I was fascinated to learn at the January meeting that Harper Lee helped Capote with his research. Apparently they were childhood friends. I either never knew this or forgot it decades ago.
Harper Lee is quoted as saying that the character of "Dill"--the nerdy boy next door--in "To Kill a Mockingbird" was based on Capote.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
The End - Books we have read
Anywhere But Here -- Mona Simpson
Atlas Shrugged -- Ayn Rand
A Prayer for Owen Meany -- John Irving
Cider House Rules -- John Irving
Crazy in Alabama -- Mark Childress
Deliverance -- James Dickey
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde -- Robert Louis Stevenson
East of Eden -- John Steinbeck
Ethan Frome -- Edith Warton
Fahrenheit 451 -- Ray Bradbury
Flags of Our Fathers -- James Bradley with Ron Powers
Frankenstein: A Modern Prometheus -- Mary Shelley
Freedom -- Jonathan Franzen
Freedom at Midnight -- Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre
Gilead -- Marilynne Robinson
Haunted Mesa -- Louis L’Amour
In Cold Blood -- Truman Capote
Is Paris Burning? -- Larry Collins
Life on the Mississippi -- Mark Twain
Mayflower -- Nathaniel Philbrick
My Grandfather’s Son -- Clarence Thomas
My Sister’s Keeper -- Jodi Picoult
Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science -- Charles Wheelan
Pale Horse, Pale Rider -- Katherine Anne Porter
Pillars of the Earth -- Ken Follett
Postville -- Stephen Bloom
The Professor and the Madman -- Simon Winchester
Riders of the Purple Sage -- Zane Grey
Running With Scissors -- Augusten Burroughs
Salvation on Sand Mountain -- Dennis Covington
Sarah's Key -- Tatiana de Rosnay
Saturday -- Ian McEwan
Slaughterhouse-Five -- Kurt Vonnegut
Snow -- Orhan Pamuk
Sophie’s Choice -- William Styron
Tending to Virginia -- Jill Mccorkle
That Old Cape Magic -- Richard Russo
The Bluest Eye -- Toni Morrison
The Brothers Karamazov -- Dostoevsky
The Circus in Winter -- Cathy Day
The Collected Stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer
The Color of Water -- James McBride
The Corrections -- Jonathan Franzen
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time -- Mark Haddon
The Devil in the White City -- Erik Larson
The Glass Castle -- Jeanette Wall
The Good Shepherd -- C.S. Forester
The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet -- Jamie Ford
The Immortal Life on Henrietta Lacks -- Rebecca Skloot
The Jungle -- Upton Sinclair
The Kite Runner -- Khaled Hosseini
The Left Hand of Darkness -- Ursula K. LeGuin
The Life of Pi -- Yann Martel
The Lincoln Lawyer -- Michael Connelly
The Peabody Sisters -- Megan Marshall
The Poisonwood Bible -- Barbara Kingsolver
The Professor and the Madman -- Simon Winchester
The Secret Life of Bees -- Sue Monk Kidd
The Help -- Kathryn Stockett
The Stories of John Cheever -- John Cheever
The Things They Carried -- Tim O’Brien
The White Tiger -- Aravand Adiga
The Year of Pleasures -- Elizabeth Berg
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
Three Cups of Tea -- Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Wide Sargasso Sea -- Jean Rhys
Atlas Shrugged -- Ayn Rand
A Prayer for Owen Meany -- John Irving
Cider House Rules -- John Irving
Crazy in Alabama -- Mark Childress
Deliverance -- James Dickey
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde -- Robert Louis Stevenson
East of Eden -- John Steinbeck
Ethan Frome -- Edith Warton
Fahrenheit 451 -- Ray Bradbury
Flags of Our Fathers -- James Bradley with Ron Powers
Frankenstein: A Modern Prometheus -- Mary Shelley
Freedom -- Jonathan Franzen
Freedom at Midnight -- Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre
Gilead -- Marilynne Robinson
Haunted Mesa -- Louis L’Amour
In Cold Blood -- Truman Capote
Is Paris Burning? -- Larry Collins
Life on the Mississippi -- Mark Twain
Mayflower -- Nathaniel Philbrick
My Grandfather’s Son -- Clarence Thomas
My Sister’s Keeper -- Jodi Picoult
Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science -- Charles Wheelan
Pale Horse, Pale Rider -- Katherine Anne Porter
Pillars of the Earth -- Ken Follett
Postville -- Stephen Bloom
The Professor and the Madman -- Simon Winchester
Riders of the Purple Sage -- Zane Grey
Running With Scissors -- Augusten Burroughs
Salvation on Sand Mountain -- Dennis Covington
Sarah's Key -- Tatiana de Rosnay
Saturday -- Ian McEwan
Slaughterhouse-Five -- Kurt Vonnegut
Snow -- Orhan Pamuk
Sophie’s Choice -- William Styron
Tending to Virginia -- Jill Mccorkle
That Old Cape Magic -- Richard Russo
The Bluest Eye -- Toni Morrison
The Brothers Karamazov -- Dostoevsky
The Circus in Winter -- Cathy Day
The Collected Stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer
The Color of Water -- James McBride
The Corrections -- Jonathan Franzen
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time -- Mark Haddon
The Devil in the White City -- Erik Larson
The Glass Castle -- Jeanette Wall
The Good Shepherd -- C.S. Forester
The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet -- Jamie Ford
The Immortal Life on Henrietta Lacks -- Rebecca Skloot
The Jungle -- Upton Sinclair
The Kite Runner -- Khaled Hosseini
The Left Hand of Darkness -- Ursula K. LeGuin
The Life of Pi -- Yann Martel
The Lincoln Lawyer -- Michael Connelly
The Peabody Sisters -- Megan Marshall
The Poisonwood Bible -- Barbara Kingsolver
The Professor and the Madman -- Simon Winchester
The Secret Life of Bees -- Sue Monk Kidd
The Help -- Kathryn Stockett
The Stories of John Cheever -- John Cheever
The Things They Carried -- Tim O’Brien
The White Tiger -- Aravand Adiga
The Year of Pleasures -- Elizabeth Berg
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
Three Cups of Tea -- Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Wide Sargasso Sea -- Jean Rhys
About us
The Nulli Secundus Literary Society was formed in Aledo, Illinois in the late 19th century. As well as pursuing literary interests, Nulli Secundus (Latin for "Second to None") sponsored entertainments and dancing to live music for the price of 25 cents, profits used to buy school materials.
The Mercer Carnegie Library Book Group, formed in 2005, maintains an eclectic reading list of books and discusses the latest "read" on the second Tuesday of each month.
Controversy rages as to whether this newer group is a continuation of the Nulli Secundus organization or is a separate entity. It's a quiet rage, however, so soft that you hardly notice it. An uninformed observer might watch members of both factions sitting together around the table discussing "The Peabody Sisters" or "The Jungle" and have no idea that mortal combat was in progress.
The Mercer Carnegie Library Book Group, formed in 2005, maintains an eclectic reading list of books and discusses the latest "read" on the second Tuesday of each month.
Controversy rages as to whether this newer group is a continuation of the Nulli Secundus organization or is a separate entity. It's a quiet rage, however, so soft that you hardly notice it. An uninformed observer might watch members of both factions sitting together around the table discussing "The Peabody Sisters" or "The Jungle" and have no idea that mortal combat was in progress.
The Slush Pile
Books under consideration. Feel free to submit ideas. (You can quickly check a book's availability by using RSACAT.)
Available through Interlibrary Loan
- The Audacity of Hope - Barack Obama
- The Jane Austen Book Club - Karen Joy Fowler
- Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See
- Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
- Taliban: Militant Islam, oil, and fundamentalism in Central Asia - Rashid Ahmed
Not yet widely available
- The Story of Edgar Sawtelle - David Wroblewski