Hacker News Books

I find it odd that people would think she ghosted In Cold Blood, considering that Harper Lee published exactly one book (two as of 2019) and Capote published well over a dozen.

Not saying it isn't possible, one would just generally assume that the "ghost" would be the more experienced author.

If you want to read a real Harper Lee True Crime book, read Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood." She helped him with the research, and some people feel she may have ghosted much of it.

Regardless, it's an iconic true crime book you could (and should) read.

I just started reading Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood"[0] - I'm only a few pages in so please no spoilers.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Cold_Blood

This phenomenon of trust shattered in a tightly knit community reminds me of Truman Capote's description of Holcomb, Kansas, in his book "In Cold Blood".

Well, "To Kill a Mockingbird" has never been out of print (since 1960) and Capote isn't known for his novels. "In Cold Blood" (1966) was his most successful work. One could argue that she was the more successful novelist.

Capote's fame is mostly due to his "jet set" social life, not the quantity or quality of his work.

In Cold Blood - Truman Capote

The best books I've read in the last decade (that I can remember, I've only been keeping reading lists since ~2015) are mostly important because they have contributed to my inspiration and style as a writer.

* The Road - Cormac McCarthy

* Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy

* No Country for Old Men - Cormac McCarthy

* On Writing - Stephen King

* 11/22/63 - Stephen King

* The Stand - Stephen King

* Hell's Angels - Hunter S. Thompson

* East of Eden - John Steinbeck

* Slouching Towards Bethlehem - Joan Didion

* In Cold Blood - Truman Capote

Store your private key on a paper wallet all you want, but what are you going to do during a tiger kidnapping? People look at me weird when I bring this up, but know nothing about real security. I could advice some ISO certified procedures to keep your money safe but your family is going to be the weak link. Go read In Cold Blood by Truman Capote to get an idea on what could go wrong.

Serialized novels used to be common, though. Many of Dickens's novels were famously serialized weekly. Alexandre Dumas' famous novels The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers were also published as serials. There are plenty of other examples. More recently, apparently In Cold Blood and Bonfire Of The Vanities were both initially published as serials.

Even today, comic books are effectively serialized narrative stories that are pretty reliably published on schedule and have writers who have to keep up for months at a time.

> Authors tend to have phases of inspiration, and lulls in between.

Different writers have different approaches to work. Some writers work in highly productive sprints with long fallow periods, and you're right this model probably wouldn't work well for them. But some novelists do work steadily (Stephen King I believe still tries to write for a couple hours every single day and only takes relatively short breaks between novels), and the fact that this model used to work for a number of books that are now considered classics seems to indicate it can still work in at least some cases.

I'd actually be more worried about the consumer side - the death of magazines makes this model tougher. A given author can reliably produce a novel over the course of a year or two, perhaps, but probably not indefinitely (comic books solve this problem by having writing teams do arcs and then swap out the writer). Magazines used to bundle multiple authors, so subscribers weren't affected by the break period of a single author. In a world where people subscribe to individual authors on Substack and there's no bundling of many authors writing, yeah, it's a tougher sell.

I’m not sure, I read In Cold Blood, which was as much about the family as the killers and was most struck by how full and vibrant and prosperous life in 1950s small midwest farm community was. It seemed like everyone from teenagers to adults had a huge range of social ties and activities even apart from religion. I’ve lived in small town middle America and nowadays its mostly a dump between meth, opiates and Walmart jobs. Reading that I felt like I understood for the first time why people my grandparents age really feel something has been lost.

Sketch. I've transitioned my UI/UX workflow completely from Photoshop and haven't looked back. The hype is real and well-deserved.

Truman Capote's book - In Cold Blood. Also, The Great Gatsby. There are countless phrases littered throughout both where I just think 'fuck, that is really something'.

Keto. It's easy to stick to and I've consistently lost weight. I no longer have brain fog, bloating, and I can't even remember the last time I felt hungry or craved sugar.

Buddhism / meditation. It helps being thankful and to understand that there is something more to life than what is on the surface.

The Doors because, well, Jim Morrison.

Water. Seriously, drink more of it.