Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird Book

To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my very favorite all time books. My copy is so tattered it's almost unreadable (so I did buy the 50th anniversary edition for actual further readings.) My copy is a paperback copy that was originally my mother's; its cover price was 60¢. It's one of only 4 books I've read at least 100 times; I read it for the first time when I was 12. I don't know the book verbatim, but I know many passages by heart. I feel as though I have much of the book memorized. (The movie came out when I was 9 and I did see it in the theater with my parents, so the movie came first for me; I like both movie and book. The movie is great. The book is a true masterpiece.) It's one of those books I love so much, I haven't yet been able to write a worthy review; I haven't even tried.

I'm a huge fan of both Scout and Atticus, especially Scout. I would have had a lot to say for this book as, I'm sure, would most of its readers.

So, this book: It was a huge pleasure to immerse myself in all things Mockingbird, read others' feelings and thoughts about the book. (I won't list every contributor in my review. I added them all to the book's description field.)

As I was reading I knew that I was going to see the movie again pronto (this weekend!) and I'm excited to have a plan to reread the book (first reads for a couple of people) with a small group of other Goodreads members in early August.

My biggest gripe about this book and the main reason I didn't assign it 5 stars: As I read the essays it felt at times as though I'd already read them and it was because long passages from them were quoted in the introductory section of the book. I wish either the author had just written a book and used quotes from a bunch of people/the contributors or (my preference) that in her introductory portion she just gave the history of the book and times and her own impressions of the book, and not quoted at all from the essays by various people that are to follow.

It's funny that To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my all time favorite books but, even though I have some biographies on my shelf, I've never known much about Harper Lee. At times felt a little uncomfortable when certain interviewees talked about their personal knowledge of her, worried that she'd feel displeased because her privacy had been violated, but it was so exciting to get to know her via people who've known her, some who've known her very well. It was a great pleasure to get to know her. Now, I really do want to read as much as I can about her. I was a bit surprised and delighted to see how much of To Kill a Mockingbird ] is autobiographical re its author and the town too; the times I knew about already, even though it took place in a different part of the country and a couple decades before I was born.

It was a huge comfort to read others' feelings and thoughts and see that so many people have a lot of the same feelings about the book and its characters that I do. It's one of my new comfort read books, not in the same league with To Kill a Mockingbird, but only a handful of books are in that category.

A Warning: Open up some time for a reread of To Kill a Mockingbird and then perhaps some time to see the movie again too. This book will make you yearn to experience them again. I wanted more contributors in this book, I want to read more about Nelle Harper, I want to see the movie again, and most of all, I can't wait to experience the book yet again. This book is a powerful book pusher.