TUESDAY 30 JANUARY 2024
7PM to 8PM
Open to all. Hosted online using Zoom Meetings.
Tickets: Free, booking required.
Accessibility: Live subtitles are available using Zoom's Live Transcript function.
The Really Popular Book Club is Cambridge University Libraries' book group. Everyone is welcome to come and discuss a really popular book with the group, library staff, and an expert on the novel. Hosted on Zoom, the book club is completely free and open to everyone, people attend from all over the world.
The Really Popular Book Club celebrates the huge range of books at Cambridge University Library. We have more than 8 million books and as a legal deposit library we keep a copy of every book published in the UK, and have done since 1710.
"Wealthy farmer, 3 of family slain." These words in the New York Times in November 1959 launched Truman Capote on a path towards his greatest literary success: the publication of his celebrated "nonfiction novel" In Cold Blood, which takes the brutal murder of a family of four—and the fate of their murderers—as its devastatingly compelling subjects.
To discuss the novel with us, we'll be joined by special guest Charles Arrowsmith, who works at The New York Public Library and has written for the Washington Post, the LA Times, and the Independent.
To aide the conversation, we have prepared three 'thinking points' to consider when reading In Cold Blood:
1. Truman Capote referred to In Cold Blood as a "nonfiction novel". What does this mean? How does this label affect your reading of the book?
2. Despite his growing personal involvement with the real people involved in the murder depicted in the book, Capote remains entirely offstage. Why does he do this, and what are the consequences of his choice?
3. What do you think Capote has to say about capital punishment?
If you haven't attended one of our book club events before, you can find more information at www.lib.cam.ac.uk/bookclub.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote is available in paperback, hardback, audio and ebook formats, borrowable from public libraries or to purchase. To see what printed and digital copies are available from Cambridge University Libraries (borrowable by University staff and students), search iDiscover.