Is To Kill a Mockingbird a must-read?

Houston Chronicle ^ | 4/6/07 | me

[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

[Liz]

ROTFLMBO-——wonder what it’ll reach on Amazon?

[George W. Bush]

About as high as Guiliani's chances of getting Richand Land's endorsement which is just upcoming on my Tivoed Chrissy Matthews show. I'm expecting Land to have quite a time avoiding the whole wrath-of-God thing on the Rudester. Land saying that 25% of all voters in 2004 were white evangelicals voters, an increase over 2000.

He says Christian leaders can't deliver voters to any candidate and, if he tried to do it, he'd be stoned with hymnals by the crowds.

Land giving Bush credit for Roberts and Alito. "Huge, huge."

Saying he doesn't endorse candidates but that Fred Thompson is southern-fried Reagan.

Darn, that was all for Land. He was just plugging his new book. No doubt, a sound read.

[I got the rope]

Dune is a must read.

[Fred]

Ping..Ping..Ping.. and more Pings....

[Ben Chad]

Definitely a must-read, in multiple languages.

[muleskinner]

The list in full

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - #1?? No, but top 25 is O.K.

The Bible - duh

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkien - emphatic yes. Top 10

1984 by George Orwell - See the movie

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - See the movies.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - Please.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - oh, please.

All Quite on the Western Front by E M Remarque - Yes

His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman - Obscurity personified.

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks - ?

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - O.K., George.

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding - Fly this.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon - Ah yes. another famous classic.

Tess of the D’urbevilles by Thomas Hardy - Chick flick

Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne - Come on.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte - See the ‘30’s movie, and try to stay awake.

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham - Pure torture - my first experience at pure torture. My 5th grade teacher read it to us, 1 chapter a day.

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell - Top 5

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - Another torture-fest. Rotten wedding cake, indeed. Just end it!

The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger - The female side of H.G. Wells?

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold - Bone this.

The Prophet by Khalil Gibran - Oxford! Over here!

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - Another snoozefest from Charles DickensZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho - To bad Coelho could change this book into real gold.

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov - Uh-oh, a Russian author. And you know that THAT means.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel - Can Yann cook?

Middlemarch by George Eliot - ?

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver - ?

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess - Why read about fictional anarchy from a true commie, when you can watch the news.

A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzenhitsyn - It’s cold, the guards a cruel, my friend died. Thanks you, Nobel please.

[Mamzelle]

Used to like this book and the movie, but Atticus Finch has become a liberal wet dream. They all want to be Atticus. They want to defy the white racist and protect the trembling, cowering, touchingly-grateful minority victim. So much so that they INVENT white racists--like firebugs starting fires so they can play hero putting them out.

Mockingbird is satire now.

Worse, it's patonizing shmaltz.

[lawnguy]

A great book, and a great thread.

There are reading lists in the Freerepublic archives that will keep you busy for years, and you won't go wrong following the suggestions.

Please read!!

[zook]

No, it’s not “patronizing schmaltz,” nor is it a liberal’s wet dream. It’s a classic film that portrays a period in American history that ought never be forgotten.

[NicknamedBob]

"... I guess I better get busy and get it read (it wouldn't do for the kids to have one up on old dad)."

It's an easy read, but you'll find the mental images stay with you for a very long time.

I think that's the mark of a good writer. Even simple words can evoke a powerful image.

[Chickensoup]

I dont think it is the first book but it certainly should be included in a survey of literature esp. American.

[Chickensoup]

In this House of Brede is one of my all time favorites.

[Chickensoup]

Of Human Bondage was my tough read....it was a mountain to me that I scaled to say I did it.

[Wormwood]

"To Kill A Mockingbirf" is definitely a must-read novel.

Next?

[Wormwood]

Typos notwithstanding

[SuziQ]

I’m smack dab in the middle of David McCullough’s “John Adams” right now. Flannery’s gonna have to wait because we just discovered John LeCarre’s first George Smiley novel. We LOVE George, and had already read “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” and “Smiley’s People”. I didn’t even know that LeCarre had written one before “The Spy Who Came In From the Cold”.

[Atchafalaya]

...Walk Like An Egyptian...
What character did Steve Martin play in the song?

[durasell]

BANGLES SONG: WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN Lyrics

All the old paintings on the tombs
They do the sand dance don’t you know
If they move too quick (oh whey oh)
They’re falling down like a domino

All the bazaar men by the Nile
They got the money on a bet
Gold crocodiles (oh whey oh)
They snap their teeth on your cigarette

Foreign types with the hookah pipes say
Ay oh whey oh, ay oh whey oh
Walk like an Egyptian

Blonde waitresses take their trays
They spin around and they cross the floor
They’ve got the moves (oh whey oh)
You drop your drink then they bring you more

All the school kids so sick of books
They like the punk and the metal band
When the buzzer rings (oh whey oh)
They’re walking like an Egyptian

All the kids in the marketplace say
Ay oh whey oh, ay oh whey oh
Walk like an Egyptian

Slide your feet up the street bend your back
Shift your arm then you pull it back
Life is hard you know (oh whey oh)
So strike a pose on a Cadillac

If you want to find all the cops
They’re hanging out in the donut shop
They sing and dance (oh whey oh)
Spin the clubs cruise down the block

All the Japanese with their yen
The party boys call the Kremlin
And the Chinese know (oh whey oh)
They walk the line like Egyptian

All the cops in the donut shop say
Ay oh whey oh, ay oh whey oh
Walk like an Egyptian
Walk like an Egyptian

STEVE MARTIN KING TUT LYRICS:

King Tut (King Tut)
Now when he was a young man,
He never thought he’d see
People stand in line to see the boy king.

(King Tut) How’d you get so funky?
(funky Tut) Did you do the monkey?
Born in Arizona,
Moved to Babylonia (king Tut).

(king Tut) Now, if I’d known
they’d line up just to see you,
I’d trade in all my money
And bought me a museum. (king Tut)

Buried with a donkey (funky Tut)
He’s my favorite honkey!
Born in Arizona,
Moved to Babylonia (king Tut)

Dancin’ by the Nile, (Disco Tut)
The ladies love his style, (waltzing Tut)
Rockin’ for a mile (rockin’ Tut)
He ate a crocodile.

He gave his life for tourism.
Golden idol!
He’s an Egyptian
They’re sellin’ you.

Now, when I die,
don’t think I’m a nut,
don’t want no fancy funeral,
Just one like ole king Tut. (king Tut)

He coulda won a Grammy,
Buried in his Jammies,
Born in Arizona, moved to Babylonia,
He was born in Arizona, lived in a condo made of stone-a,
King Tut

[miss marmelstein]

McTeague! One of the greatest (and most frightening) of American novels.

[Pablo64]

Absolutely. Some writers seem to have the knack for using the briefest, most concise language possible. Others seem to think that if they overwhelm you with words it is more impressive. That’s why I can’t read James Michner. He takes five pages to describe something better done in five sentences.