My Favorite, Ever.

March 23, 2008

"Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s
gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us.
That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird."

I can't really write much this evening because I need to go read a few more chapters in my favorite book, ever. That would be To Kill a Mockingbird, and I have the supreme pleasure of getting to introduce this most marvelous novel to my students tomorrow, and talk about it for two whole hours. And two hours the next week, and two hours the next week. Bliss.

It’s hard for me to explain what happens each time I begin reading To Kill a Mockingbird. I actually get shivers of excitement. I can say with assurance that this happens with no other novel. I have read this novel at least a half-dozen times, and this weekend I’ve begun reading it yet again and also preparing discussion questions. This quote by Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva explains this feeling well: "There are books so alive that you're always afraid that while you weren't reading, the book has gone and changed, has shifted like a river; while you went on living, it went on living too, and like a river moved on and moved away. No one has stepped twice into the same river. But did anyone ever step twice into the same book?"

I’m not alone in my feelings for To Kill a Mockingbird. In 1991 the Library of Congress conducted a survey of book readers. Readers were asked to cite books that had made a difference in their lives. One of the books most often cited was Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. The only book ranked higher by readers was the Bible.

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Comments

Sunday, March 23, 2008 - sister ...

Posted by onfire (206.132.50.252)

totally with you on this one.

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Monday, March 24, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Anonymous (98.223.206.70)

Yup. It is second to the Bible to me! :) Can't wait for the day my kids are ready to read it!!

Back in the day when we got our first VCR, I asked for To Kill a Mockingbird on VHS and my brother got Top Gun. :)
Cindy
www.stillhisgirl.blogspot.com

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Monday, March 24, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Anonymous (81.156.95.127)

I've never read this buy based on your post have just added it to my wish list.

clareswindlehurst.com/bookreviews

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Monday, March 24, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Ann (Table Talk) (86.145.116.96)

I've just been discussing 'Cry the Beloved Country' with Jennifer in the same way. I absolutely love it and introduce it to as many student groups as I possible can. It's a wonderful feeling, isn't it?

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Monday, March 24, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Anonymous (71.49.48.73)

I'm going to make an admission...

I've NEVER read To Kill a Mockingbird. And I have a freakin' MA in literature. Sad, I know. However, it is on my shelf, ready to go, and it's post like yours that get me really excited to read it.

Love your blog! Happy Sunday Salon.

Andi
http://estellasrevenge.blogspot.com

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Monday, March 24, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Margaret (68.42.29.163)

Aw, you're making me feel like I need to go read it again! Agree with you completely.

Margaret
http://2kidschoolhouse.blogspot.com

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Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - hey

Posted by Beckyg (68.59.209.123)

thanks for stopping by!
i love love love To Kill A Mockingbird! I have not read the book, but the movie is my favorite! My daughter's middle name is Harper .... it was my great-grandmother's maiden name, but Harper Lee did have a bit of influence too!

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Friday, March 28, 2008 - Tell me more

Posted by HomeForHim (74.130.206.113)

Hey Sarah,
I just spent the last hour reading through your reviews and adding to my TBR list. Gosh, I can't believe I've never read To Kill a Mockingbird....what a little world I live in. LOL Tell me more about the class you are teaching....I am interested.

Happy Spring!!

March 20, 2008

In fitting with Spring as a time of celebration and new birth, my newborn great-nephew Justus came through yesterday's surgery quite well. I know his Mama and Daddy are eager for the day when they can take him home, probably in about 10 days.

So today is the first day of spring, and the sun is shining and flowers fairly bursting. A good day to get outside and breathe. And now a word from one of my favorite poets, e.e. cummings:

when faces called flowers float out of the ground

when faces called flowers float out of the ground
and breathing is wishing and wishing is having-
but keeping is downward and doubting and never
-it's april (yes,april;my darling)it's spring!
yes the pretty birds frolic as spry as can fly
yes the little fish gambol as glad as can be
yes the little fish gambol as glad as can be
(yes the mountains are dancing together)
when every leaf opens without any sound
and wishing is having and having is giving-
but keeping is doting and nothing and nonsense
-alive;we're alive,dear:it's(kiss me now)spring!
now the pretty birds hover so she and so he
now the little fish quiver so you and so i
(now the mountains are dancing, the mountains)
when more than was lost has been found has been found
and having is giving and giving is living-
but keeping is darkness and winter and cringing
-it's spring(all our night becomes day)o,it's spring!
all the pretty birds dive to the heart of the sky
all the little fish climb through the mind of the sea
(all the mountains are dancing;are dancing)

Reading with Children

March 16, 2008

"To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark."
~Victor Hugo

This isn't a typical Sunday Salon post, I know. But I was thinking today about how vital reading is with each of my children and within our family in general. These past six months my youngest has quickly transitioned from really easy readers, such as the Bob Books (in the photo below), to the Frog and Toad Are Friends level. I am continually amazed with the rapidity with which he progresses in his reading.

My daughter was somewhat of a reluctant reader. I was actually experiencing some fear, a few years ago, that she would just not be a voracious reader. (We do have one or two such aberrations in our extended family.) Fortunately, she was just a late bloomer. She knows that it is nearly impossible for me to command her to "turn out the light" when she says, "But Mama, can't I just read one more chapter? I have to read before I go to sleep!" These past couple of months I've had the most wonderful time reading books to her in the evening that were my favorite books at her age. It doesn't get much better than that.

And then there is my oldest, who eats books. We have literally been reading to him since the day we brought him home from the hospital. Our college humanities text Western Civilization was one of his first read-alouds. (We got to Good-night Moon later.) This year has been especially fun, as I've been teaching an American Literature class of which he is a part. Sharing classics with your teen is an amazing experience.

So this year I've had the privilege of guiding my youngest to hone his reading skills, sharing girlhood favorites with my daughter, and discussing and analyzing great works of American literature with my teenager. That is reading at its finest.

Booking Through Thursday: Heroine

This week's Booking Through Thursday asks:

Who is your favorite female lead character? And why? (And yes, of course, you can name more than one. I always have trouble narrowing down these things to one name, why should I force you to?)

You can leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments at BBT —or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

**********

That's such an easy one for me. The absolutely amazingly perfect Scout popped into my mind immediately. A few others tried to usurp her--Jane Eyre, for one--but Miss Jean Louise Finch of Maycomb, Alabama can give Jane Eyre a look that'll send her packing. Also, she has the best line ever: "Pass the d*** ham, please." I love her. I love her so much that I totally understood when Demi Moore named her daughter Scout. I can remember thinking, "Aww, now I can't do that since she thought of it first!" So then I always planned to name triplet daughters Harper, Flannery, and Carson (sorry, but Eudora doesn't quite cut it), but, well, we just have one daughter. And she got our first choice of names. Besides Scout, that is.

Superbowl Sunday

February 3, 2008

Superbowl Sunday means a plethora of good snacks: chicken wings, chips and guacamole, cupcakes. I know who is playing; beyond that, I don't know a thing about football. But good snacks do abound. I'm teaching John Steinbeck's The Red Pony tomorrow for my American Lit class, so I've been brushing up on all things Steinbeck today. I'd love to teach a whole class just on Steinbeck's novels. I read this novella last summer when I was preparing my class syllabus, but I thought I'd better give it a fresh reading this weekend. I loved it even more this time around. I look forward to the discussion tomorrow, especially about the boy Jody's passage from child to man.

Speaking of discussion, last week's class discussion on Fitzgerald's "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" was fabulous. We talked about how scandalous having one's hair bobbed was in the 1920s in this particular social setting, and then talked about what might be considered scandalous today in different settings. Wow. They went from tattooes and body piercings to gender reassignments rather quickly.

I'm about halfway through Ann Marie MacDonald's As the Crow Flies. (I had to put it on temporary hold while I re-read The Red Pony.) So far it's very disturbing. I know this happy family is about to fall apart, and I am slightly reluctant to finish the book. I will, of course. Last week's Broken for You promises to have a much higher ranking on my 2008 list than As the Crow Flies--thus far, anyway.

I finished reading Elizabeth George Spear's Sign of the Beaver aloud to the kids this week. They absolutely loved it. I have the movie checked out from the library. I remember watching it after reading the book aloud many years ago when Jesse was little, and we were amazed at the liberties taken with the movie. We'll watch that later this week. I think Johnny Tremain is next on our read-aloud list; I look forward to reading that again, as well. It's been a few years.

I'm not sure what's next on my reading list. I've got a stack next to my bed. I may just take a tiny break from fiction and read The Five Love Languages for Teens. It's one of those books I think I should read, but I am reluctant to cast aside that fat stack of novels for an actual parenting book. We'll see.

Back to the Superbowl blue chair to read while Dr. H. yells at the game...(And I mean, he is really yelling...)

Book Review: Broken for You

January 31, 2008

The debut novel by Stephanie Kallos is everything I want a novel to be, from the fully rendered characters to the twists and turns of plot, filled with all kinds of side-stories and satisfying details. I loved this book.

The story: Margaret, age 70-ish, discovers she is dying of a brain tumor. An awkward recluse who talks to the objects in her house, Margaret decides to take what little time she has left to change her life. She takes in a boarder, Wanda, who is also a broken person. The two women tentatively begin a friendship, accumulating a cast of broken people along the way. The backgrounds of Margaret and Wanda are revealed along the way, including a whopper of story that I didn't see coming with Margaret. I like to be surprised.

Kallos's writing is fantastic. Some may say she manipulates events too much to make everything tie together in a neat package, but I thought the story was fabulous. Some of the broken people were a bit stereotypical, but just a bit. Broken for You kept me up past my bedtime for several nights, and that's always the sign of a riveting book.

Surrounded by Would-Be Flappers

January 27, 2008

"People over forty can seldom be permanently convinced of anything. At eighteen our convictions are hills from which we look; at forty-five they are caves in which we hide."
--F. Scott Fitzgerald in "Bernice Bobs Her Hair"

I wonder what I thought of that statement when I first read this story in my early 20s? Fitzgerald himself was only 24 when he wrote this story, and I find that statement remarkable. Did I ever utter anything so profound at that age? I'm not sure I necessarily agree with him, but still.

Today I’ve been immersed in the Jazz Age: F. Scott Fitzgerald, the Roaring Twenties, and flappers. Tomorrow we’ll be discussing “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” in the American Lit class I teach. I love this story, and it’s perfect for teaching to high schoolers. There’s a wonderful 45-minute movie, as well, but we don’t have access to a VCR for tomorrow and our library doesn’t carry the DVD. We’ll have to add this to our list of movies to watch on weekend get-togethers.

I was surprised at the scarcity of lessons plans on the internet for this story. I could find dozens for The Great Gatsby, but no one seems to be teaching Fitzgerald's short stories. I loved Gatsby and have read it several times, but it's Fitzgerald's short stories that I've always found masterful. I can remember going through a time in college when I devoured Fitzgerald, and I lamented that I hadn't been around in the Roaring Twenties. I look forward to discussing this story with my 18 teenagers tomorrow.

In other reading endeavors, I finally got around to writing reviews for the wonderful memoir The Horizontal World and for The Witch of Blackbird Pond. I finished another absolutely fantastic book, Broken for You. This is Stephanie Kallos's debut novel, and it is phenomenal. I'll post a review sometime this week. I've just started Ann Marie MacDonald's The Way the Crow Flies, which is great so far. To the kids, I'm reading The Sign of the Beaver by day and a "Dear America" book to Laurel by night. (Randy's reading Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang to Duncan in the evening.) This week I'll also be re-reading Steinbeck's The Red Pony in preparation for American Lit class next week.

And one more reading challenge: I'm reading through the Bible this year. I haven't done this purposefully in 20 years, although I've probably read most of the books through several times in the past decade. A few months ago Laurel said to me, "We read this story before! Why are we reading it again!" I explained to her that, even though I've been reading the Bible all my life, I find something new nearly every single time I read a particular story or verse or chapter. And that is the tell-tale sign of a good classic.