For the Month of July 2009 our group read is "In cold Blood".

Please feel free to start discussions.

I have downloaded a sample to my Kindle and will get to me sometime in the next couple of weeks. I get this is a true crime story, am I right?

Emilee- I have a suggestion... I love the way things are run but do you think it would be at all possible to bump the nominations/polling back a week. The only reason I say this is because if we find out on the first of the month what the book is then often I have to order it as my library isn't very big and it takes at least a week to get in. If we bumped it a bit then by the first of the month we could have the book for the month.
Like I say it is just maybe a suggestions- maybe it is only me and I am still going to read the books of the month just may not always finish by the end of the month which is fine too I suppose.

Shelley, I agree. Usually I like to have my books read for the beginning of the month so I am ready to discuss them. I just ordered this one at the library and am waiting for their call.

Oh I will try to get hold of this book but it seems unlikely. I might wait till a book is chosen that's on my bookshelf, or can be borrowed from a friend.

I so want to read this book. I order it for the shop all the time but it sells before I am not reading anything and look for it. I like to think it will be like Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege and Justice which I love.

I have ordered it from the Library- Fingers crossed it comes in soon- I am SO excited to read this book it sounds like it is written very well.

I just picked up the book from the library today.

I started reading the book and I remembered a program on A&E about the murders. Good I don't remember too much about it. I am finding the book good.

I bought it need to start it but need to finish a few first.

I got it in. The copy at my library was supposed to be out untill July 22 but it seems they were finished with it early! Started it last night but was so tired I didn't get far. Excited it is the weekend to get a good dent in it.

Got my copy from the library yesterday and started reading last night.

Yay, I'm so excited this won. Should be able to start sometime this week.

About 2/3 of the way through. Better than any TV detective show.

Wow, you went through that fast! Must mean it's pretty decent.

I loved his life story in the film, 'Capote'. I thought Philip Seymour Hoffmans' performance was amazing and very consisitent.

Absolutely agree, Michael.

Yep! Yep!

Mandy wrote: "Wow, you went through that fast! Must mean it's pretty decent."

It's very good. Stayed up until 1:30 this morning finishing it. Makes you think about some things in a different way. I'll have to assemble my thoughts before I post them.

Can't wait to see what you think, Dan.

I had hoped to read more this weekend but that didn't happen. Last night I managed to get half way through the book- and then seriously had to close it and shut the light off. I am hooked, the writing style works for me and I want to keep reading just so I can find out how all the pieces will come together.

I bought this recently, but haven't opened it yet. Based on all of your comments, maybe I should move it up to the top of the TBR pile...

I actually bought the book after seeing Capote. It's a very good movie.

Can we talk spoilers here?

Also, pardon my ignorance,wasn't Capote a ganster? Any relationship?

Elena,

I think you're thinking of Al Capone. I knew there was a gangster with a similar sounding name but it took me a while to remember it after I read your question.

You should watch The Untouchables starring Robert De Niro, Sean Connery, Kevin Costner and Andy Garcia. I personally found it a little slow but De Niro plays a version of Al Capone in the movie.

You should watch The Untouchables starring Robert De Niro, Sean Connery, Kevin Costner and Andy Garcia. I personally found it a little slow but De Niro plays a version of Al Capone in the movie.

After I posted the question, it came to me that it was "Capone".

*Spoiler*

I liked this book although I found myself skimming through some parts of it.

My favorite part was the letter Perry wrote to his friend Cullivan. In it he let us know he was not sorry at all for what he did. Really made me understand what having no conscious means. He said" If I'd really know them I guess I'd feel different. I don't think I could live with myself. But the way it was , it was like picking off targets in a shooting gallery" whoa!

Also good was the autobiography Dick wrote of himself. He said he only stayed at the Clutter's house after finding no safe, in the hopes of raping Nancy. What a monster!

I hated how the undertaker' wife took care of Perry at the jail, what was wrong with her???

I found interesting the fact that Dick always called Perry "honey". Somewhere in Wikipeida, somebody argue that Capote changed the facts and that Perry and Dick had a relationship. The article says what really happened was that: "When Hickock did back down, Smith killed the whole family, to show Hickock that he, Smith, the passive partner in their relationship, was even manlier than his active-role sex partner"

I am determined to get through this book this weekend!

I did not really enjoy this book. The beginning and end were slow and the middle was okay. It was an interesting story but I just felt that it could have been told better.

OK, I'm just about to start In Cold Blood, but I'm after seeing these posts, I'm not so sure I want to waste my time. My time is precious to me and reading is my only way to relax and escape. I want it to be good! Just finished the Kite Runner and that took me to places I never thought about for sure!

Terri wrote: "OK, I'm just about to start In Cold Blood, but I'm after seeing these posts, I'm not so sure I want to waste my time. My time is precious to me and reading is my only way to relax and escape. I w..."

Terri - Have you read A Thousand Splendid Suns? That is also a fabulous book- but don't start reading it thinking it was a sequel to KR. My sister did that and hated it, everyone else I speak with (including myself) loved the book- not quite as good as KR but I would still recommend it as a great summer read!

Shelley wrote: "Terri wrote: "OK, I'm just about to start In Cold Blood, but I'm after seeing these posts, I'm not so sure I want to waste my time. My time is precious to me and reading is my only way to relax an..."
No Shelley, I haven't read that one yet. I haven't bought it either so I was trying to read some I already own. I might look for it anyway. thanks for the suggestion.

Well I managed to finish In Cold Blood this weekend. I do have to admit, I skimmed through parts of it in order to get through it. I found the concept to be good and the story line to be good but I did not enjoy the writing style, I found that the story dragged and didn't hold my attention.

I am starting to think I am the problem with all these books, I don't know what my problem is but lately every book I read is just "ok-ho-hum-just another book- I need to get out of this funk and find appreciation in the books I read again!

Shelley, I can relate to what you said. The last four books I have picked I have not finished.

And I also skimmed through the book more than once. I probably would not have finished it either if it had not been a true story.

***spoiler alert***

I have debated for several days making any comments about this book, but I feel an obligation to say them, even though a very good friend dearly loves Truman Capote. Try as I might, I am predisposed to seeing something of the tortured writer in the themes of this book and the whole thing makes me uncomfortable.
I read this book several years ago and it was a life changing experience. I had fully well intended to read it as a murder mystery, but after I finished, I couldn't get it out of my head that it was a true account. I have never been able to deal with the stark brutality in the book, the emptiness of the killers' lives and the sadness that they left behind. In essence, after I finished with the book, I felt dirty. When I think of it now, it still makes me feel that way.
While this book began a new genre, the non-fiction detective novel, I found some things difficult to process, things which have already been mentioned concerning the killers' mindsets. Liking a man and then slitting his throat throws my brain into a hard reset. Shooting innocent people in the head with a shotgun leaves me unable to process anything. I don't want to live on the same planet with people like this.
I think I have read everything available concerning the writing of this book, including some of the commentaries and letters by Dick and Perry when they were in prison. J. J. Maloney, an investigative reporter (and convicted murderer himself) suggests that Capote knowingly changed the facts. The murder scenario dialogue seems to hint strongly that Dick and Perry were homosexual lovers. Others have suggested that Capote left that out because it might show him, too, in a similar bad light. Of course he denied it, but their relationship seems otherwise very odd and interdependent although twisted.
On the other side, I thought the book was painstakingly crafted, truly a work of great care and writing talent. In fact I admired how well the book was put together, building suspense in an activity where we know essentially what will happen. It just wasn't enough to make me like it.
Perhaps this entire story is significant of our society really turning a corner in 1959, finally the real evil becoming manifest and to the forefront. I'm not sure of that but the emptiness in Dick and Perry's lives seem similar to the way people think when leaving the scene of a hit and run accident today, something so vile it makes me ill to read about it. Maybe it's just about life, but whatever it is, this book seems too serious to just read and dismiss. At the same time, this story is too horrific to hold onto.

I loved this book. Read it last year, but it was a really quick read for me.......

**Spoiler Alert**

I'm almost half-way through and I'm enjoying it now. It was a slow start because it was honestly depressing to read about the lives of the people who are soon going to die. But once their murders occured, it moved faster for me because I didn't have to dread the fateful event. Now, it's hard for me to put it down.

I really enjoyed this book. I usually don't like non-fiction books about murders but Capote captured me and I had to keep reminding myself that this really happened.

I admire Capote for taking on the challenge of writing about the murders. But there was so much information, dialogue, dreams, ideas it makes me wonder how much of it really happened and what he made up to suit his story.

I read this book the first time when it was on the best seller's list. So back in 1965 or 1966, age 24/25 and either pregnant or taking care of an infant. A long, long time ago. Never expected to re-read it. My memories of the book were that it was very well written and that I enjoyed it, but I never read anything else Capote wrote, although you could not fail to be aware of him.

I'm at page 32 right now, and I agree with my much younger self. The book is very well written, and I'm probably going to enjoy reading it.

I'm on page 73. They are just in the process of finding the bodies. And it hit me, once again, just how much things have changed since the murders happened.

In the earliest pages Capote described the town the murders happened in. He specifically talked about all the unpaved roads. These days, I'd bet those roads are paved. Just about everything is these days.

And this time, there is no 911. No cell phones. The people who first discover the body have no way to call the authorities except to go home. The sheriff takes a high school teacher into the house with him. I doubt if that would happen today even in a rural area, but it is very likely there was no one else to call in.

Yup, it is me again. I was reading a little in the book this morning and it suddenly hit me that what I was reading was a quote from someone who, at the time they were talking, obviously knew that people had died, but did not know much more about it.

The edition I'm reading had a forward that explained that Capote was on scene two weeks after the murder, so yes, it was possible for him to have interviewed people who lived in the town before much was known about the murders. That was not information I had the first time I read the book in the mid-60s.

It is all quit interesting to see how the book was put together.

I finished this morning and gave it 5 stars. When I did sit down to read it the pages flew by. I think it was very well written, Capote definitely knows what he's doing.

One of the things that hit me hard was the detectives reading the prisoners "their rights". Not the Miranda wordage that we are used to, but it was before the Miranda case got to the Supreme Court. But obviously it was already considered "good practice" to tell them they could have a lawyer and that what they said could be used against them.

I finished it. Pretty much the way I remembered it the last time I read it 40+ years ago. Well written. Anything but a quick read, but certainly written well enough to keep you reading.

See, I thought it was a super quick read, before I knew it 20, 30, 50 pages had gone by.

I read this book almost two years ago and really liked it. I just watched the movie Capote and felt like reading it again (and read To Kill a Mockingbird as well). I gave it 4 stars.

I loved this book! I found the writing to be fresh and original and just so thought provoking. Capote was most definitely ahead of his time. First non-fiction piece of the time and it was brilliant!

I'm generally scared to reread books I haven't looked at in 40+ years, but this was worth looking at again. He was a fine writer and he did a great job with this book. It is definitely a period piece, but that is OK. It was interesting to see what things had changed, and I'm still kind of shocked at the whole "Miranda" thing (see my post above).

I finished this about a week ago and I found that it went really fast once the book reached the killings. Some parts were slow but all of it was interesting at least. The book did make me want to watch the movie "Capote" as well read his other books.