Wednesday, May 4, 2011
My favorite book....
Justine Bieber and I have something in common. Our favorite book is: To Kill A Mockingbird". The first time I read this book I was a sophomore in high school. Trying to survive the breakup of yet another poor choice I had made. My English teacher was Mrs.Brown. Very petite, dressed in fitted jackets and skirts, pretty, and always sat on her desk when she taught us. We spent about a month on this book, and I loved it. I love the truth that Harper Lee wrote with. She didn't sugar coat the past, just laid it all out in (excuse the pun) black and white. The turning point for me is when Jem thinks they have the jury licked. They can't find Tom Robinson guilty, and yet the jury does. There dies the boy and in steps the man. The injustice that is so hard to explain. So hard to swallow and yet as we get older, we tend to understand it more. It's not such a raw sharp enlightenment as it once was. Boo Radley had it figured out, it was much easier to just stay inside. I have read this book every year since then. If you do the math that's 26 times. I have most of the dialogue memorized, and I always find something new. In my opinion Harper Lee was a genious. My oldest read the book last year. He liked it but couldn't quite see my facination with the book. I told him I had an awesome teacher, who really made our class understand all the awesome tidbits of wisdom that are tucked into that book. "Whatever, mom" came the reply. So last night like an old friend I picked up the hard covered copy that my mother gave me years ago (from the 60's) and began my annual spring journey through this literary great. They say the written word can change your life and this book changed mine. I saw the end of my own childhood as scary, and the end of innocence made me run. I buried that fear in a bottle, until through my higher power and AA I was able to deal with that pain. To read through the pages of injustice, and to mourn the outcome of an innocent man. This book means even more to me now, than it did then. Do I have "Bieber Fever"? No! But I must say for a young man he has great taste in books....Is there a book that is special to you?
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As I type these words someone out there is drinking herself to death over an injustice - such pain, and I'm not sure we're supposed to understand when this occurs, but we are required to 'accept' it - largely because we have no other choice.
ReplyDeleteI hear you , it does get easier with age, but I view that in light of practicing acceptance as we roll through our lives, it does become easier,
I feel.
`d
nice. i like the book...been a while since i read it but still have it from school...i dunno i read a ton...there are a few i go back to on a regular basis though...'ragamuffin gospel', miles from nowhere...
ReplyDeleteOh i love this. My children also re-read their books over and over. For me it was always phantom. It was a sweet addicition I looked forward to each year. I have long since worn out the binder and need to replace the book, but the memories of how it makes me feel to grab that book, a good quilt and my chair are calming. Great read! Enjoy yours. Tammy
ReplyDeleteMy favorite is "Pilgrim at Tinker's Creek" by Annie Dillard. I can just pick it up and randomly open to a page and enjoy what's there. It doesn't need to be read front to back.
ReplyDeleteI love "To Kill a Mockingbird" too. My grandfather was so like Atticus Finch and every time I read it I see his face. But the book that I'll never forget and really affected me was "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck. My grandmother insisted I read it when I was about 12 or 13. She was a librarian and I read many, many books. They took me everywhere. My daughter and grandson also have that "bug"..I had a great English teacher too..
ReplyDeleteI have read so many over the years that it is hard to pick a favorite. I mostly read non- fiction now. I have liked Cannery Row by Steinbeck a lot. I read a lot of Faulkner, Ruark, and Wolfe.
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