Being a Shirley Type.

Tonight’s dinner consisted of a bowl of home made pea and potato soup accompanied by a strange tasting roll with a Japanese name. Very pleasant it was too, but not what you would call ‘substantial.’

And so tonight’s post-dinner munching consisted of a slice of buttered toast, a pack of little cheesy crunchy things, a banana, a chocolate, and a rice cake. And as I was reaching for the packet containing the rice cakes, a sudden thought sprang at me from both nowhere and somewhere inside my head simultaneously. It said ‘I must always eat or I shall die.’ It was entirely involuntary.

And this is why I enjoy Shirley Jackson’s writing so much. These odd, involuntary thoughts are the main substance of her main protagonists – they’re very strange characters, and yet strangely compelling because they’re so compellingly familiar.