In Maud Newton's famous sidebar she "links" to a Joyce Carol Oates piece about the Shirley Jackson novel WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE. It made me want a copy. But when I made it over to Square Books, they had sold out of WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE, so I bought THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson instead. All I have really read of Shirley Jackson before now is "The Lottery," a short story that terrified me nearly to death in the fourth grade, and you have to ask yourself, what kind of country were we living in when they used to make you read "The Lottery" all the time in fourth grade? But now I have read the first 22 pages of THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE and am prepared to say that it is THE BEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN. One thing leads to another, usually because of Maud Newton, and this is the only good thing about the "internet."
