Well this is it, this is the last day of the challenge and it's been a great way to get into the habit of writing every day. (Especially providential because I've decided to give NaNoWriMo a shot.) It's also been a super way to get to know some of the people I've chosen to follow here on Booklikes.
So I could be really cute and say that my favourite book of all time is the one I'm going to read next, but I can feel eyes rolling at the very thought. *LOL*
So my favourite book of all time is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. (It's also my favourite movie of all time too) I've spoke about this book before in the past 30 days, but that's natural, it's at the top of my list. :) I read this book for the first time in Grade 7, in 1968/69 when I was either 11 or 12 years old. I can't remember if we read the book before my birthday in December or after. It was the first "grown-up" book that I had ever studied in school and I really wish I could remember the name of my English teacher back then (I've since remembered - it's Mr. Wallace.), but that's lost in the mists of time. It's really too bad, because he made the book come alive for me and probably instilled the beginnings of my social conscience. I do know it was the first time I'd ever had an adult discussion about prejudice and bigotry and unfairness and what really makes a brave person.
Over the years, I've reread the book many times. I still have the original book that we got back in Grade 7 - it's a very tattered and battered paperback. I also have a hardcover edition. Like most books, the movie only takes a part of it and throws it up on the screen. The book is rich and full and so much more than just the trial and Boo Radley. The relationships between the children, Scout, Jem and Dill are heart-achingly wonderful and so evocative of a childhood from before all this electronic stuff from smartphones to TVs. We don't get to see a lot of Dill in the movie, you really have to read the book to get his full effect. And he's amazing! As are all the characters.
To Kill a Mockingbird is such an amazing book. Everyone should read it at least once. Everyone should take the chance to submerge themselves into the mind and being of a young girl and see the world with new eyes and be amazed at the wisdom of a child and find a new hero in her father.
"Remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it.
“Your father’s right,” she said. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy . . . but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”
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