Tuesday, October 29, 2013

One Thing Leads To Another

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Pretty fall colors in a different way. I love Roosters.

I recently had to go get blood work and as usual there was a wait, but this time the wait was worth it.  I picked up a copy of Vanity Fair Magazine and was immediately drawn to an article about Harper Lee.  For those of you who do not know whom I am talking about, she wrote the classic To Kill A Mockingbird.  This is one of my all time favorite books and so it seems is America's favorite book.  Harper Lee only wrote one book in her life and it has sold millions of copies in many countries and languages.

The article spoke of a fight (lawsuit) she was waging with her agent who dishonestly persuaded her to sign over the rights to To Kill A Mockingbird.  It continues to make millions of dollars. She is living in assisted living, is almost completely deaf and blind, but knows what is happening.  The interesting part of the article was the insight into the writing of To Kill A Mockingbird, a veiled autobiography.  It spoke of her lifetime friend and fellow author Truman Capote, who lived next door to her.  The character of Dill is modeled after Capote.

This is where one thing leads to another.  I knew of Truman Capote but had never read any of his books, but that changed when the article stated that Harper Lee had helped Capote research his book In Cold Blood a real life story fictionalized. This type of writing had never been done before, what started out as an article for the NewYorker Magazine became a best selling novel.  Lee accompanied Capote to Holcomb Kansas where a prominent farmer and his family had been murdered in cold blood.  Lee was the normal grounding person compared to Capote's flamboyant personality.  Lee was down to earth and was able to relate to the people of Holcomb better than Capote, she was the one who could get him in to see people who normally would have dismissed him.

There were two movies made about Capote and his quest to understand the two men who murdered a family for a presumed cache of money, which there was none.  They shed light on a men who though different, especially for the time period of the 1960's, was brilliant in his writing.  The second movie, Infamous, I did not like as well.  The director sensationalized Capote into a caricature of himself taking away from the story line.

So as one story lead me to another, I have found yet more books to add to my Kindle.  Who knew that reading an article on one of my favorite authors would lead me to another famous author and more stories to read.  I want to go back and reread To Kill A Mockingbird and watch the movie again with these new insights.

It seems as though I am posting fall and summer and not much else.  A lot has happened in the ensuing months.  My brother Chip passed away in August he fought the good fight and is now in heaven free of pain and illness.

We sold our house in July, finally, with two bidders. Our home in Hagerstown is coming along slowly, and we are looking at a mid January settlement, not what we had planned.  Our life is busy living with Catherine (our daughter) and her house is looking pretty good with the little extras her daddy has added (molding and book shelves).

Life goes on and you never know that simply reading a magazine article will lead to expanding your mind and reading list.

I will try to post more often I hope.