To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Earlier this summer Becky @ Becky's Book Reviews and I decided to do a Buddy Book Review. We chose To Kill a Mockingbird as our first read.Becky's review was posted earlier this week, the link for the review is:
http://blbooks.blogspot.com/2010/08/to-kill-mockingbird.html
Amazon link for the book:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061743526/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0446310786&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1BERQT4E6T9G9PY0EEHX
Link for the book @ publisher:
http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Kill-Mockingbird-Harper-Lee/?isbn=9780061743528
Link for those interested in reading along with others or to obtain a widget:
http://tokillamockingbird50year.com/?cm_sp=bookpage-_-tout-_-XMSAD_TKAM
Published by Harper Collins 50th Anniversary edition 11 May 2010, 336 pages, Fiction/Coming of Age Story/Classic
Originally published on 11 July 1960
I purchased this edition--hardback--on the very day that was the 50th Anniversary--11 July 2010
When To Kill a Mockingbird was published (1960) Jim Crow laws were in force. Blacks could only drink out of water fountains designated "For Colored Only", sitting in the back of the bus was the only option, whites and blacks did not mix in public schools, in the movie theaters a specific area was, "For Colored Only"--or in the town I live in they were not allowed at all in the four movie theaters in town. Most people did not talk about it, it was, "just the way things were". A new generation of people during the 1960's put words and actions in to the streets and newspapers and books and television. They did not cease in their mission for equality and freedom for all people--regardless of the color of their skin.
It is also a story that reminds all of us of when we were children: long hot summer days with little to do, walking barefoot everywhere, actually allowing our imagination to carry us away in thought, first day of school, teachers that we know "for sure" have it in for us, taking joy in small treasurers, innocence, spying on our siblings, cooties.
There is something in the story that all readers can identify with--personalize--and in this it becomes apart of you. It is a story that you always remember, and when you do think of it, there is a feeling of tenderness and warmth.
If I had to choose which character was my favorite, I don't know who I would pick.
I love Jem for his brotherly protection of Scout. He seems to me to be a man in a young boys body, an old soul.
I love Scout because she is bold and honest, resourceful, insightful, precocious.
I love Atticus because he lives what he believes. There is no pretentiousness in him. He is the definition of quiet unmoving strength. He is not a demonstrative man, yet the love for his children is always apparent.
I love Calpurnia because she loves this family--Jem and Scout are "her children".
I love Boo Radley he is thought of as the "unknown entity" a "phantom", he is a significant character that is talked about throughout the book, yet does not make a fleshly appearance until the end.
I am the leader of my churches book club, we will be meeting in early November to discuss To Kill a Mockingbird. I have enjoyed immensely reading this story again, glad that Becky and I chose this book to Buddy Review.
I have two favorite quotes from the book.
"Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer's day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men's stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o'clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum."
"He turned out the light and went into Jem's room. He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning."
Blissful Reading!
Annette
