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by Harper Lee

The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic.

Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior - to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos. Now with over 18 million copies in print and translated into forty languages, this regional story by a young Alabama woman claims universal appeal. Harper Lee always considered her book to be a simple love story. Today it is regarded as a masterpiece of American literature.

In rereading this, I both noticed how much of a very different place where in in terms of conversations about race and gender than we were at the time that this book was written and how still relevant it is today. This really is a great book and I’d forgotten how great it actually is. Having not read go set a watchmen I’m definitely curious to read that now especially in light of having so recently re-read this.

I am waiting for the library audio hold to come in, so I’ll probably be late with this rereading. I am in the minority, but I wish I had never read Watchman. For me it really tainted one of my favorite literary characters.

For me, I sort of like the idea that it would complicate my vision of the character but I can certainly see how it would be a difficult book to read for someone else.