Read Mr. Mudede's post about War History & Tourism, and you'll see what prompted my question.

Patricia Highsmith. Good smart mean novels, terrific stories, and her work is finally back in print.

Don't judge her by the films made from her work. Anthony Minghella will roast in movie hell forever for that vile film of TALENTED MR. RIPLEY.

DEMONS and THE IDIOT aren't big ones? Not trying to be snarky, truly, hadn't realized they weren't "big ones." Thanks for the input.

Ah. How clever of you. Got your copy of Nabokov's Lectures on Russian Literature handy, have you?

Thanks. Yes, I was going to go with one of their translations. Their ANNA KARENINA was a joy to read. I'm leaning towards CRIME AND PUNISHMENT for Dostoyevsky, or however you spell it.

Read it a few years back, loved it. Asked about the other guy whose name I don't seem able to spell correctly.

I think Shelley Winters is brilliant, shrill and pathetic and heartbreaking as Charlotte, approaching a caricature quality that I don't think she ever quite gets to. I think James Mason is brilliant from start to finish as Humbert. Sue Lyon is the weak link, but she's fine.

Sellers is terrific, no question, but the role isn't exactly demanding. Yeah, he's amusing. The movie belongs to James Mason, for me. I don't think he ever displayed such vulnerability before or after this. Humbert Humbert is a far more demanding role than any Sellers ever took on, and Mason carries it off handsomely.

WONDER BOYS is a treat to read. Give it a shot. Very funny and very moving.

Please. Don't read CRIMSON PETAL AND THE WHITE. Too many trees have died keeping that thing in print. Just pick up a real Victorian novel by Dickens or Trollope, who really knew what they were doing.

Ugh. I hate what I posted above. What I wanted to say was that INFINITE JEST, while as literary as all get out, is also one of the most entertaining and funny and moving books you'll ever read.

I'll go ahead and say it. If you don't like "literary" books, don't bother with INFINITE JEST, which is one of the great books of all time but, alas, unapologetically literary. Like DAVID COPPERFIELD and ANNA KARENINA and MOBY DICK. If you give INFINITE JEST the attention it deserves, it will repay your efforts beyond your wildest dreams. But JEST is now and will forever remain "literary."

It is up to you, of course.