PECKERWOOD BOOK CLUB: What Are Your Favorite Patricia Highsmith Novels? Plus An Icy-Cold "Mouth To Mouth!"
Welcome, trollops, to the latest edition of the Peckerwood Book Club, where we can giggle and share our favorite books we've been reading - and giggle some more. Today, let's chat about Patricia Highsmith, the inimitable author of unputdownable suspense novels whose reputation has only grown since her death in 1995. Whenever a Highsmith virgin asks which of her novels to start with, I first ask if they've seen any movie or TV version of " The Talented Mr. Ripley ." If they haven't, I cry out, "Lucky you!" and recommend that they read it immediately - since it's a masterpiece, yes, but also because it's best to have Highsmith's unadulterated "Ripley" foremost in your mind before you approach the many big and small screen incantations. None of them have equalled his jeweled, sometimes elegant, evil in this first of five "Ripley" novels. If they have seen screen versions of "Ripley," I usually recommend they st...