Shelf Help Episode 21

“I’ve read all of Shirley Jackson’s work. I loved it! What should I read that’s similar?” – from mrsmorganbakestoomuch via IG. Once again our booksellers began their recommendations with the query, “Are you sure you have read everything Shirley Jackson has written? There is a lot.”  Assuming mrsmorganbakestoomuch had, they jumped in. The discussion highlighted Shirley Jackson’s connections to Bennington, Vermont, the frequency with which her work is mentioned in Shelf Help, and that perhaps her estate should be Shelf Help‘s first underwriter. Jack highlighted Jazz by Toni Morrison and Secret History by Donna Tartt, leading to a short seminar on Ms. Morrison and her works. Kari mentioned Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry. Emma had a long long list including Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin, White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi and Her Body and Other Parties: Stories by Carmen Maria Machado (seconded by Jack).  All mentioned authors whose work resembles Ms. Jackson’s — Angela Carter, Kelly Link.  Emma also pointed out that winners of the annual Shirley Jackson Award would be a great list to tackle. We hope this helps all you Shirley Jackson fans out there; and based upon our episodes there seem to be quite a few.

Welcome to Shelf Help, a podcast where booksellers help you answer one of life’s trickier – and we’d argue extremely important – questions: What should you read next?  Shelf Help is a collaboration between the Book Jam, a nonprofit designed to inspire readers; JAM – Junction Arts & Media; three Upper Valley bookstores: Yankee Bookshop in Woodstock, VT; the Norwich Bookstore in Norwich, VT; and Still North Books & Bar in Hanover, NH.