Somerville Public Library Announces 2019 “Somerville Reads” Book Selection

The Somerville Public Library is excited to announce the title of its tenth annual Somerville Reads campaign, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Copies will be available at all three Somerville Public Library locations as of September 3, 2019.  Somerville Reads is a citywide reading initiative that encourages all Somerville residents to read and discuss the same book to promote literacy and community engagement.

Throughout the month of October, the Somerville Public Library will host various programs, including discussions, readings, tours, book clubs, and more, all related to the themes found in The Haunting of Hill House”

From Penguin Random House:

“The classic supernatural thriller by an author who helped define the genre. First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a ‘haunting;’ Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers – and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.”

The New York Times in 1959 wrote, “Shirley Jackson proves again that she is the finest master currently practicing in the genre of the cryptic, haunted tale.”

2019 marks the tenth year that the Somerville Public Library has sponsored Somerville Reads. Previous titles include Exit West by Moshin Hamid, El Deafo by Cece Bell, The Witches by Stacy Schiff, The Martian by Andy Weir, and Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 by Stephen Puleo.

For more information or questions about e-book and audiobook versions of the book, please call (617) 623-5000 ext. 2955, or visit the library’s website at www.somervillepubliclibrary.org.