#Mary Katherine Blackwood likes this

[the-kestrels-feather]

So I love Ride the Cyclone, and recently I've been reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. And in the book, one of the female lead characters is named Constance Blackwood. And I was just wondering if it's ever been said that that's where they got the name for RTC!Constance? Just curious. I can't think of many similarities between the two characters, but who knows.

[derangedrhythms]

My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the deathcup mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead.

Shirley Jackson, from 'We Have Always Lived in the Castle'

[loving-family-poll]

Ultimate Incest Tournament - Round 3

Propaganda under the cut:

Kendall/Logan:

What if u were a 80 year old successful media mogul and the greatest love of ur life was ur cringe disappointing failson who is also ur number one boy and u get sooo possessive and jealous and unwell over him u literally try to ruin/sabotage every relationship he’s ever had. also he keeps trying to kill you!

Kendall is probably the most wife a son could be tbh. the kendall and marcia parallels are crayy

He spends an entire season as his fathers robotic little slave. multiple people suggest they are fucking. his dad talks like a bitchy high schooler to any woman he’s ever been with while he handled his fathers viagra they want to OWN each other groomed so hard the word lost all meaning

off to the races edit: https://youtu.be/SqwBVm0qyRo?si=XWZ8kVlz3rjBx2yV

"You're my number one boy."

Merricat/Constance:

Mutual obsession, codependency and isolation sisters win

They happily isolate each other and follow these rules that nobody else understands, Merricat only cares about Constance and Constance would do anything for Merricat, no matter what Merricat does, and seemingly not out of fear, but out of love

When there's a possible love interest for Constance (who also happens to be said looks like their dad), Merricat wants him dead and in the end, even though Constance seemed more she could be a part of society, she chooses Merricat over him and over everyone else

Weird girls 4ever <3

[bookfirstlinetourney]

Round 1

It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York.’

-The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath

My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cup mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead.

-We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson

How does one describe Artemis Fowl? Various psychiatrists have tried and failed.

-Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer

[cookinguptales]

I would just like to state again, for the record, that freaking no one does opening paragraphs like Shirley Jackson does opening paragraphs.

Like everyone knows The Haunting of Hill House, but it bears repeating:

“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against the hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”

And that is incredible enough, that is already one of the best openings to a novel in history, but THEN.

Then we have We Have Always Lived In The Castle!!!

"My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cup mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead."

Has any opening paragraph ever made me want to know more about a character? No! I don't think so! I am fucking obsessed with Merricat and I want to put her in a jar and study her like a bug!

Like I'm always impressed with Jackson's craft, but opening paragraphs are so hard. They are so hard! And she always seems to craft one that draws you right into the web of horror that she's creating in that book. You're always pulled right into that house, whether it's lurking the halls of Hill House, not sane, or the incestuously isolated Blackwood residence. You're drawn into that madness instantly, and instantly you understand these characters who will not be understood by those around them.

I love the way she can draw you into the POV of protagonists who simply do not interact with reality to the point where you become comfortable living in their version of reality, too. You get them even as it fascinates and horrifies you. I feel like that's one reason why her books are so effective.

Every mind can break, but every mind does so in such a specific way. And it's the specificity of the madness and the ability to convey it in a way that makes you feel it, too, y'know? You come to realize that these women could never have been anything else, could never have been sane, because they live in homes that are... well, not sane. Their world is not sane, so how could they be? How could any of us be?

So you get pulled into this whirlpool of reality-shifting madness and deeply unreliable narrators and when you finally free yourself at the end of the book, you feel like you're walking back out into the sun squinting, dazed. Confused to find yourself back in a reality that makes some semblance of sense, but unable now to ignore the seams in it.

Goddamn, what an artist.

[barnbridges]

References in the Secret History to facts from the opening paragraph of We Have Always Lived in the Castle:

Mary Katherine is the name given in the Epilogue to Bunny Corcoran's posthumous child, the child of Brady Corcoran and Marion. Like Merricat Blackwood, Bunny Corcoran II is indicated to not go by said name. Half of the name finds itself linked to Katherine Corcoran, who in the 2nd book of TSH finds herself a both literal and metaphorical source of poison for other characters;

The listed age of eighteen for Merricat is controversial at best, an unreliable narration at worst. It correlates with Bunny Corcoran's age discrepancy as both the oldest member of the Greek class and (allegedly) its most immature one;

Merricat's dislike of dogs, noise and showers are shared with Henry Winter's. Like Henry, Merricat often finds herself dirty in the creation of rituals to avoid bad spirits, or in the pursuit of poison, and such thinks it a disturbance to fully rid herself of elements in the ritual. Also, can be linked to Charles Macaulay's disheveled state in the 2nd book, as Merricat can likewise refuse to brush her hair and change her clothes when upset;

Charles Macaulay is the only character to have a sister, who'se name also begins with C. Constance Blackwood is not Camilla Macaulay, however;

Henry and Merricat share a passion for Mushrooms, especially deathcaps. It's unclear (but deeply implied) that Merricat used them to poison her bothersome cousin Charles Blackwood, just as Henry (likely) attempted it with his friend Charles Macaulay;

Richard Plantagenet, the specific hyperfixation of Merricat's is never mentioned openly in TSH, but Henry is passionate enough about the War of the Roses to reference it at least twice in the book. It also is not very thinly veiled that Richard Papen is the Richard of York to Henry's Shakespearean Henry VI of the popularly called Henriad. Both TSH and Castle can be certainly said to derive from the Henriad, but this is not about Shakespeare, yet;

Tartt's orphans are Charles and Camilla Macaulay, however, the concept of a dead or dysfunctional family can apply to every single one of the students (with the striking exception of Bunny Corcoran, whose family, while full ━ is dysfunctional), with Francis Abernathy's deadbeat father and problematic mother to Henry or Richard's estranged parents. None of them poisoned their parents however, as far as Richard told us at least.

[litcest]

We Have Always Lived in the Castle, by Shirley Jackson

We Have Always Lived in the Castle is 1962 mystery novel by author Shirley Jackson, who also famously wrote The Lottery (1948) and The Haunting of Hill House (1959). The story is about the Blackwoods, a very wealthy family who owns a large state. Since the death of their parents, Constance Blackwood has been taking care of her younger sister, Mary Katherine (better known as Merricat) and their wheelchair bound uncle, Julian. The three of them live in perfect recluse in their manor, but when cousin Charles comes to visit, he shakes up the family dynamic.

Despite their relationship not being explicitly incestuous in the novel, Constance and Merricat share a bond closer than most sisters do. If you have read Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, you may remember Eleanor and Theo, who weren't explicitly in a romantic relationship, but were very lesbian coded. The same applies for the Blackwood sisters, in my opinion.

In 1966 the novel was made into a play by Hugh Wheeler, and this play was used as the basis for the 2010 musical by Adam Bock and Todd Almond. But, more famously, in 2018, there was a movie adaptation by Stacie Passon, starring Taissa Farmiga as Merricat, Alexandra Daddario as Constance, Sebastian Stan as Charles and Crispin Glover as Julian.

The book is narrated by eighteen-years-old Merricat Blackwood. Despite her age, her behaviour throughout the novel is very immature and childish, probably due to the trauma she suffered at twelve, when the rest of her family (save for her sister and uncle) died. She's also very superstitious and practices sympathetic magic.

Merricat lives with Constance and Julian in the large Blackwood property in near isolation. Her only contact with the outside world is going to the village to buy groceries and visit the library. The locals aren't very keen on the Blackwood family, eyeing them with suspicion since the deaths that occurred years prior and resenting the large amount of money the family has, despite not doing any hard work.

No, really, the people in town are really nasty towards the sisters, with the children even making a mean song about them, akin to how people made that skipping rope song about Lizzie Borden.

"Merricat, said Connie, would you like a cup of tea? Oh no, said Merricat, you’ll poison me. Merricat, said Connie, would you like to go to sleep? Down in the boneyard ten feet deep!"

You see, the reason for the rhyme is that six years before the events in the book, the sisters parents, their younger brother as well as Uncle Julian and his wife were poised wit arsenic that had been mixed into the sugar bowl. Julian was the only survivor and Constance wasn't poisoned because she didn't eat sugar with her blackberries, and Merricat hadn't been in the dinner that night. Due to her being the only person present who wasn't poisoned, she was arrested and charged with murder, but ended up being acquitted and released back, much to the distaste of the village.

Probably due to her fear that Constance will be taken away again, Merricat has developed many "magical" protections around the property to avoid strangers coming in (it must be noted that Constance herself doesn't leave the house since the trial finished, so the magic could be to keep Constance safe). It's clear, from the beginning, that Merricat loves her sister and has a strong devotion to her. The feeling is mutual as evidenced by Constance telling Merricat how much she missed her, even thought Merricat had only been to village for, at most, a couple hours.

"When I was small I thought Constance was a fairy princess. I used to try to draw her picture, with long golden hair and eyes as blue as the crayon could make them, and a bright pink spot on either cheek; the pictures always surprised me, because she did look like that; even at the worst time she was pink and white and golden, and nothing had ever seemed to dim the brightness of her. She was the most precious person in my world, always."

Julian, their widowed uncle, spend his time writing his memories of the day of the poisoning, obsessively looking at the details of what happened that day and on the day before and it is through his ramblings about the event that we, the readers, learn about what happened. For exemple, he is the one who exposes the fact that Constance was the one who did the cooking, and that she has knowledge of different poisons. Not only that, but she didn't use sugar on her blackberries (although it was a known fact that she never did) and washed the sugar bowl before the police could arrive to the scene - allegedly because there was a spider in it.

Merricat is perfectly happy with Constance staying at home the whole time, as in this way she has her sister basically all to herself. When Constance starts to express some desire to leave the house, Merricat becomes upset and reacts by violently breaking their mother's fancy milk pitcher. Although she doesn't verbally express her displeasure or lashes out in front of Constance, Merricat often breaks things around the house, leaving a path of destruction on the wake of her anger.

"'We’ll always be here together, won’t we, Constance?' 'Don’t you ever want to leave here, Merricat?' 'Where could we go?' I asked her. 'What place would be better for us than this? Who wants us, outside? The world is full of terrible people.' 'I wonder sometimes.' She was very serious for a minute, and then she turned and smiled at me. 'Don’t you worry, my Merricat. Nothing bad will happen.'"

Before Constance can decide if she's ready to explore the outside world, the outside world comes knocking in the form of Cousin Charles, son of her father's other brother. Merricat dislikes him at first sight and even tries to pretend she had only dreamed about his visit and could "dream him away", but Constance seems glad to have the attention of a good looking young man, even if he is her cousin.

Charles claims he wanted to help his cousins after the tragedy that had struck, but hadn't been able because his father wouldn't allow it, but now that his father was dead, he wanted to reunite with the remaining family. Merricat is jealous of how easily Costance (whom Charles calls 'Connie') warms up to the newcomer.

"She was not at all awkward or uncomfortable; it was as though she had been expecting all her life that Cousin Charles would come, as though she had planned exactly what to do and say, almost as though in the house of her life there had always been a room kept for Cousin Charles."

To keep Charles away, Merricat nails a gold watch into a tree, and when Charles sees it, he gets angry because it was a waste of gold. His obsession with money leads Julian to start to think that Charles is only there to try to steal the family fortune.

Charles is no innocent either. When he realises that he won't win Merricat's affection, he quickly start being passive aggressive with her, even insinuating that he might convince Constance to throw her out. And at the same time he tells Connie she should not be waiting on Julian, Charles also has her cook and clean for himself.

Merricat tries her best to shield herself and her sister, but all she can actually do is small actions, like breaking Charles' watch and pouring water in his bed. Charles gets furious with Merricat's childish antics and while Constance doesn't condenes her sister, she doesn't defends her either, simply calling Merricat "silly".

"'You are evil,' I said to Charles. 'You are a ghost and a demon.' 'What the hell?' Charles said. 'Don’t pay any attention,' Constance told him. 'Don’t listen to Merricat’s nonsense.'"

During a large argument between Charles, Merricat and Julian, Charles tell them that Merricat needs to be punished, which makes her run away in fear. Upset and even more angry than before, Merricat waits until dinner time and goes to Charles room, and she finds his pipe, which was still burning. She then throws in into a pile of papers which causes a fire to start. They are in the table when Charles smells smoke.

Constance and Merricat run for safety, but Julian stays behind to gather his papers (the many manuscripts he wrote of his memories from the day of the poisoning). The firefighters come, but they eye the sisters with suspicion, causing them to run and hide in the woods surrounding the property. While all this is going on, Charles is worried about the money in the safe.

"Pulling Constance, I hurried under the trees, in the darkness; when I felt my feet leave the grass of the lawn and touch the soft mossy ground of the path through the woods and knew that the trees had closed in around us I stopped and put my arms around Constance. 'It’s all over,' I told her, and held her tight."

While hiding in the forest, Merricat says that she'll poison everyone and Constance acknowledges that Merricat had done that once before, six years before, by putting arsenic in the sugar as payback for having been sent to the bedroom without dinner.

"'I put it in the sugar.' 'I know. I knew then.' 'You never used sugar.' 'No.' 'So I put it in the sugar.'"

Morning comes and the sisters come out of their hiding spot to see the damage that happened to the house. Most of it is gone, but they decide to clean the few rooms that didn't get crushed or burned and keep living there. Due to the lack of a roof, the house now looks like a castle (hence the title) and with time, vines grow to cover the remaining structure. Charles, who had survived the fire, tries to talk to Constance again, but she rejects him.

The Blackwood sisters become a short of local legend and villagers leave offerings of food in their doorsteps. They go on with living happily in the house, having only each other's company, because they don't need anything else.

"'I love you, Constance,' I said. 'And I love you, my Merricat.'"

Like a said before, they are not canonically incestuous, but it isn't difficult to see why they are so shippable. They protect each other at all costs and can barely function when separated. Since the book ends with them going into isolation, who knows what feelings might come to light?

[katenepveu]

Y'all. Y'all.

What if Merricat discovered that she really was a werewolf?!??!!!

Down in the Boneyard (1055 words) by enemyofrome Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Constance Blackwood & Merricat Blackwood Characters: Merricat Blackwood, Constance Blackwood (We Have Always Lived In The Castle) Additional Tags: Werewolf Merricat, Character Death, Child Death Summary:

"My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am almost nineteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. On the night of the fire I learnt that I was a werewolf. On some level I had always known, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length; and as any wise woman could tell you, that is the surest sign of one touched by the moon. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cap mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead." After the fire, a blight comes upon the village.

It's so good, please go read it immediately.

[joklhops]

i made a song about "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" by Shirley Jackson I made the music, and instantly was reminded of Merricat. Something about the song just said murderous girl, after that the words came easy. Here's the rhyme:

I'm Mary Katherine Blackwood I'm Eighteen years old I've often thought with any luck I would a been a werewolf

No, don't get too noisy Got Amanita Phalloides So don't annoy me

Me and my Constance like it silent we're no men we're an island

With a simple set of magics Sympathetic buried relics Keep the castle free of hassle And visitors baffled

There's none left to meet It's just constance and me The rest are all dead Have you not left yet?

sung outro: i'm just another killer of men just another thing you can pretend won't drag ya down in the end

[13eyond13]

Who are your top 5 fav characters from all media (can be manga, anime, movies, books, games, etc)?

omg another good question, but also one I find very difficult to answer!

Uh. Would it be incredibly lame of me to have several top 5 favourites all from Death Note 😆 I feel as though it's maybe just because I've spent an ungodly amount of time discussing and enthusing over them with other people in the fandom, and this is really the only fandom I've ever been involved in, but...

L Lawliet - my #1 fave since forever!!!

Light Yagami - it's like he's also my #1 fave due to the fact that I think he's so well-written, entertaining, layered, and fascinating to analyze. I can never quite stop trying to figure him out. But he took me a lot longer to fully warm up to and appreciate than L did

Tom Ripley (in The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith) - particularly/only in the first novel that he stars in. He's got such a soft-spoken and gently polite, keenly observant POV that I find really comforting and enjoyable to hang out with in spite of how much creepy and sinister shit is actually going on underneath the surface and behind the scenes with him 😅 Clearly I have a bit of a type in fictional faves??

Beyond Birthday (in the Another Note novel by Nisio Isin)- I just felt too bad at the thought of not including B here, I simply can't betray my stupid son like that. He's the only fictional character that has ever really inspired me to hop right into his head and attempt to take the reins through writing fanfics, after all. I definitely urge anyone in the fandom who hasn't read the LABB novel yet to read it if you want to know what a colourful character B is... fanon B often just doesn't quite reach the true heights of absurdity and awkwardness that the original B does

Those MIGHT be the only ones I ACTUALLY consider my top faves right now at the moment? I have had other ones in the past, but currently that's the only list that actually sprang to mind.

HOWEVER I'll give you a bonus fictional character that I found incredibly interesting to get to know recently:

5. Mary Katherine Blackwood (from We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson) - Merricat is the epitome of a unique and odd first person POV to inhabit. Her unreliable narrating and her childish worldview and her dark little habits and obsessive rituals makes for a pretty fascinating and disturbing read!

[virgin-martyr]

My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cup mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead.

Shirley Jackson, excerpt from We Have Always Lived in the Castle

[wellntruly]

don't leave us (me) hanging like that! what other intro is better than the one to haunting of hill house?

Oh of course, it's We Have Always Lived In the Castle

--

My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cap mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead.

[loving-family-poll]

Ultimate Incest Tournament - Round 2

Propaganda under the cut:

Merricat/Constance:

Mutual obsession, codependency and isolation sisters win

They happily isolate each other and follow these rules that nobody else understands, Merricat only cares about Constance and Constance would do anything for Merricat, no matter what Merricat does, and seemingly not out of fear, but out of love

When there's a possible love interest for Constance (who also happens to be said looks like their dad), Merricat wants him dead and in the end, even though Constance seemed more she could be a part of society, she chooses Merricat over him and over everyone else

Weird girls 4ever <3

Kendall/Roman:

They played a “game” as children where Kendall would lock Roman in a dog cage, which was heavily implied to include sexual elements. Specifically, Roman said that he started wetting the bed after they started playing this game, which is common in CSA victims. Everyone says that Roman liked the dog pound game and asked to play it while Roman insists that it fucked him up. I think that this is a very interesting look into how children can play “games” that are not as innocent as most people like to believe

The stiches-splitting hug and following strangulation attempt were devious ngl if you know you know. that was sadomasochism

[laufire]

New ask chain as inspired by my friend.

Tell me about the last female character that intrigued you & why!

I'm going to give you two, because I've only met the last one and I have not as much to say.

The second-to-last one is Max Chapman from A League of Their Own. She appealled to me since the very beginning -she has guts, determination in the face of adversity, one hell of a temper xD, that doesn't-know-where-she-fits-in-the-world thing that just *melts* me... And she's incredibly pretty and I'm just a shallow lesbian (AND she's a canon lesbian! Sometimes I get lucky like that xD).

I really enjoyed her journey for the most part. From the frustrations, the self-doubt, having to find another way to see and be herself after things go sideways with Her Goals, to finally getting her shot at the end <3

I especially love that she's a co-protagonist in her own right. She's not some token representation to pat oneself in the back, she has half the show to herself, her own narrative space that's not infringed upon.

And I simply ADORE her sismance with Clance. The two of them together are a delight.

[Caption: Clance and Max in A League of Their Own. They’re watching The Wizard of Oz in theatres. Max is eating pop-corn, with a weirded out expression as she listens to CLance ramble about how “Dorothy is evil. I mean, this bitch ain’t trying to get home. Home wasn’t enough for Dorothy.”]

[Caption: Clance and Max.  They begin giggling, jumping and excitedly batting their hands together when they manage to get Max’s mother to allow them to use Max’s father’s car.]

[Caption: Max blurts out to Clance, fond and with a smile, “You are so deeply weird.”]

The last-last one is Mary Katherine Blackwood from the very few pages I read today of Shirley Jackson’s “We Have Always Lived in the Castle”. I barely know her (and I’m 100% unspoiled about this book), but I already want to open her skull to study her brain lmao.

[motifcollector]

hi!! I wanted to thank you for all the notes on my little book blog, your vibes are excellent and I'm honored that you're following me <3 would you like to tell me about some of your favorite books, or recent reads that you really enjoyed?

hi! this is so sweet omg, also i just saw your post about the sparrow--i've been meaning to read it and now i really have to!!

I recently did a post with my faves from this year so far (here), so I won't repeat the books I mentioned there but I have lots of favorites so I'm happy to have the chance to mention more! I added a little about each book for context but my blurbs do not give them justice at all, I just didn't want to throw a bunch of titles with no explanation at you :) Under the cut bc it's a long list w/ the blurbs.

EDIT WAIT IM SO DUMB I FORGOT TO SAY THAT MY GOATS ARE NABOKOV, DOSTOEVSKY, [TONI] MORRISON. I didn't want to mention all the books I loved by them bc that would take forever but yeah they are the best <3

FICTION:

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston: Just re-read this one after several years and it’s even better than I remembered. Comprised of several shorter stories based on stories the Kingston’s mother told her about her relatives in China growing up, with Kingston imagining her own version of these family legends. The final story captures the fear and anxiety and shame of childhood so well &lt;3

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson: An old favorite. Centered on 18-year-old Mary Katherine Blackwood, who lives with her older sister Constance and sickly uncle Julian after the mysterious deaths of the rest of her family. Oddly tender considering that premise :)

Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih: Read this one in a single day—among its many wonderful qualities, it’s a page-turner! Reminds me of psychological thriller movies. It’s narrated by a Sudanese man who has recently returned to his hometown after spending time in Europe. Back home, he meets a mysterious stranger who’s also been to Europe and becomes obsessed with him.

The Lover by Marguerite Duras: Based on Duras’s relationship with an adult Chinese man when she was a teenager growing up in colonial Vietnam, but despite the title, it’s clearly focused on the teen girl character. Reflective and haunting.

The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie: Better than Midnight’s Children imo. Rushdie’s books are always tough to summarize I think, the plots are often convoluted and yet they’re also more than the sum of their parts. This one is about the son of a wealthy Indian family divided by a conflict between the businessman father and pioneering artist mother.

The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai: Dazai is one of those male artists who captures young women surprisingly well. This short novel is centered on a woman from a fading aristocratic Japanese family. So emotional and quietly eloquent.

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood: Absolute classic of the stories-about-stories subgenre. The protagonist’s sister was a writer who died young with a devoted feminist following, and the protagonist resents others’ attempts to capture her sister’s legacy. Coming-of-age as she recounts growing up with her sister, but also intersperses the sister’s work.

Trieste by Daša Drndić: Centered on an elderly Italian Jewish woman haunted by her family’s complicity in the fascist order around them. Drndić’s body of work often focuses on characters obsessed with historical atrocities and is consistently fascinating, but this is my favorite of hers.

The Complete Stories by Clarice Lispector: For the longest time I felt like everyone was telling me to read Clarice Lispector and I did and yet her novels did not click for me! These stories finally made me a Lispector stan—gotta reread her novels now :) Hard to sum up since it’s a long collection, but completely worth it.

Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung: I’m biased bc I saw Bora Chung speak and she seems like such a sweet and modest and offbeat-in-a-good-way person—would be a good tumblr mutual :) But I loved this collection even before then, it’s surreal and haunting and most of the stories don’t sound like they’d work on paper but they absolutely do.

NONFICTION (I am actually a fraud when it comes to nonfiction bc I’m a novel girl at heart but some books I love…):

Twelve Who Ruled by R.R. Palmer: I just started re-reading this after a couple of years, it’s so fascinating! It’s history centered on the twelve members of the Committee of Public Safety during the French Revolution. Super interesting period in history IMO and the book is also a great study of personalities, it makes me want to write my own (fictional) characters lol.

Literature and Evil by Georges Bataille: A collection of essays on the works of a variety of writers—Blake, Kafka, Proust, etc., all the good guys.

A Little Devil in America by Hanif Abdurraqib: THE music book. It’s a collection of essays around the theme of Black music in the US. Abdurraqib’s writing is so eloquent and touching, and whether I knew the musicians’ work well or not, I loved all the essays. He does a great job of interspersing the musicians’ stories and their significance with his own perspective and experiences.

Black Reconstruction in America by W.E.B. Du Bois: Extremely important from a historical perspective--Du Bois eviscerated the dominant racist + neo-Confederate school of historiography regarding Reconstruction in the U.S. Also just incredibly well-written--since it's a technical work, it can be tedious with the statistics etc at points, but Du Bois's prose is so stunning. The chapter “Transubstantiation of a Poor White,” focused on Andrew Johnson, is absolutely brutal (complimentary.)

Fear and Trembling by Søren Kierkegaard: Kierkegaard is so fascinating, this is a daunting read (at least to me) but totally worth it. You do not have to be Christian to be a Kierkegaard enjoyer :) It’s focused on the Biblical story of Abraham almost sacrificing his son Isaac, but also tackles much more.

[birdingandreading]

Review: We Have Always Lived in the Castle

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Mary Katherine 'Merricat' Blackwood lives in her old family manor with her sister, Constance, and her uncle Julian. The rest of her family is dead. The sisters live on the outskirts of a village that despises and fears them in equal parts after the Blackwood family was poisoned 6 years ago - with only the sisters and their uncle surviving. Merricat and Constance are happy living in their home with their uncle but a change is coming...

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆/5

One word to describe the book: bizarre

Recommendation: Yes. Short book with great mystery/gothic vibes, would recommend.

(+):

Best opening to any book:

"My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all, I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cup mushroom. Everyone else in our family is dead."

Normies suck, huh.

Very unsettling, had me questioning the whole time if the main character was really 18, and didn't overstay its welcome.

(-):

Sure, maybe the ‘mystery’ isn’t really a mystery. (I don’t think it’s intended to be a mystery though.)