To Kill a Mockingbird in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Dec 12, 2008 Michelle rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, classics, to-buy

Amazing. Can't believe teacher read it aloud to us in sixth grade though--totally went over my head and bored me then as much as it engrossed me several days ago.

In general, I wish teachers and other folks who mean well would wait to unleash the classics on us until adulthood--or at least college. And be selective about those that they introduce in high school. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

May 01, 2011 Jessica rated it it was amazing

Shelves: re-reads, young-adult-and-kids

I had been feeling for a while now that it was kind of ridiculous that I hadn't read To Kill a Mockingbird since high school, for a class assignment, and that I could hardly remember the story. So, I bought myself a copy and finally got around to re-reading it this week.

I probably don't need to go into much detail here as I imagine most people have already read it at least once. It takes place in Alabama in the 1930s and addresses issues of human rights as seen through the eyes of an elementary- ...more

Like · see review

Jul 07, 2012 Cheryl rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics, book-group, top-10

Currently third reread.

I you have not read this since high school, I highly recommend picking up this book again. This book is truly brilliant. Not surprised it won a Pulitzer Prize but am surprised that this is Harper Lee's only published book. I am most taken with what a great father Atticus Finch was, how the story is so well told from Scout's perspective, and of course, the fascinating character that is Boo Radley.

Notes for myself:
Atticus to Scout p. 33:
"You never really understand a person ...more

Like · see review

Jul 14, 2015 Renata rated it really liked it

Shelves: re-read, fiction, grownup

I re-read this for the first time since like, high school maybe? For obvious reasons.

I know this is a total childhood favorite for many people--it's not for me? I enjoyed it when I read it as a youth but it didn't imprint on me the way some other plucky heroines did. (eg Anne of Green Gables.)

So, in anticipation of Watchman, I've noticed a lot of (white) people re-reading it and realizing that maybe it isn't the perfectly anti-racist book they remembered it being? Here's my hot take on that: a ...more

Like · see review

Jul 15, 2015 Melle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: childhood, read-in-2015, adult, southern, fiction, classics, 1930s, racism, segregation, alabama

Reread this before I tackle Go Set a Watchman. I love a lot about this book, but, even with as much as I love it, there are still some things that are problematic, including a racist reference to American Indians and the white savior complex inherent in books by white people about race relations. The book is a product of its author, a product of its time, and there is a lot of good in it, including and especially the rich cast of main characters and the parent-child relationships between Atticus ...more

Like · see review

Mar 21, 2011 Deb rated it it was amazing

I read this classic probably 20 years ago... I know I couldn't possibly have appreciated the incredible beauty, heart, heartbreak and soul that is wrapped up in it. There is so much wisdom and reflection on the human heart and being... if you haven't read it, do! ...more

Like · see review