When she's good, Jackson is very, very good. Unfortunately, this felt like a collection of leftovers, the stuff that wasn't quite good enough to make it into the earlier collections. ( )

DNF about halfway through the unpublished stories.

I was really hoping for some truly hidden creepy gems in here, and “Paranoia” was a strong start. But nothing else caught my interest quite as much, and they were all shorter than I expected. Since I’m not a huge fan of nonfiction, which the rest of the book was, I figured it wasn’t worth it to continue. ( )

Really interesting to read some of Jackson's unpublished/uncollected works. Each story, even if it was short or seemingly plotless, really goes to show her command of the written word, and her essays and memoir-adjacent writing were hilarious as always.

Favorites from each section: "Mrs. Spencer and the Oberons", "The Ghosts of Loiret", "Homecoming", "Here I Am, Washing Dishes Again", and "Garlic in Fiction". I also loved reading Laurie and Sally's editors' note at the end of the book. ( )

This book simply reaffirms my belief that Shirley Jackson is one of the best - if not the best - American humorists from the 20th century. The essays and lectures about writing and her family are spot-on, especially in how she deals with trivial matters, turning them into fantastic stories.

The short stories in this collection, however, fall short of the others' brilliance. It's mostly because they were incomplete and unpublished before, which explains a lot. But you do see Jackson's flair for rich narratives shine through in some stories.

I loved reading the non-stories from this collection the most. If you're aching to get insight into Jackson's mind, this is the book to pick up. ( )

This felt like a bunch of unfinished work that was dug out to make a buck. ( )