From the Bookshelf of Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)…

To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee

Start date: October 1, 2025

Finish date: December 31, 2025

Discussion: Current Group Reads

Why we're reading this: Most Recent Read
Moderators Run Amok - 4th Qtr. 2025

Previous Reads
May 2014 Contemporary Classic Read (New…more
[close] Most Recent Read
Moderators Run Amok - 4th Qtr. 2025

Previous Reads
May 2014 Contemporary Classic Read (New School)
May 2016 Revisit the shelf
Feb 2023 Buddy Read

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Group Discussions About This Book

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Current Group Reads

* Cousin Bette - Spoilers
By Sara , New School Classics · 14 posts · 46 views

last updated 17 hours, 51 min ago

* Farewell, My Lovely - Spoilers
By Sara , New School Classics · 15 posts · 45 views

last updated Oct 18, 2025 03:18PM

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What Members Thought

Jul 01, 2010 BurgendyA rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: re-read

This book is one of the greatest story I've read. I started reading To Kill a Mockingbird in my english class during my high school years. This great tale started off very interesting from the characters personalities and the time & setting. I have to admit that it was an excellent source of literary knowledge of older times.

Here is the story plot is about a young girl named Scout, her older brother Jem, and their loving father Atticus, living in a small town in Alabama during the 1930s. At the ...more

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Apr 04, 2010 Renate rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, fiction

First read when I was young and was so captivated that it stayed in my mind as a 5-star book. Reread it amidst all the controversy around the publication of Go Set a Watchman. Unfortunately the jaded older me now thinks it is at most worth a generous 3 stars.

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Jan 31, 2009 Alisha Marie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, southern-fiction, books-i-own-that-i-ve-read, young-adult, classics

To Kill a Mockingbird is one of those books that almost every single student was assigned to read in high school whether it be a real high school or one of those fictional high schools we all see in movies and television. Woefully, I was not one of those students. And since I was (and still am) a proud nerd and bookworm, I was really looking forward to reading this as soon as I entered high school. I was so disheartened when I wasn't assigned this book or Shakespeare or Catcher in the Rye; you k To Kill a Mockingbird is one of those books that almost every single student was assigned to read in high school whether it be a real high school or one of those fictional high schools we all see in movies and television. Woefully, I was not one of those students. And since I was (and still am) a proud nerd and bookworm, I was really looking forward to reading this as soon as I entered high school. I was so disheartened when I wasn't assigned this book or Shakespeare or Catcher in the Rye; you know, all of those books that are supposed to be a staple of your academic high school life. So, I have tried to rectify that and thought To Kill a Mockingbird would be a great way to do so. And I was not disappointed.

I'm also weary of reading classics because I always think that they'll be difficult to read and I won't get through it (like Pride and Prejudice and Rebecca. Seriously, I've tried three times to read these two and can never get past a certain point every time). Or worse I'll get through it and realize that I loathed it. Which would then lead to all of those inevitable looks my fellow readers would give me when I say I HATED To Kill a Mockinbird. It just wouldn't be pretty. So, I put this book off for years. There was no reason for me to worry because To Kill a Mockinbird was surprisingly readable. I thought that it would take me like fifty pages to get into it, but from the first page, I was already entranced in Scout's world like it was my own. Getting into a book so deeply is what I love most about the magic of reading and that was really emphasized in this book.

The characters were all extremely real and I loved Scout, Jem, Dill, Atticus, Calpurnia, etc. Even the Ewells, who you aren't really supposed to like, were all layered and just leapt off the page. The whole situation: the race tensions, Tom Robinson's trial, Atticus' struggle to remain noble, were all the things that contributed to make this book not only amazing, but page-turning. So much that I literally had to force myself to stop a couple of times and savor the beautiful writing.

While many say it's a shame that Harper Lee never published anything again, I personally think that there was no way she would've ever topped the success that To Kill a Mockingbird garnered. Maybe to Lee, it seemed like this was the only story she needed to tell and she told it beautifully. To Kill a Mockingbird has become my favorite read of the year so far (tied with I Capture the Castle) and I know that this is a story that I'm going to re-read over and over again and pick up something new every time. This was definitely an amazing and enchanting novel. ...more

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