Friday, December 06, 2013

Five top books that began as magazine serials

At The Barnes & Noble Book Blog Allegra Frazier tagged five top books that started out as magazine serials, including:
In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote

That Capote’s groundbreaking investigation into a senseless murder’s effect on its perpetrators and collateral victims was initially published as a four-part serial in The New Yorker is not entirely surprising: as a work of investigative journalism, a periodical seems the most reasonable place for it. More remarkable is the inverse, or the piece’s commercial and critical success as a complete book. Though not the first example of the true crime genre, the novelistic style of In Cold Blood’s complete text set it apart, and has been an inspiration to both novelists and investigative journalists ever since.
Read about another entry on the list.

In Cold Blood also appears on Claire Zulkey's list of six nonfiction books that will give you nightmares, Lauren Passell's top 20 list of peanut butter & jelly reads, Kit Whitfield's top ten list of genre-defying novels, Sarah Weinman's list of best true crime books, Catherine Crier's five top crime books list, Ann Rule's five best list of true-crime books, and Bryan Burrough's six best books list. Kansas' first poet laureate Jonathan Holden's chose In Cold Blood for The Great Kansas novel.

--Marshal Zeringue