Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and I thought it might be fun to FEAST on a variety of books.
If you missed the theme – Have a tasty Thanksgiving Day meal!
Adult Books
Shirley Jackson, anyone?
It’s not a come-back. It’s not a rediscovery. It is more like delayed appreciation. Suddenly the author Shirley Jackson is back in the media press. 60 years after she was first published, her more famous pieces were collected into a volume and published by The Library of America in 2010. Last year a collection of some of her short stories never before collected was published by two of her children under the title Let Me Tell You: new stories, essays, and other writings. Of this new collection, Library Journal says, “Remember the chilling excitement of reading Jackson’s The Lottery for the first time? You’ll have the same experience over and over again with this new collection.” Now this month comes a major new biography about this author, Shirley Jackson: a haunted life by Ruth Franklin. The fly leaf from this new book says, “Placing Jackson within an American Gothic tradition that stretches back to Hawthorne and Poe, Franklin demonstrates how her unique contribution to this genre came from her focus on ‘domestic horror’ ”. The final piece of tribute – at least for now – is the publication of a graphic novel done by her grandson of her most famous short story, “The Lottery”.
I’m confident in saying that no one who has ever read The Lottery will forget it. I certainly never have. Two other short story favorites of mine are her One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts and The Summer People.
Shirley Jackson is also the author of The Haunting of Hill House which has become extremely well respected as an example of the quiet psychological horror that builds in a “haunted” house. Stephen King has mentioned her several times as a cause of inspiration for him. Robert Wise directed a classic haunted house movie starring Julie Harris and Claire Bloom based on the book. Another novel worth discovering by Jackson (but again, aren’t they all worth discovering?) is We have always lived in the castle about a “cunning adolescent who has gone to quite unusual lengths to preserve her ideal of family happiness.”
Isn’t it time you join the legion of fans of Shirley Jackson?
Scott Handville, Assistant Library Director
A 1 Diner
In 2006 a local publisher, Tilbury House, published a book by Sarah Rolph that celebrated a local diner, the A 1 Diner. The book gives a history of the diner featuring both those who work behind the counter and those in the kitchen. Many recipes that have become customer favorites are revealed in the book. Below is one of them. For more of these wonderful recipes and to enjoy the history of this local institution, visit the library to borrow the book, A 1 Diner: real food, recipes, and recollections by Sarah Rolph.
Hazel Newell’s Squash Custard Pie:
This pie is unusual in that it separates during cooking into a squash layer and a custard layer.
5 eggs
1 cup white sugar
1 cup canned squash puree (fresh squash has too much moisture)
1 cup milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 9 inch pie shell, uncooked (bottom only)
Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the eggs and the sugar with a whisk.
Add the squash, the milk, the cream, and the vanilla, and mix, but do not beat.
Pour into the large pie shell and bake for 60-60 minutes until just set. Chill before serving.