College Students! discussion

This year To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee turns 50 years old. I became aware of this while listening to NPR, they had this discussion air not long ago if anyone wants to listen. It's a bit long (45 minutes) but it was quite interesting, it sort of asked if this book still resonates with people today the same as when if first came out.
http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/06/t...

To Kill A Mockingbird is easily my favorite book of all time. I think that the writing is really beautiful. Lines in the book like, "The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rules is a person's conscience," and "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 had ever lived," have really stuck with me. Whenever I reread the book and come across these lines and others, I have to pause reading and just think about how profound those words are. I also just love how there is the main story of the book about Atticus defending a falsely accused black man, but how there are smaller stories intertwined, like with Boo Radley and Miss Maudie.

Does anyone else feel the same about this book? Happy to see it turning 50 and still famous? Or conversley are there any of you who dislike like the book, and don't really understand why it is so famous?

Ooh thanks for sharing. I will have to listen to that when I have time.

I read this book in middle school or high school and I remember enjoying it..but I honestly can't remember exactly what it was about. I think it's time for a reread!

I love this book! It's definitely one of my favorites. One of these days, I want to sit down with a pen and paper and this book and write all of the wisdom that it holds. Smithsonian Magazine did a good article about Lee in relation to this book. An online version is here: Harper Lee's Novel Achievement

My favorite quote is when Atticus tells Scout "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." I've been trying to internalize that advice a bit more. What's your favorite quote from the book?

I'm with you Jamie, I read this book in 8th or 9th grade and I know I liked it but I can't remember a lot of details. I think I'll reread it sometime this summer!

This is definitely an all-time favorite of mine!!! I remember reading this when I was pretty young and loving it. I grew up[ watching the movie quite frequently, as the book and movie were favorites of my mother. Then, when it was assigned reading in 9th grade, I fell in love with it all over again! A criticism it seems to receive is that it's simplistic. I can't argue that Harper Lee is some sort of literary genius, utilizing complicated and highly sophisticated sentence structures. But, she tells an amazing story. I like that the words she uses, are words that I imagine Scout would have used (as Scout IS the narrator). There is absolutely nothing presumptuous about it, and that's part of its appeal.

I love To Kill a Mockingbird! It was one of the few books I enjoyed from my high school days. I guess I'll have to reread it soon in honor of its 50th anniversary.

Thanks for that interesting link and info. I love To Kill A Mockingbird. It is one of my favorite novel of all-time. =)~

You know, I re-read this recently. I think I liked it even more this time around than I did in the 8th Grade, and that's saying something. I cried during the trial scene when Atticus was giving his speech. I think that speech is my favorite quote from the book, at least that I can think of right now.

I agree Emily, that speech is amazing!

I read this book about a year ago, and I really enjoyed it. It also helped that when I watched the movie made from it was fantastic and true to the story!

I just started rereading To Kill A Mockingbird this morning. I'm not very far into it but it's been so long since I've read it I don't remember most of the characters (like Dill, Miss Maudie or Calpurnia). But I'm enjoying it so far!

This is one of my favorite books. I read this article recently that kind of poops on it (read it at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001...), and I disagreed with this guy's points—he talks about how it's a book for children, blah blah blah. But really, what's wrong with that? Does a book have to be for adults in order to have merit? Most, if not all, of my favorite books were written for young adults and I think a lot of them have better messages and are more poignant than adult novels. Maybe it's because they have to be fairly simple in language, but that doesn't mean they're not complex.

It's like Mary Poppins or The Sound of Music. It's a "movie for children," which means that it is acceptable and meaningful for children, but it is totally enjoyable and meaningful for adults too. To Kill A Mockingbird may be at a YA reading level, but that doesn't mean that it isn't a book suitable for adults. It doesn't mean that it doesn't still touch me just as much now as it did back when I was 13, if not even more.

Agreed, Emily.

Quote from that article:
"It's time to stop pretending that "To Kill a Mockingbird" is some kind of timeless classic that ranks with the great works of American literature. Its bloodless liberal humanism is sadly dated, as pristinely preserved in its pages as the dinosaur DNA in 'Jurassic Park.'"

Is it just me, or is that the worst similie ever?

Hahahahahaha yes it is pretty awful. For talking about something dated, he went and picked "Jurassic Park"?

Yeah really. And the DNA in Jurassic Park isn't pristinely preserved, it's mixed with frog DNA and running around killing people!

All good points! This guy is a terrible writer and it fills me with glee.

This book has always been one of my all-time favorites. Its also the only black and white movie I can sit through without falling asleep.
Im working on a thesis paper in southern education having to do with Brown v. Board and what still shocks me is how commonplace a lot of these racial situations were. While Atticus's case wasn't specifically based on a certain one, there were many factual cases similar to his from that time. John Grisham's A Time To Kill was also pretty accurate. The books may not end up being timeless, but it is just as relevant now as it ever was. Anyone who believes we live in a truly equal society should give it a nice long read and reflect how many of its problems have yet to be solved.

A funny sidenote. The book I am reading right now, there is a couple of ex cops that are married and they had a baby girl and they ended up naming her Scout after Scout in To Kill a Mocking Bird.

I've heard other people complain about the writing in this book being too simple, but I always like to point out that the story is told through the eyes of a six year old! Yet also, like you guys have said, what's wrong with it being a YA book? People have for fifty years been getting a great message from it, so who cares what genre it falls under?

Chris, I definitely agree that issues in TKAM are still unfortunately very relevant today. Our criminal justice system is still very racist.

Also, if anyone is interested, I came across this book, Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird which looks at the history of TKAM and has interviews with famous people about how the book has affected them.

I love this book, I just finished my reread a week ago and today I finished Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, a biography about Harper Lee. Since Lee is basically a recluse and refuses to give interviews there wasn't a lot of information I didn't really know, but I still feel like I came away from the book with a better idea of her and why she wrote the book.

Just had to post this article. People try to ban it because it's "bad". I think every of them that thinks that should visit this school.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=1...

So sad she passed. RIP Harper Lee.