I am reading a great book - Robin Blackburn, "Marx and Lincoln: An Unfinished Revolution."

In honor of Pat Conroy; who recently died; I strongly recommend "Prince of Tides".

I posted about Strangers on a Train a while ago; I've now read a whole mess of Patricia Highsmith novels (as well as some short stories and non-fiction and a biography, but they're generally a notch below the novels so I won't mention them here).

Here's my ranking of the novels I've read so far:

1. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955) -- Her masterpiece. Tom Ripley's a brilliant character who you root for -- very uncomfortably -- despite his violence and psychopathology.
2. Strangers on a Train (1950) -- Reviewed a couple pages back.
3. The Blunderer (1954) -- A "dimestore Dostoevsky" novel, pulpy and fast-paced but with some interesting philosophical questions thrown in.
4. The Price of Salt (AKA Carol) (1952) -- Not like the other novels, this was a lesbian story Highsmith had to publish under a pseudonym. Well-written and for its time sort of groundbreaking.
5. Tremor of Forgery (1969) -- Paul Bowles-ish in setting and pacing.
6. Cry of the Owl (1962) -- A nice creepy first half about an ordinary-guy voyeur that sort of goes off the rails.
7. Two Faces of January (1964) -- Similar to Cry of the Owl in that it starts out well then tapers off.
8. Found in the Street (1986) -- Nothing special.

I'd rate 1-2 great, 3-5 good, 6-7 okay, and 8 not worth reading.

I did read mr ripley..yes great..the movie was very true to the book...i actually have just about all of her books but i have read so much about her being a terrible person that i got turned off from reading more.

She really was a crappy person (she was a racist, anti-Semite and homophobe, for starters, and also a cheapskate), but there were mitigating circumstances, such as mental illnesses that probably went undiagnosed, as well as the fact she was a lesbian at a time when being one was really, really unacceptable (she was full of self-loathing). Joan Schenkar's biography "The Talented Miss Highsmith" goes into a lot of detail on Highsmith's many character flaws.

There have been two movies based on Ripley -- the French one ("Purple Moon" in English) which came out in 1960, and Anthony Minghella's 1999 adaptation, starring Matt Damon. They were both pretty good; I think the latter one was better.

My 8-year-old daughter is reading the Harry Potter books for the first time. We read the first one together, and now she's blowing through them. She's all excited to go to Harry Potter World, or whatever it's called. Not exactly highbrow reading, but I thought it would be fun to read them behind her (I suppose reading in front of her would've made more sense, but hindsight is 20/20 -- no pun intended on the behind/front/hindsight stuff!).

harry potty.

crazy..you can have all of my patricia highsmith books..ill send them to you..all trade paperback...perfect condition..new..between 25-30 books i think....probably everything published through 2010.

CALL ME SEXIST, BUT I'VE NEVER LIKED FEMALE WRITERS. AGATHA CHRISTIE BEING THE EXCEPTION

if Jane Smiley didn't write about horses I would not read her

if Annie Proulx wrote about crafts exclusively I might read her anyway

SEXIST

Shirley Jackson.

a tidbit about Isaac Asimov...i didnt know that he was not only a devotee of sherlock holmes but also nero wolfe...being a member of a group called the wolfe pack...that surprised me.

I really couldn't get into Ripley. I think I just don't personally identify well enough with his particular brand of psychopathies, so I just don't care about or sympathize with the character on any level. His vagaries of mood and temperament and conviction that he can infer numerous layers of other people's thoughts and feelings from momentary readings of their facial expressions just feel ridiculous to me. I'm not saying there aren't people like him in the world. But I don't feel the need to read about them. Found the book fairly boring and unrelatable.

Since I finally finished the Wheel of Time books a few months ago I've been reading mostly quick stuff that I can get through in a few weeks or less, generally on the lighter side. A lot of books that would fit into what you might call the humorous mystery/thriller genre - Carl Hiaasen, Elmore Leonard, and the like. Also read Dave Barry's Big Trouble. I really enjoyed that, far more than I expected. It's not that I don't enjoy some of Dave Barry's perfectly childish column humor. I have several of those books, and they're about as laugh out loud funny as any written humor I've seen when you're in the right mood. But I didn't expect it to translate well into the writing of a novel. I was pleasantly surprised. Unsurprisingly, it's not deep or thought-provoking, but it is delightfully ironic. Definitely worth reading, and you can read it in a week or two even if you're a slow and sporadic reader like myself.

Also been working my way through Jim Gaffigan's second book, Food: a love story. It's ok, but most of the funniest parts are pretty much straight out of his standup routines and I've seen it before. If you've seen his standup the book reads better, but it's not great. Dad is Fat was better.

i have some carl hiassen books but havnt read any..i have read several elmore leonard and he was great...i happen to think get shorty and be cool were both great movies..ican laugh forever when i think about the last scene - the music video. in be cool.

if you read a leonard book but skip all the dialogue you got nada

one author needs hollywood is leonard