To Kill a Mockingbird

I am ashamed to admit that I have never read To Kill a Mockingbird.



Even my friends who despise reading claim to have read this novel and loved it. Granted, it was required reading in high school but they still read it nonetheless. How was this book not assigned for my required reading?! Oh, that's right - I had idiot teachers who liked to make their students suffer by reading Grendel and Beowulf. You know, books that we gain nothing from and will never ever need to reference ever again!

At the urging of one of my lawyer friends, I finally borrowed this book from the library. It is a super easy read - it offers a nice respite from the work day during my lunch break. I actually just started this book yesterday and am already half way through it (yes, I'm a fast reader). I fully intend to have this finished in a couple of days after a few porch sitting sessions.

While I'm not all that impressed yet with this novel, I'm hoping that the time will come. As I mentioned before, many people have said that this is one of their favorite books of all time. Seeing as how I read far more than they do, I doubt it will become one of my favorites of all time. Maybe one of my favorite classic novels, but not of all time. That's just crazy talk!

Upon further researching the author of this novel, Harper Lee, I discovered that she helped Truman Capote conduct some research for one of his novels, In Cold Blood (which is also on my "to read" list). I guess really will read about anything, won't I!?

Having missed out on this piece of classic literature is making me wonder what other popular works I have skipped over in my lifetime. If you have any suggestions, feel free to send them my way - I'm always up for a good read!

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UPDATE:

I have finally completed this novel. As I neared the end, it was a little harder for me to get through. Probably because I kept putting it down in the middle of Atticus's trial and then when I picked the book back up the next day, I'd forget what I had read the day before. Such is life. (Well, such is my life.)

I wasn't as impressed with this book as everyone else was. I do feel, however, that this is a great book to assign to high schoolers for summer reading. It teaches great lessons about equality and honesty. If I had read this book 15 years ago, it probably would have made it onto my "favorites" list. These days, the book just isn't challenging enough for an old brain like mine.