50 books to read before you die discussion
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To Kill a Mockingbird
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To Kill a Mockingbird
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Rahul
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rated it 5 stars
May 01, 2016 11:06PM
I read this novel four times in one academic year as I had it for my Elective English syllabus. I would read yet again without the slightest discomfort.
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I will read this for the first time.
happy reading! :) @nicole
I loved the book !! it kinda took a long time 2 read,but I enjoyed it!!
I have been wanting to read it for a while now but I just wanted to ask what age this is best for?
Agnik wrote: "I have been wanting to read it for a while now but I just wanted to ask what age this is best for?"I don't know that it's best for any particular age. It does involve the trial of a man accused of rape - certainly an adult subject. And there is some violence, though it's not a continuing theme. Many young people have read and enjoyed this book.
Well, I don't think there's a specific age group prescribed from this novel, the story is narrated by the point of view of a six year-old girl, so it is likely suitable for any age. And as for stuff like rape and violence, any 12 child would have the same reaction as it has been portrayed in the book. :-)
June 2016 group read.
Arianna wrote: "... I think it was interesting to read a book about serious things narrated by a six year-old girl.I loved it!"
Personally I felt that making the main narrator a six year old girl (or at least a woman looking back on being a six year old) was genius. It gave the author license to say things that wouldn't have been readily accepted at the time if they'd been voiced by an adult. Also making the main narrator an older woman looking back gave readers the freedom to think of parts of the tale as ideally/imperfectly remembered. Finally observations (particularly about the black church) could be made without any judgement attaching and/or enraging anyone.
One of my all time favorites!
Back to why Scout formed a relationship with Boo ... Atticus raised them to be non-judgemental of others and I think that is part of the success Harper Lee had with the book. She was the mockingbird that wrote the book.
I actually can't remember If I read this or not. I'm definitely going to read it now. I loved the movie.
This book inspired me to be a better person. It makes us think about our judgements. The last advice Atticus gives to Scout is remarkable, because it's about our inner truth.
They should make a modern day version of the book in the movie!
Yuvnesh wrote: "They should make a modern day version of the book in the movie!"Hard to imagine anyone but Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch.
I love this book and have read it several times. I also loved Go Set a Watchman and would like to see folks who have read both compare the two works. Many said after the second book came out that they felt it ruined their view of Atticus. I don't agree and would like to hear the views of others, particularly any who might have grown up in the South....Regena
Regena wrote: "I also loved Go Set a Watchman and would like to see folks who have read both compare the two works. Many said after the second book came out that they felt it ruined their view of Atticus. I don't agree and would like to hear the views of others, particularly any who might have grown up in the South...."There is a discussion of Go Set A watchman in this group, from last summer.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
I grew up in the South. That informed my comments in the discussion to a degree.
Thanks, I will check it out!
I do agree with your final assessment, Buck, of what life was like growing up in the South. I have lived, vacationed and worked throughout the South all my life. While I have seen differences over time, I am only now beginning to see any sort of real integration into more rural areas. Even now, some remain insular. I guess my grudge against claims of racism being made against southerners, though, has to do with the racism I have experienced all over our country, having been to most of the fifty states, as well as the prejudice I have seen while visiting other countries. Prejudice is inherent in human beings as a function of our egocentrism. It is not a phenomenon of merely the South, nor of America alone. Like you, I was pretty amazed that Jean Louise had not only remained unaware of it in her hometown, but in the wider world in which she was living as an adult before returning home.Regena
Hiyo,This is one of my absolute favorite books, it inspires me to be a better person each day. What do you guys think of the way the story tackles prejudice? I personally found it fascinating, due to the way you see it from the clear eyed, non-cynical view of a child, and that it looks at not just people of a different race, but also those "different" or socially outcast to others, like Boo.
Also, is it worth it to read Go Set a Watchman?
Harry wrote: "Also, is it worth it to read Go Set a Watchman?"You can read our discussion of Go Set a Watchman here https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... and then perhaps decide for yourself.
I re-read To Kill a Mockingbird just before I read Go Set A a Watchman. I definitely recommend doing this because it presents conversation between the two books and between Scout's younger and older self. Watchman is definitely worth reading, in my opinion.
Great book and I really appreciate the comments on Boo Radley.I read the book over 30 years ago and I have used the Boo Radley character to refer to some people who have isolated themselves many times. The reference is almost always understood. Memorable characters is one thing that makes me appreciate and remember a book. Boo Radley is one of those memorable characters.
Uncle Tom's Cabin :)
This is my favorite book. It was read aloud in my fifth grade class room. Since then, I have read it to all four of my children at different times. I believe everything you need to know to be a good person, you can learn in that book. Interesting to note, Atticus is on the fastest growing list of baby names in the US this year. In my opinion those are some big shoes to fill.
Blythe wrote: "This is my favorite book. It was read aloud in my fifth grade class room. Since then, I have read it to all four of my children at different times. I believe everything you need to know to be a goo..."I find it very interesting to hear that Atticus is a fast-growing baby name. I heard so many people say they lost faith in him or came to hate him after Go Set a Watchman, so that gives me hope that more understood the book than did not, after all....
Regena
Regena wrote: " I heard so many people say they lost faith in him or came to hate him after Go Set a Watchman, so that gives me hope that more understood the book than did not, after all....."The Atticus in Go Set A Watchman was a discarded prototype for the Atticus in To Kill A Mockingbird. It is not the same character. One book is not a sequel to the other. I guess some folks just didn't pick up on that.
Indeed, Go Set A Watchman was the first book she wrote.When she presented the manuscript to the editor, she was asked to rewrite it, and it was published under the title To Kill a Mockingbird.
I did not read Go Set Watchman intentionally for this reason. I really felt you could only detract from To Kill a Mockingbird.
I agree with you. I had Go Set a Watchman on my TBR list, but deleted it once I realised it was the first draft of the other.
Blythe wrote: "I did not read Go Set Watchman intentionally for this reason. I really felt you could only detract from To Kill a Mockingbird."I think if you read them years apart, that might be true. Read them back to back and you might find there is an interesting conversation that feeds both books, as I did. Seeing the same events in the eyes of Scout as a child and then as an adult was interesting. I ended up loving both of these books. I attended a discussion of Go Set A Watchman where most of the people present hadn't read them together. I found it interesting, Everyone else was calling her Scout during the discussion. I called her by her real name, Jean Louise, used in Go Set A Watchman. For me, that was the best way to stay with the two different points of view in discussing the book. Others just wanted her to still be Scout. It's those two different piints of view that worked so well for me, the child view of Atticus in To Kill A Mockingbird and the adult point of view of Atticus in Go Set A Watchman. They are very different books and it's the dialog between those two points of view that made reading the two books back to back I found so engaging.
I'd wait until you are ready to re-read To Kill a Mockingbird again and read them together.
Hi There,
I read To Kill a Mocking Bird only about a year back,though i think it was on the list at school,i don't recall anything about it.I feel if you just read Mocking Bird and Go Set a Watchman as separate books the two books are worth the reads. However if you try to analyse the two you'll probably agree,the former is the better of the two.
Just enjoy!
I read To Kill a Mocking Bird only about a year back,though i think it was on the list at school,i don't recall anything about it.I feel if you just read Mocking Bird and Go Set a Watchman as separate books the two books are worth the reads. However if you try to analyse the two you'll probably agree,the former is the better of the two.
Just enjoy!
I could not read them as separate books because they both have many of the same characters. I could accept that Scout had grown up and that Atticus might not be the perfect saintly father that she had envisioned as a child. However, when the book implied that Calpurnia took care of the children as a duty and not because of love, I had to stop reading. No one who is a mother figure stops loving the children she helped raise even after they are grown. Maybe later I can finish "Go Set a Watchman," but I could not do it at the time.
Regena wrote: "Blythe wrote: "This is my favorite book. It was read aloud in my fifth grade class room. Since then, I have read it to all four of my children at different times. I believe everything you need to k..."The fact that people are naming babies Atticus may have nothing to do with understanding either book: they just like a name that has been discussed lately. A lot of people do not realize that Romeo & Juliet both died at the end of the play, but they think they are two of the greatest lovers that ever lived (despite that they did not "live" happily ever after).
Buck wrote: "Regena wrote: " I heard so many people say they lost faith in him or came to hate him after Go Set a Watchman, so that gives me hope that more understood the book than did not, after all....."Well, it may not be exactly a sequel because it was written before Mockingbird. However, it does have many of the same characters and is placed in time afterwards. People cannot help but make the comparisons. What they do have to remember is that Mockingbird is written from the perspective of a 6-year-old who idolizes her father. Watchman, on the other hand, is told by a grownup Scout who has already begun to see adult reality.
Diane wrote: "Well, it may not be exactly a sequel because it was written before Mockingbird. However, it does have many of the same characters and is placed in time afterwards. People cannot help but make the comparisons. What they do have to remember is that Mockingbird is written from the perspective of a 6-year-old who idolizes her father. Watchman, on the other hand, is told by a grownup Scout who has already begun to see adult reality."You're right, of course. People cannot help but make the comparisons. In actuality though, the Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird was derived from the Atticus in Go Set A Watchmen. Watchman Atticus is not Mockingbird Atticus years later. The same goes for Scout. Jean Louise in Watchman is not Mockingbird Scout grown up.
Go Set a Watchman is a discarded first novel. To Kill a Mockingbird is a successful novel based on a reinvented history of the reinvented characters created for Go Set a Watchman.
What you say makes sense. I am not sure I would count Watchman as a "discarded" novel. It may be a draft, but not totally discarded, at least not by the author. (She did not have it destroyed.) Of course, I am not completely sure how much control Lee had in getting the book published or what state of mind she was in near the end of her life. I have read that there are instances of people trying to take advantage of her. However, it is probably a good thing this "discard" was published, whether all people like it or not. At the very least, it makes for good discussion.
I'm reading To Kill a Mockingbird now for the second time. I never knew about the book 'Go Set a Watchman'. I will definitely be putting this on my TBR list!
Debbie wrote: "I'm reading To Kill a Mockingbird now for the second time. I never knew about the book 'Go Set a Watchman'. I will definitely be putting this on my TBR list!"The story goes that when Harper Lee submitted her first novel for publication, her publisher counseled her to rewrite it. Thus, To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960. Go Set a Watchman, supposedly that first novel, was published in July of 2015, some six decades after it was written. Harper Lee died several months later.
I read it just a month ago. One of good thing about book is easy language and narrative.
Tell that to some of my former students who had trouble getting through the first chapter. Of course, most loved it by the time they were through.
Buck wrote: "Debbie wrote: "I'm reading To Kill a Mockingbird now for the second time. I never knew about the book 'Go Set a Watchman'. I will definitely be putting this on my TBR list!"The story goes that wh..."
Yes, and the story is told by a grown up Scout and not by her at 6 as in the Mockingbird, and Atticus' character is quite different.
Several readers advise to read Go Set a Watchman after the other as there is a kind of dialogue between the two books due to the difference in the point of view of the narrator.
Just finished To Kill a Mockingbird and loved it. I'm putting Go Set a Watchman on my must read list.
I absolutely loved To Kill a Mockingbird. I've read it three times. It was my favorite until I read The Catcher in the Rye.
I just finished reading Go Set a Watchman. Disappointment,Dissatisfaction is all it brought me. :'(( I couldn't feel one peck of similarity between Atticus Finch of To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman.
Hi, is it ok, I appreciate first of all narrative language, the pictures of life, that goes in there. I like reading it for reminding myself thus childhood, something even makes me jealous, because this children were true friends, and that's wonderful by itself. I have read in other books about sacrifice of humans life, and what's then? To turn back to narrative, I remember moments at school and home, where girl likes to ask uncomfortable questions, I see picture of episode near the tree, I can imagine the scene of judging. Please, help me, I have a small experience of books' discussions, what am I supposed to do?
Hi SergeiI guess that English is not your native language. I wonder if you read the book in English or did you read a translation. And I wonder if you have seen the movie To Kill a Mockingbird.
With regard to book discussion, you have done fine.
Hi, Buck!You are right, i study English. I think you noticed my grammar errors.
I want to discuss this book, despite i was reading it in Russian. Because i am impatient and want to participate in a group's life.)
Buck, could explain me the meaning of Mockingbird symbol. Please, i would be grateful to you! This question puzzled me even that time, when i finished the book.
Sergei wrote: "Buck, could explain me the meaning of Mockingbird symbol. Please, i would be grateful to you! This question puzzled me even that time, when i finished the book."The mockingbird is a grey and white songbird widespread in America. We see them and hear them everyday. I hear one singing right now. You can see and hear them here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMpe3...
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus tells Scout 'it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.' The mockingbird is a metaphor for innocence. In this thread, we discussed which characters in the book are the mockingbird. See posts 18-21 on the first page of this topic thread.
