Two short stories by Capote, "Master Misery" from early in his career, "La Cote Basque" near the end. The first is a melancholy story about an unhappy young woman who has left her family and friends to live on her own in New York City, and finds herself selling her dreams (literally) to a strange old man. The second finds a poorly disguised Capote stand-in invited to lunch at Cote Basque by Lady Ina Coolbirth, with Mrs. Walter Matthau and Mrs. (Gary?) Cooper. The gossip, about real New York celebrities and others I'm not sure of, but suspect they are actual people, is fast and witty and vicious, and it occurred to me that it was probably a good thing this story was one of Capote's last. One of those targeted here would probably have killed him. This one, too, has quite a melancholy ending. Both stories are well-written and leave one in need of some bit of literary light fluff as a pick-me-up. ( )

Another of the Penguin 60s series that's been sitting on my TBR shelf since they came out. This one contains an early short story and an excerpt from Capote's unfinished last novel.

'Master Misery' (1949) is a nice, well-made short story in the classical American tradition, as written in the days when there was a ready market for such things in weekly magazines.Sylvia is a young woman, lonely and bored in New York, who chances upon the sinister Mr Revercomb, a man who buys dreams for cash. O'Reilly, a drunk, tries to warn her of the danger she's getting into...

'La Côte Basque', by contrast, is a rambling description of a leisurely lunch at one of Manhattan's most exclusive restaurants, and is essentially one long stream of bitchy gossip. It's a virtuoso effort, with a succession of little stories and anecdotes overlapping with each other as the lunch unfolds and celebrities come and go in the background. One can't help admiring Capote's writing skill, even if it all makes little sense without its intended context. Are they real 'celebrities', fictional characters, or a mixture? Should we care?