On the Shelf To Be Read #1: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

Any book on my bookshelves that I haven't read should be part of my TBR (To-Be-Read) pile. I marvel at readers on social media showing off a pile of books they plan on reading this weekend, week, month, or year. I often don't pick the next one until I'm close to finishing a current one. I sometimes have an inclination for one or two. I'll browse them a bit to see if it sparks an interest to go further. I'm not committed, though.

I'm currently rereading the iconic In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. It's said to spark the modern-day true-crime genre. It's the story of the murder of a family of four in Holcomb, Kansas in 1959  by two small-time criminals. The crime was a botched burglary inspired by misinformation about an alleged wall safe. What did the murderers walk away with? Less than $50 and small miscellaneous items. I can't remember when I first read this story. It was inspired, though, by a film I saw in school on a TV wheeled out on a cart with a suitcase-sized VCR (high-tech at the time) underneath, and we watched the film adaptation of In Cold Blood shot in black and white. It starred the late Robert Blake as one of the killers, who at the time starred on his own TV series(as a cop ironically) called Baretta. 

I must really want to read this since I bought 2. 

Recently, while scanning my own shelves, I discovered I had two copies of The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. This is the true-crime story set in the 1890s in Chicago that centers around the time of the World's Fair in 1893. It tells the story through the creator of the World's Fair, Daniel Burnham, and serial killer, H. H. Holmes. I guess this was a hint that I should read this one next. I'll probably donate one to my local "Friends of" library group. 

Not only are both books true crime, but I also discovered that they have been described as non-fiction novels, either novel-style, such as "In Cold Blood", or "novelistic" with "The Devil in the White City". I'll see how Larson compares to the standard Capote set.