Posted on 04/06/2007 5:32:09 AM PDT by urtax$@work
If there's one book you should read before you die, it's To Kill a Mockingbird. That's not my opinion. Apparently I was sick back in ninth grade when every other American kid read Harper Lee's novel of racism, moral courage and coming of age in 1930s Alabama. I read it for the first time only this week and have my misgivings.
But according to the Guardian newspaper's Web site, a 2006 poll of librarians — British librarians — put To Kill a Mockingbird atop the list of books every adult should read before they shuffle off. Ahead of the Bible. Ahead of Huckleberry Finn and Pride and Prejudice and even Harry "the Franchise" Potter.
Go to link to see rest of article: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/4691912.html
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Ping.
it’s a great book to read, deserves high ranks!
My daughter read it before 7th grade and her hippie English teacher told her she was too young to understand it.
I loved that movie ever since I was a kid.....
My point is simply that he was very interested in crime. If Mockingbird is at all biographical, the character of Dill is always going on about macabre subjects. It’s Dill who insists on making Boo come out!
Didn’t Demi Moore name her daughter ‘Scout’ after that character?
The dedication is:
For Jack Dunphy and Harper Lee
With my love and gratitude
I haven't seen either of the two movies about Capote that came out in recent years, but it's my understanding that Harper Lee was a pretty important figure in both. And why not? Writers cross-pollinate (though I'm pretty sure in Lee and Capote's case, that wasn't true in the strict biological sense). They bounce ideas, critique drafts, brainstorm. God knows if I had a Pulitzer winner offering to drop by for tea and discuss my book, I wouldn't say no.
It is odd though that Harper Lee never wrote another book - almost as if she had one good story and that was it.
Writing a book is hard work. Writing a good one that you care about is harder still. That's why I haven't done it (yet). Some authors have an easier time of it than others -- Stephen King can practically dash out a book in his sleep (and I suspect that sometimes, he does). Mark Twain was another writer who made it look easy. But for other writers, birthing a book involves years of labor pains.
I suspect that Lee had one story that she really wanted to tell, and never found another that she could give that level of effort and commitment. She didn't need the money and never wanted the fame, so why go through all that effort to produce something that won't match what you've already made?
About 15 years ago, my husband (who ran a lecture series) invited Harper Lee to come and talk. Of course, she turned us down, but wrote a very nice note (that should be framed) which was written on her NY stationary and the envelope had a NY postmark. What I heard on my one visit to Monroeville was that she spent half the year in NY, the other half in AL, living with her sister.
I think time has proven that they were equally great writers.
True, but we're talking about life-long friends, here. What you you suppose they talked about, baseball?
It certainly could turn into an imposition, if you're basically asking a friend to act as an unpaid editor, agent and mentor. But if you keep it light and friendly, if you offer as much as you ask for, great things can come of that kind of lunchtime chat. I would love to be a fly on the wall when Spielberg and Lucas get together for a beer.
Interesting. I heard she never visited. Of course, there was that Page Six “incident” where she got wild with Puff Daddy and Snoop Dogg and was then photographed coming out of George Clooney’s hotel room at 4:00 a.m., but I’m sure they’re just friends.
Also, Harper Lee is on record as saying she based the character of Atticus Finch on her father. She tells of visiting the movie set and finding Gregroy Peck very like her father in his portrayal.
He was self-absorbed and jealous. He didn't want to hear about her book.
Now, she did have a group of friends who encouraged her and a wonderful editor who should be recognized.
I read the same thing. Half in Alabama, half her time in NY.
When I was a kid, I worked at Studio 54 (cloak room!) and during my breaks I would wander all over that smoky Dante’s hell. And Truman was always there, drunk as a skunk, sitting with the likes of Liza Minelli. This, of course, is after he was thrown out of high society. But I never saw him with Lee, lol!!
You have a source for that? I’m not trying to be nasty, just genuinely curious.
Lee was downstairs in the basement with Roy Cohn, Steve, Ian and “Andy.”
A source for what?
And playing it to perfection. In fact, I think every role in that movie was perfectly cast; the child actors, in particular, but even supporting characters like Calpurnia and Sheriff Tate. Gregory Peck and Brock Peters, well, what can you say that hasn't been said?
What gets me in that movie is the little touches. When Atticus goes out to Tom Robinson's house to talk to his widow, before he steps on the porch, he takes off his hat -- a small but important gesture of respect, especially from a white man to a black family, in that place and time.
I wrote in another thread a while back that I think our favorite movie heroes tell us a lot about who it is we think we are or think we want to be. When I wanted to be a stubborn idealogue, I wanted to be Charles Foster Kane or Drummond in Inherit the Wind; when I fancied myself an ardent and self-sacrificing lover, I wanted to be Rick in Casablanca; now that I'm older, without kids of my own but still kind of feeling more like a teacher and protector, it comes down to Atticus.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.