Required reading from the week in books and comics.

"The Talented Miss Highsmith" looks at the life Patricia Highsmith, author of "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and "Strangers on a Train." Did you know she wrote issues of comic books like "Spy Smasher" and "Captain Midnight" back in the '40s? And that she was an alcoholic bisexual with criminal tendencies? You know, this is all starting to make sense.

Also in stores this week:
-- Catch up on Brian Michael Bendis's acclaimed superhero crime comic with "Powers: The Definitive Collection, Vol. 3." It's like "NYPD Blue," but with more capes and fewer gratuitous butt shots.
-- "The Rocketeer: Deluxe Edition" presents a gorgeous, recolored version of the graphic novel, which inspired the pretty awesome movie from the '90s where Timothy Dalton played a Nazi.
-- Now that he's back in the Marvel Universe, find out how the Star-Spangled Avenger died in "The Death of Captain America Omnibus." By the time you've finished reading it, they will probably have killed him off again.