The talented Mr. Ripley – Cannonball Read 17

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

October 15, 2025 by Classic 2 Comments

It’s weird. I thought I read this book years ago and just realized as I was reading, nope. I think I got the movie mixed up in my head. This is going to be a short review, this was very good. Tom Ripley is a hot mess and you keep waiting for him to get caught, but he does not. I also felt a strange pity for this character because he seems hell-bent on not being thought of as queer, but one wonders if he […]

Holiday Reads, a.k.a. I get more reading done in a tent

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Other People's Houses (DC Ffion Morgan #3) by Clare Mackintosh

All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells

Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries #2) by Martha Wells

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

Whiteout by R.S. Burnett

August 4, 2025 by Zirza Leave a Comment

I don’t know why, but I do. Jurassic Park (Michael Crichton) *** I’ve always loved the movie, so I wanted to read the book too. I was struck by how different it was both in plot and in tone; some characters that make it out in the film don’t survive the book and vice versa, and some of the characters have been conflated or split up. Lex and Tim, as characters, are incredibly irritating and flat in the book (Lex’ entire personality is ‘annoying child’. […]

Strangers On A Train-Stranger and Strangerer

Strangers On A Train by Patricia Highsmith

April 22, 2021 by xoxoxoe 1 Comment

Every once in a while I get a yen to read the source novel for one of my favorite classic movies. My most recent read (actually listen) is Strangers On A Train, by Patricia Highsmith. I have seen the classic Alfred Hitchcock film, featuring Robert Walker and Farley Granger, many times. There are some indelible, memorable scenes in that movie – the two men crossing legs and crossing lives on the train, the gold lighter which incriminates and absolves, the final deadly and hair-raising sequence […]

Book to Film: The Talented Mr. Ripley

December 15, 2019 by xoxoxoe Leave a Comment

Patricia Highsmith wrote The Talented Mr. Ripley in in 1955. She based it loosely on Henry James’s The Ambassadors (which I now have to add to my to-read list). The lead character, Tom Ripley, proved so popular, that she brought him back for four more novels. When the reader first meets Tom he is living close to the bone in New York City, subsisting on his “friends,” or running various schemes, including mail fraud. But Tom isn’t really great at his schemes, and he doesn’t like […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

Help Our Mission