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 ...
Fine.
That being said, I LOVE the story, and consider Atticus the epitome of the Southern Gentleman, tough with those who need it, compassionate to those who deserve it, and always mindful of justice.
As for the characters, the black people in the movie, when met with kindness respond accordingly. Otherwise, they kept clear of the folks who they knew would treat them badly. The housekeeper is like so many black women of that era. They had their own families, but because of the time spent with the children of their employers, helped raise theirs as well. In many cases, they were loved as part of those families.
My hubby, SirKit grew up in the MS Delta, and his Mama always said that the South adjusted to the integration of whites and blacks much more easily because we had actually known and loved individual black people as we grew up. The transition was not as jolting as it was in other areas of the country, where there were some whites who had never ever met a black person before adulthood.
The literature folks are trying to make the kids more 'sophisticated', I guess. "The Color Purple" is definitely NOT appropriate for the 8th grade. Maybe 11th grade, American Literature.
Yep, and they named their oldest daughter , Rumer, for Rumer Godden, author of, among other books, "In This House of Brede". I think their youngest is named Tallulah, after Ms. Bankhead.
I also enjoyed it.
No, there are far better southern books. TKAM was just the first PC southern novel to be celebrated by the liberals.
Dang! That brought tears to this Mississippi gal's eyes!
I started reading "Everything That Rises Must Converge" many years ago, but never could get into it. And I've only read a couple of Eudora Welty's books. I'm sadly illiterate when it comes to truly Southern literature, something that will have to be remedied in the future.
They have GOT to be kidding.
It is clear that you are smarter than me just being able to following the movie alone. lol.
I grew up in the South, so I was familiar with the ‘dynamic’, if you will. It wasn’t until I’d watched the movie, again, a few years ago, that I realized that Robert Duvall was Boo Radley!
I think everyone should read the Power of One.
I hope you have enough time to expand the discussion to Eudora Welty. She's a favorite of mine. Not as dark and gothic as Faulkner or even O'Connor, but clear-eyed and honest. The Ponder Heart is a good starting point.
I loved the book. And the movie.
There are Stephen King novels I would have put on that list ahead of The Poisonwood Bible.
Try reading Captains Courageous. You’ll throw the book away after four pages.
There are Canadian authors who cast the whole US in this light.
So A Clockwork Orange is greater literature than Crime and Punishment and Winnie the Pooh is greater than War and Peace?
Not me. I kept getting emails about what she was endorsing. I started sending them back with “Who Cares”? I quit getting them after a while.
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