Weekly Geeks: Reading from the Decades

This week's Weekly Geeks is about examining a book (or books) which were published in your birth decade. Tell us about a book that came out in the decade you were born which you either loved or hated. Is is relevant to today? Is it a classic, or could it be? Give us a mini-review, or start a discussion about the book or books.

Here I mention the following three books:

Truman Capote - In Cold Blood

The book details the brutal 1959 murders of Herbert Clutter, a wealthy farmer from Holcomb,Kansas, and his wife and two of their children. When Capote learned of the quadruple murder before the killers were captured, he decided to travel to Kansas and write about the crime. He was accompanied by his childhood friend and fellow author Harper Lee, and together they interviewed local residents and investigators assigned to the case and took thousands of pages of notes. The killers, Richard "Dick" Hickock and Perry Smith, were arrested not long after the murders, and Capote ultimately spent six years working on the book. It is considered the original non-fiction novel, although other writers had already explored the genre, such as Rodolfo Walsh in Operación Masacre.The book examines the complex psychological relationship between two parolees, who together commit a mass murder, an act they were not capable of individually. Capote's book also explores the lives of the victims and the effect of the crime on the community where they lived. In Cold Bloodis regarded by critics as a pioneering work of the true crime genre.

Agatha Christie - Third Girl

Three young women share a London flat. The first is a coolly efficient personal secretary; the second an artist. The third interrupts Hercule Poirot’s breakfast of brioche and chocolat insisting that she is a murderer – and then promptly disappears.Slowly, Poirot learns of the rumours surrounding the mysterious third girl, her family – and her disappearance. Yet hard evidence is needed before the great detective can pronounce her guilty, innocent or insane…

Alistair Maclean - When Eight Bells Toll

Millions of pounds in gold bullion are being pirated in the Irish Sea. Investigations by the British Secret Service, and a sixth sense, have bought Philip Calvert to a bleak, lonely bay in the Western Highlands. But the sleepy atmosphere of Torbay is deceptive. The place is the focal point of many mysterious disappearances. Even the unimaginative Highland Police Sergeant seems to be acting a part. But why? This story is Alistair MacLean at his enthralling best. It has all the edge-of-the-seat suspense, and dry humour that millions of readers have devoured for years.

All three were published in 1966 and even now can be read as they were then. Anything, crime related, can never become dated. I read In Cold Blood recently (yet to review it!). But read the other two, Third Girl and When Eight Bells Toll when I was in school and college. Agatha Christie has always been one of my favorite authors. And I used to devour Alistair MacClean too.. The latter was in my middle brother's collection. I inherited the lot from him!