Ecstasy of prose

OMG...I can't believe I never read this book. I love it, and now I'm filled with hope for all the other books that might be out there about which I might feel just as strongly. Why is it so hard to find them? Are librarians immune to readers' advisory? Oh well, back to the breathtakingly beautiful prose...

"Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square." --The words, sounds, and rhythm are perfect and yet it seems simple and effortless.

"Men's stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o'clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum." --heartbreakingly lovely

"Our battles were epic and one-sided." air-tight--we know all we need to know, and she didn't waste a syllable

"The Radley Place fascinated Dill. In spite of our warnings and explanations it drew him as the moon draws water" --thump, thump, thump

"I could not remember when the lines above Atticus's moving finger separated into words...I never loved to read. One does not love breathing."

These Kids Are Smart

I've got a rant, I'm sure, about Miss Caroline's educational philosophy, but I'm also sure there's not much point since most everyone would agree with me. More important in my eyes than the fact that Atticus taught his kids to read is the way he did so. He never talks down to them or treats them like kids. He doesn't simplify his vocabulary or give them simplified reading material. He talks to them the way he would any other person, and as a result they are bright and articulate. People don't give kids enough credit. They think and feel much the same way adults do, they just haven't always learned to express it like those who've had more time to work on it. But they will rise to the level of your (consistent) expectations. If you use sophisticated language and complex thought processes with them they will pick it up. If they spend the majority of their time with adults who talk down to them and other kids who have only been talked down to, they will develop that articulation more slowly. I am obviously in favor of early reading instruction, but we mustn't forget the verbal.

(And even with all that, they are still kids--thus the fear/obsession with Boo Radley, silly games, self-centeredness, fixation on obvious legends, etc.)

Small Town Childhood

"Our summertime boundaries (within calling distance of Calpurnia) were Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose's house two doors to the north of us, and the Radley Place three doors to the south." (from chapter 1)

"Our tacit treaty with Miss Maudie was that we could play on her lawn, eat her scuppernongs if we didn't jump on the arbor, and explore her vast back lot, terms so generous we seldom spoke to her, so careful were we to preserve the delicate balance of our relationship." (from chapter 5)

One of the things about the book so far that is very reminiscent for me is the way Scout and Jem and Dill have the run of the neighborhood. It was much the same for me growing up in a small KS town. Our cousins lived two houses over, and we were always using the intervening backyard to get from house to house. We had friends at the end of the block and across the street. There was no such thing as privacy fences because we played running and chasing games all through the area. Property boundaries didn't mean much to us. I walked to school, the library, etc. and lived on my bike in the summer. We may have been a bit sheltered and lacked diversity in our town, which is a loss, but there was a real sense of freedom and safety and community.

A Bible in the Hand

"But sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whiskey bottle in the hand of [another]. . . . There are some kind of men who-who're so busy worrying about the next world they've never learned to live in this one." (from chapter 5)

That seems to be one of the defining continuums in Christian theology, between what God requires of one in this life and the hope of something better in the next. Where one falls on that continuum has about as much impact as anything else on moral and political views. The tension is always present, the need to model this world after the next (and what exactly that should look like) versus the acknowledgment that it never can be. I think the fact that I picked this quote says a little something about where I fall.

Immune to Imaginative Literature

I just finished chapter 3 tonight and am enjoying the book immensely. An excellent narrative, engaging characters, and a wonderful way with language. Phrases like this post's title are not only packed with meaning but sound and feel so nice. And if the dialect is in any way not coming alive for you I really recommend giving it a listen. Roses Prichard reads the version I'm listening to and is perfectly in tune with the material. So far this reading/listening experience is making me happy.

Lawyers, I suppose, were children once.

Well, I have begun. As I started, I felt like I was sittin' on someone's side porch, listening to stories about their family from long ago-- there's so much atmosphere. But I didn't make it very far in before I stopped reading altogether. On p. 11 (I believe y'all can see the edition I'm using to the left), Scout is telling the story of how Boo Radley stabbed his dad in the leg with scissors, then he got arrested but "[t]he sheriff hadn't the heart to put him in jail alongside Negroes, so Boo was locked in the courthouse basement." Seriously. What sort of messed up logic is that? I remember that this book was about Racism with a capital R, but it's small acts of bigotry that really hack me off. He's totally insane (who DOES that?!?) but oh noes, they can't put him in regular people jail because he might be tainted by people with differently colored skin.

I hope the basement was full of large, scary spiders.

the beginning

I've got my fresh copy here. After the meeting on Friday, I stopped at 1/2 price books and found a decent paperback copy (they had no hardbacks, grr!). So I've got the lovely light purple 0446310786 to read from and annotate. Set in something similar to Times, 9 or 9.5. Should be a comfortable enough read. Do you guys have your copies yet? I know some of you are rogue-reading, not officially part of the blog attempt. And we may have one or two who haven't signed up yet who want to be a part.

I'm officially going to start tomorrow night. I've got one more chapter of the Hobbit left. Has anyone started yet besides K-diddy? And, if so, state your progress. Check out moby to see how the process works.

As far as a finish goal, lets try for the beginning of June-ish?

Welcome, welcome.

Here we are. Lets each purloin a copy of Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and get cracking. The way we did Moby, which seemed to work well, is that we posted as we read. If you want to be able to post, you'll have to ask the Mockingbird Triad (Her Grace, Degolar, and the Captain) for an invite. Or e-vite, as the case may be.