To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1999, Hardcover, Anniversary)

To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic. I tend to read a lot of modern fiction and don’t pick up a classic too often. But I discovered that there is a reason this book is considered a classic. It is an absolute masterpiece. I loved the writing style of Harper Lee – it was simple and easy to read and yet so very powerful in its message. The struggle life in the south with the prevalent prejudices of the time of the blacks and whites living together in a small town is shown through the eyes of a young girl named Scout. Life is straight forward and simple to her and there are clear lines between what is right and wrong. The life lessons provided by her father, Atticus, still ring true today, decades later. There are so many lines from this book that will stay with me. It was powerful and meaningful. I strongly recommend it to anyone. Especially those who think it will be an old book and, therefore, difficult to read. It’s well worth a reader’s time to check it out.

I hadn't read this in many years, but had seen the movie over and over on a regular basis (obviously one of my favorites). While surfing one day, I read a student study guide on the novel, and remembered how much more involved and rich the book is. The movie is wonderful, the novel is much better, and more fullfilling because it shows a longer period in the life of Maycomb and its inhabitants. If you don't love this book, pass it to someone with a better imagination, because that is what is required to picture the activities that occur. Harper Lee doesn't tell you what color and make the old cars are (as some novelists do to prove they are experts). but that they are old cars and therefore you know quite a bit about the people that are in them. She doesnt tell you every detail of the gardens, only the part that come into play, such as collard greens, but you imagine the snap peas and carrots. Love the book.

First time I have read it and have never seen the movie, which I am told I must do. Ms. Lee wrote one book and in the words of a friend "One is all it takes". The issues it tackles are more alive today than when the book was first written. Great, easy read.