A Totally Capote Christmas
For the Writer or Reader on Your Christmas List
This year, don't give just a book-give an event! Truman Capote and Harper Lee books and movies provide weeks of entertainment in prices that range from $8 to $20,000.
A few months ago, one of my book clubs read Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. As Capote is a writer that I appreciate more and more as I get older, I happily uncovered my volume, and dove right in. I read it non-stop for a few days, and turned the last page wanting more. I devoured Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and The Thanksgiving Visitor. From there, I took a detour, and based on a recommendation of a fellow book clubbie, picked up Mocking Bird: A Portrait of Harper Lee (Charles J. Shields, published by Henry Holt & Co. 2006). Although a biography of Harper Lee, Mocking bird is Capote’s story as well. Capote and Lee were childhood friends, and Dill, in To Kill a Mockingbird, is based on Capote. Truman and Harper remained close friends into adulthood and Lee traveled to Holcomb, Kansas with him, and did a large portion of the research for In Cold Blood. Their relationship soured as Lee became more reclusive after the overwhelming success of her first novel, and Capote became less the writer and more the famous personality, and and drugged and drunken one at that.
The story is fascinating and consuming; an ongoing tapestry of talent and tantrums. So, for the reader on your list, here are the components of a thoroughly engaging Totally Capote Multi-Media Event:
- A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote (Random House 1956) paperback $10
- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote Random House 1965) First edition $250., nice early copy $22, paperback $14.
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (JB Lippencot & Co 1960) first edition $20,000, early edition $35, paperback $8
- To Kill a Mockingbird audio book, narrated by Cissy Spacek $32.
- Mockingbird: A portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields (Henry Holt & Co 2006) First Edition Hardcover $15.
- Capote DVD 2005 directed by Bennett Miller starring Philip Seymour Hoffman $19
- In Cold Blood DVD 1967 directed by Richard Brooks starring Robert Blake $19
- To Kill a Mockingbird DVD directed by Robert Mulligan starring Gregory Peck $21
Slip on your jammies, pop some corn, and prepare to lose yourself in Harper and Truman’s world!
