The author of the seminal work on race relations in the South died in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama.

I recently heard an opera recording that made me long to see a fully staged production. This luminous work was A Christmas Memory, with music and libretto by Samuel Jones, adapted from Truman Capote's beloved short story.

On those gray days when my despair is palpable it seems such a high price. But on my good days, oh, those glorious, delicious, good days, of which there are many, you will quite often catch me singing. Out loud.

Life is a chaotic carousel constantly spinning and it's our job to learn how to grab ahold of the moving poles because the carousel never stops. Years are spent grieving, years are spent falling in love, years are spent working and chasing dreams, and some years are spent in such pain, you have practically fallen off the carousel.

Underneath this very majestic staircase in the basement apartment, Truman Capote was putting the finishing touches on Miss Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's and capturing the twisted murder of In Cold Blood. Along with a recently published cache of photographs by David Attie of Capote and his Brooklyn Heights neighborhood, you can still see where Capote lived and worked and get a feel for his special world.

The greatest examples of the genre provide not only the pleasures of a gripping, whodunit plot, but they are also an examination of complex psychology and civilization when the tranquility of everyday life has been shattered.