Saturday, January 10, 2015

To Kill A Mockingbird

In case you missed it, I'm reading all of the books I should have read in high school but didn't for two reasons:

1) I grew up in a small farming community and my school never required me to read anything.
2) I majored in boys.

For the full list of the books, please read this post.

I'm really glad I started with To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee because it is required reading in the 8th grade at the school my kids will attend in a few years.  I feel smarter already!!

In 6 years, I will be prepared to answer questions from my children about the book and to explain certain things about what the world looked like a long time ago; especially in the south.  I've never lived in that part of the country so like them, everything I know is from books or television.

Now that I've read the book, I'm also interested in watching the movie that was released December 25th, 1962 starring Gregory Peck.  Wow, they sure didn't waste any time making it into a movie.   The film won three academy awards:

  • Best Actor ~  Gregory Peck
  • Best Adapted Screenplay ~ Horton Foote
  • Best Art Direction ~ Henry Bunstead, Alexander Golitzen and Oliver Emert

If you are a fan of historical fiction, I think you will enjoy this book.  I had several people tell me it is one of their favorites of all time and I can see why.  I feel a bit like I miss the characters and would like a chance to meet Boo Radley myself!

Have you read To Kill a Mockingbird? What do you like about it?

By the way, the next book I'm reading is A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare.