Rachelle's Reading List, Thursday February 2nd, 2012

The Smith Mansion [NYTimes] You must must must go read about this house built by a one Sunny Larson in Wapiti Valley, Wyoming. "The Smith Mansion" was an obsession that ultimately cost the builder his life, literally. Larson fell to his death as he was working from a balcony at the age of 48.

Ms. Larsen, who rejects the idea that mental illness played a part in her father’s endless construction project, shrugged. “He built,” she said. “He was an artist in every sense of the word.”Her mother agrees. “They call it the crazy house,” Ms. Mills said. “But there was nothing crazy about him.”