For Further "Feud"-ing
If you're watching Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans you might want to read these books
We haven’t started Feud: Capote Vs The Swans yet. But it’s definitely on our watchlist. If you are like us, and want to know more about this fascinating blip in literary history, we’ve hunted down some not-to-be-missed further reading so we can all delve deeper. And if you have a book club, maybe watch an episode of the show together, then pick one of these to read!
The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin: When we first saw the trailer, we assumed the show was inspired by this novel. But we were wrong.
Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and A Swan Song for An Era by Laurence Lerner: The show is actually based on this book.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote: If you’re wondering who Truman Capote was, this book is both a big part of where our national fascination with true crime got started and a literary nonfiction masterpiece.
Deliberate Cruelty by Roseanne Montillo: We also stumbled on this one, which looks like it might tell “the rest of the story,” or at least deliver more salacious details.
Conversations With Capote by Lawrence Grobel: This one came out six months after Capote died, and hit the bestseller list immediately. It promises to expose his feelings about the feud with the swans, as well as something else that has always fascinated us— his childhood friendship with Flannery O’Connor.
Bonus: Treat yourself to a viewing of Breakfast at Tiffany’s starring Audrey Hepburn (he wrote the book that the movie was based on) or Capote starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman (which is mostly based around his experience of writing In Cold Blood), with an extraordinary performance by the late Hoffman.
Happy Reading!