Currently reading
A London Family, 1870-1900: A Trilogy
The Cellist of Sarajevo
Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher
All the Names
A History of the World in 100 Objects
Down the Garden Path
Virtue Betray'd, Or, Anna Bullen
Year of Wonders
Swallows and Amazons
Illusion in java
Patricia Highsmith fascinates me, probably not in a good way. I love her novels and short stories (she wrote a lot more than just the Mr. Ripley books), which are dark and tense. Following her life as a closeted lesbian and misogynist through years of the mid-twentieth century is like watching a train wreck, but gives a lot of insight into her stories. This particular biography was quite long and needed some serious editing for repetition and extraneous detail. I forgave that though because the biographer was braver that most in showing what a nasty piece of work Highsmith could sometimes be, even and especially to her friends. She was a tortured, broken person and to get close to her was to get sucked into her darkness. Satisfying read even if I did skim quite a bit