To say To Kill a Mockingbird changed my life might be putting it mildly.  I’ve always been a reader, ever since I could hold up a book.  But up until the point I had to read To Kill a Mockingbird  in high school, most of my reading life had consisted of perfect size six blonde twins who only worried who their next boyfriend was and the messed up world of Christopher Pike.  To Kill a Mockingbird introduced a whole new world of literature to me.  Through Harper Lee I met Carson McCullers, Eudora Welty and Flannery O’Connor.  I moved on into the worlds of D’Artagnan, Cosette, and Quasimodo.  I learned that books could be deep, dark, powerful and empowering.

I learned to care about my fellow man, to respect them and show them kindness.  I learned that you are never too old for imagination.  And I expect Atticus set my expectations of men a *little* high. 

It has been a joy and privileged, as well as so much fun reading To Kill a Mockingbird with you guys this month.  I hope you will come around tonight, 8:30 EST, to watch the movie with Dawn of Too Fond of Books and I.  We’ll be watching the movie and discussing the hotness of Gregory Peck amazing job they did transforming this unforgettable book into a movie that is just as unforgettable.  Be sure you are following me @CapriciousReadr and @TooFondofBooks and follow #tkam and join in the party!

If you wrote a review or wrap up post for To Kill a Mockingbird or any other relevant books or posts you wrote this month you can link to them here.  And I hope you will consider joining Amanda from The Zen Leaf and I later this year (we’re aiming for September) to read The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Have you subscribed to my RSS feed yet?Thanks for visiting!

Since I’m on vacation this week, and therefore behind in my reading because I was getting ready to leave, I thought I’d do favorite quotes this week.  To Kill a Mockingbird is so quotable, thanks to the beautiful text, and the faithful screenplay for the movie.  I have so many favorite quotes from this book!  Here are a few:

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 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.

Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.

There are just some kind of men who – who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.

When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness’ sake. But don’t make a production of it. Children are children, but they can spot an evasion quicker than adults, and evasion simply muddles ‘em.

Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.

Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.

The witnesses for the state have presented themselves to you gentlemen, to this court, in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted, confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption – the evil assumption – that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption one associates with minds of their caliber. Which, gentlemen, we know is in itself a lie as black as Tom Robinson’s skin, a lie I do not have to point out to you. You know the truth, the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some Negro men cannot be trusted around women, black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men.

And that’s just a few.  What are your favorite quotes?  You can leave them in comments, or, if you choose to do a blog post, you can link to it in Mr. Linky.

It’s funny, as many times as I’ve read this book, different things jump out at me every time.  This time, I’m more interested in Atticus, possibly because I am reading Scout, Atticus and Boo! along with it.  It has been fascinating to read the different impressions people have on the book, the characters, and Ms. Lee.  The one thing that jumps out at me is the many mentions of Atticus’s bravery.  To me, it doesn’t seem like Atticus thinks he is being brave.  He is just doing his duty.  I think in his mind, his children are the ones who will have to be brave.

“Scout,” said Atticus, “when summer comes you’ll have to keep your head about far worse things…it’s not fair for you and Jem, I know that, but sometimes we have to make the best of things, the way we conduct ourselves when the chips are down-well, all I can say is, when you and Jem are grown, maybe you’ll look back on this with some compassion and some feeling that I didn’t let you down. This case, Tom Robinson’s case, is something that goes to the essence of a man’s conscience-Scout, I couldn’t go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man.”

At least Scout recognizes his bravery.

“It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.”

Another thing that jumps out at me is the creative discipline ways the elders used.  Without raising a hand, Atticus teaches his children what is morally right and respect for others.  Scout’s first reaction to anything is to fight, so when Atticus tells her not to, she has a hard time letting go.

I drew a bead on him, remembered what Atticus had said, then dropped my fists and walked away, “Scout’s a cow- ward!” ringing in my ears. It was the first time I ever walked away from a fight.

Scout loves her father and respects him enough to back down.

Somehow, if I fought Cecil I would let Atticus down. Atticus so rarely asked Jem and me to do something for him, I could take being called a coward for him. I felt extremely noble for having remembered, and remained noble for three weeks.

Although, family is another thing for Scout, particularly her father.

After my bout with Cecil Jacobs when I committed myself to a policy of cowardice, word got around that Scout Finch wouldn’t fight any more, her daddy wouldn’t let her. This was not entirely correct: I wouldn’t fight publicly for Atticus, but the family was private ground. I would fight anyone from a third cousin upwards tooth and nail.

And so she pounds Francis, who in all likelihood was just repeating what he had heard his elders say.

How different would society be if we all claimed such respect from our children?  And isn’t it fascinating how Harper Lee tied all of Scout’s coming-of-age to the trial and what is to come?  For can’t all the leasons she’s learning here be applied to what the elders should already know, the way they should have handled things with Tom Robinson?

What do you think so far?  Are new things jumping out a you?   The novel’s association of children with fairness suggests that a sense of justice is innate, not learned, and therefore adults must have learned to be unjust.

If you wrote up a post for To Kill a Mockingbird this week, you can link to it here.  And don’t forget to sign up to win a copy of the 50th annivesary edition of To Kill a Mockingbird and it’s companion book, Scout, Atticus and Boo: A Celebration of 50 years of To Kill a Mockingbird – which is a fascinating book!

Well hello Monday, where did you come from? To say time got away from me might be an understatement.  I’m still sick and what with the holiday… I didn’t get all my chapters read this week, but I’m close!

It is so great to be reading this book again.  Scout is such a favorite character, I just love her voice, her attitude.  I’ve been skimming through the newly published Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird, by Mary McDonagh Murphy, and I love what Oprah Winfrey had to say about Scout:

You just liked Scout.  You connected with her.  I liked her energy.  I liked the spirit of her.  I liked the freshness of her.  I liked the fact that she was so curious.  I loved this character so much.  The character was so fully realized and showed, even at ten years old, that she knew who she was and was very assertive and had a lot of confidence and believed in herself and was learning about this whole world of racism in such a way that I could feel myself also experiencing or learning about it -  my eyes opening as her eyes were opening to it.

That just sums it all up for me.  I’m sure I am among thousands of girls who used to wish she were Scout.  Even Oprah did!   Scout is my favorite part of this book and it’s so great to see her again.

I love how Harper Lee is setting up the story, even so early on.  At first glance it just feels like a slice of life introduction to Scout and Jem’s life, but when you look deeper we’re meeting and getting to know important characters; Dill, the Radleys, the Ewells… and perhaps one of the most important “characters,” the class system.  Along with race, class plays a huge part in the lives of these characters, and we’re seeing it almost from page 1.

Favorite quote from TKAM so far:

Until I feared I would love it, I never loved to read.  One does not love breathing.

So, how is your reading going so far?  Are you rereading this or is it your first time?  How long has it been since you read it?  I don’t think I’ve read it since Southern Lit in college….about 10 years ago!  How is it holding up to your memory?  What do you think of Scout?  What do you think of the class system Harper Lee is setting up?

If you happen to post anything this week about TKAM, you can link to it here with Mr. Linky!  I look forward to reading your thoughts on it.