- Come Along with Me: Classic Short Stories and an Unfinished Novel (Penguin Classics) (2013)
- The Road Through the Wall (Penguin Classics) (2013)
- Hangsaman (Penguin Classics) (2013)
- Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life (2017)
- Let Me Tell You: New Stories, Essays, and Other Writings (2016)
- Raising Demons (2015)
The Haunting of Hill House (Penguin Classics) (2006)
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.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (2006)
Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate.
Dark Tales (2017)
After the publication of her short story “The Lottery” in the New Yorker in 1948 received an unprecedented amount of attention, Shirley Jackson was quickly established as a master horror storyteller.
The Lottery and Other Stories (FSG Classics) (2005)
One of the most terrifying stories of the twentieth century, Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” created a sensation when it was first published in The New Yorker in 1948. “Power and haunting,” and “nights of unrest” were typical reader responses.
The Bird’s Nest (2014)
Elizabeth is a demure twenty-three-year-old wiling her life away at a dull museum job, living with her neurotic aunt, and subsisting off her dead mother’s inheritance. When Elizabeth begins to suffer terrible migraines and backaches, her aunt takes her to the doctor, then to a psychiatrist. But slowly, and with Jackson’s characteristic chill, we learn that Elizabeth is not just one girl—but four separate, self-destructive personalities.
Life Among the Savages (2015)
In her celebrated fiction, Shirley Jackson explored the darkness lurking beneath the surface of small-town America. But in Life Among the Savages, she takes on the lighter side of small-town life. In this witty and warm memoir of her family’s life in rural Vermont, she delightfully exposes a domestic side in cheerful contrast to her quietly terrifying fiction.
The Sundial (Penguin Classics) (2014)
When the Halloran clan gathers at the family home for a funeral, no one is surprised when the somewhat peculiar Aunt Fanny wanders off into the secret garden.
Come Along with Me: Classic Short Stories and an Unfinished Novel (Penguin Classics) (2013)
At last, Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” enters Penguin Classics, sixty-five years after it shocked America audiences and elicited the most responses of any piece in New Yorker history.
The Road Through the Wall (Penguin Classics) (2013)
Pepper Street is a really nice, safe California neighborhood. The houses are tidy and the lawns are neatly mowed. Of course, the country club is close by, and lots of pleasant folks live there. The only problem is they knocked down the wall at the end of the street to make way for a road to a new housing development. Now, that’s not good—it’s just not good at all.
Hangsaman (Penguin Classics) (2013)
Seventeen-year-old Natalie Waite longs to escape home for college. Her father is a domineering and egotistical writer who keeps a tight rein on Natalie and her long-suffering mother. When Natalie finally does get away, however, college life doesn’t bring the happiness she expected. Little by little, Natalie is no longer certain of anything—even where reality ends and her dark imaginings begin.
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life (2017)
Winner • National Book Critics Circle Award (Biography) Winner • Edgar Award (Critical/Biographical) Winner • Bram Stoker Award (Nonfiction) A New York Times Notable Book A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Pick of the Year Named one of the Best Books of the Year by Entertainment Weekly, NPR, TIME, Boston Globe, NYLON, San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Times, Kirkus Reviews, and BooklistIn this “thoughtful and persuasive” biography, award-winning biographer Ruth Franklin establishes Shirley Jack…
Let Me Tell You: New Stories, Essays, and Other Writings (2016)
From the renowned author of “The Lottery” and The Haunting of Hill House, a spectacular new volume of previously unpublished and uncollected stories, essays, and other writings. Shirley Jackson is one of the most important American writers of the last hundred years. Since her death in 1965, her place in the landscape of twentieth-century fiction has grown only more exalted.
Raising Demons (2015)
In the long out-of-print sequel to Life Among the Savages, Jackson’s four children have grown from savages into full-fledged demons. After bursting the seams of their first house, Jackson’s clan moves into a larger home. Of course, the chaos simply moves with them.
Best Shirley Jackson Books that Should be on Your Bookshelf
We highly recommend you to buy all paper or e-books in a legal way, for example, on Amazon. But sometimes it might be a need to dig deeper beyond the shiny book cover. Before making a purchase, you can visit resources like Library Genesis and download some shirley jackson books mentioned below at your own risk. Once again, we do not host any illegal or copyrighted files, but simply give our visitors a choice and hope they will make a wise decision.
The Letters of Shirley Jackson
Author(s): Shirley Jackson
ID: 3601033, Publisher: Random House Publishing Group, Year: 2021, Size: 15 Mb, Format: epub
Life Among the Savages
Author(s): Jackson, Shirley
ID: 2657641, Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd;Penguin Classics, Year: 2019, Size: 3 Mb, Format: epub
Historic firsts : how symbolic empowerment changes U.S. politics
Author(s): Chisholm, Shirley; Clinton, Hillary Rodham; Jackson, Jesse; Obama, Barack; Simien, Evelyn M
ID: 2077321, Publisher: Oxford University Press, Year: 2016, Size: 2 Mb, Format: pdf
Please note that this booklist is not errorless. Some books are really best-sellers according to USA Today, others are written by unknown authors. On top of that, you can always find additional tutorials and courses on Coursera, Udemy or edX, for example. Are there any other relevant books you could recommend? Leave a comment if you have any feedback on the list.