Skip to main content

Remembering Scout

 
Recently, a signed first edition of To Kill a Mockingbird sold for nearly $10,000 at Abebooks.  The novel celebrated 50 years in print in 2010.  It is one of the most revered books in American literature and still resonates with many readers today.

"I can honestly say I learnt more about human rights from To Kill a Mockingbird than all the law books in the world. I first read it when I was 12, then studied it at school. So much of what I believe about people and values is promoted in the simple but powerful story of Atticus Finch, who tirelessly defends a black man in the Deep South on the false charge of rape. At its heart it's really about three basic values: dignity, equality and fairness." 

Shami Chakrabarti, Human-rights lawyer and director of Liberty


Comments

  1. Great post.

    Makes me wonder if this shouldn't be our next reading. I'm going thru Downey (re Perkins), am troubled by its small print, and find it a tad dull. But will keep at it as long as I can.

    I remember reading Lee in high school. The movie with Gregory Peck was awesome as well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. If there is more interest in Mockingbird, I'm fine with that.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Okay that was bosox18d/jabel and thanks James for pointing that out.I was getting an endless cycle of back to the password page trying to post under my moniker the past week.Wonder if this all goes back to the Google/Facebook thing

    ReplyDelete
  4. Posting as Bosox.As I tried to say several times the past few days I don't recall ever having to read To Kill a Mockingbird in HS and I've only seen the film.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Will send you a new author confirmation, bosox and robert.

    ReplyDelete
  6. bosox again.I re registered and get the same deal when I try and post under my google ID.Something really messed up on them so at least this works.I'll see if I can actually post a new heading under the google id soon.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Found a copy of "Mockingbird" at the library - very quick reading, too. Will have to watch the movie again. Here it is online for free:

    http://www.movie2k.to/To-Kill-a-Mockingbird-watch-movie-603920.html

    ReplyDelete
  8. Still reading "Mockingbird" and am on page 253. Boy, does this bring back memories.

    Did anyone else read the book again?

    ReplyDelete
  9. I picked up a copy, but haven't had time so far to read more than the opening (which is fantastic).

    ReplyDelete
  10. Finally finished the book. What an outstanding piece of literature!

    Does anyone know if this gem is still being used in high schools like we had back in the late 60s? It remains as striking and enlightening as ever. I'm so glad to have read it again.

    Perhaps it is time for me to re-read some old classics as they are timeless.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Agree Trip! I have to read it again after watching the movie with my wife and small daughter the other night. The little one really enjoyed it, identifying with Scout and caught up in the mystery surrounding Boo. Had to be one of Robert Duvall's first roles. The film was very well done.

    The LOA collection of Flannery O'Connor finally arrived. Plan to read Wise Blood.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

O Pioneers!

It is hard not to think of Nebraska without thinking of its greatest writer.  Here is a marvelous piece by Capote, Remembering Willa Cather . I remember seeing a stage production of O Pioneers! and being deeply moved by its raw emotions.  I had read My Antonia before, and soon found myself hooked, like Capote was by the simple elegance of her prose and the way she was able to evoke so many feelings through her characters.  Much of it came from the fact that she had lived those experiences herself. Her father dragged the family from Virginia to Nebraska in 1883, when it was still a young state, settling in the town of Red Cloud. named after one of the great Oglala chiefs.  Red Cloud was still alive at the time, living on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, in the aftermath of the "Great Sioux Wars" of 1876-77.  I don't know whether Cather took any interest in the famous chief, although it is hard to imagine not.  Upon his death in 1909, he was eulogi

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

  Welcome to this month's reading group selection.  David Von Drehle mentions The Melting Pot , a play by Israel Zangwill, that premiered on Broadway in 1908.  At that time theater was accessible to a broad section of the public, not the exclusive domain it has become over the decades.  Zangwill carried a hopeful message that America was a place where old hatreds and prejudices were pointless, and that in this new country immigrants would find a more open society.  I suppose the reference was more an ironic one for Von Drehle, as he notes the racial and ethnic hatreds were on display everywhere, and at best Zangwill's play helped persons forget for a moment how deep these divides ran.  Nevertheless, "the melting pot" made its way into the American lexicon, even if New York could best be describing as a boiling cauldron in the early twentieth century. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America takes a broad view of events that led up the notorious fire, noting the gro

Colonel

Now with Colonel Roosevelt , the magnum opus is complete. And it deserves to stand as the definitive study of its restless, mutable, ever-boyish, erudite and tirelessly energetic subject. Mr. Morris has addressed the toughest and most frustrating part of Roosevelt’s life with the same care and precision that he brought to the two earlier installments. And if this story of a lifetime is his own life’s work, he has reason to be immensely proud.  -- Janet Maslin -- NY Times . Let the discussion begin!