Harper Lee, 'To Kill a Mockingbird' Author, Dies at 89

[Commander Wallace]

Author Harper Lee has passed away. Harper Lee wrote was is considered one of the great literary successes. The book became a classic of modern American literature. The novel " To Kill a Mockingbird " was the basis for a movie of the same name. The story was that of a lawyer named Atticus Finch who defends a black man accused of killing a white man and his daughter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Kill_a_Mockingbird

The movie featured Gregory Peck and Robert Duvall making his big screen debut. Brock Peters played the unjustly accused man.

Quote : The film was also nominated for best picture; supporting actress for young Mary Badham, who played Scout; director; cinematography, black and white; and music score. In 1995 the film was voted into the National Film Registry by the National Film Preservation Board.

https://www.yahoo.com/movies/harper-lee-to-kill-a-mockingbird-author-dies-163102211.html

" To Kill a Mockingbird " won the Pulitzer Prize and has distinguished itself by selling 30 million copies and has been translated into 40 languages. Further, It has never been out of print since its initial publication.

Harper also wrote " go set a watchman " . Interestingly enough, the book was written before " to kill a Mockingbird "

The fictitious character of Atticus Finch essentially gave the civil rights movement a face and rallying cry. Harper Lee was friends with author Truman Capote and traveled him, assisting him in his research.




Rest in Peace Harper Lee

[Jimbuna]

Still selling in excess of one million copies per year.

RIP

[AVGWarhawk]

One of my favorite books "To Kill a Mocking Bird." Loved the movie as well. This book was required grade school reading. I'm glad it was. Reading the book opened my horizons just a bit more.

[Jimbuna]

Not sure what grade school is but in the UK it was usually for the age group 12 to fourteen

[mako88sb]

For whatever reason, it was not required reading when I was in school. I saw the movie and enjoyed it but never read the book. Pretty amazing to hear it has never been out of print.

R.I.P Harper Lee

[AVGWarhawk]

Not sure what grade school is but in the UK it was usually for the age group 12 to fourteen

1st through 8th grades.

[Commander Wallace]

When I was in school, Harper Lee wasn't required reading but John Steinbeck and Charles Dickens writings and books were. I'm sure it had more to do with the personal preference of the instructor and not the validity of the material.

It was all great reading material including that of Harper Lee. I'm sure others here had required readings by other authors as well. I'm sure the point of the readings was the great exposure to excellent writers like some of the authors I mentioned.

[Jimbuna]

1st through 8th grades.

Sorry Chris, what is that in age years?

[vienna]

I had the odd experience of attending an old-line Catholic school from kindergarten to 8th grade (age 5 to 14) that still followed a "classical" curriculum. It was probably the last of the very rigid, intense sort of schools from the turn of the 20th century. If you have ever seen movies or read books about the sort of Catholic schools with stern nuns, knuckles cracked by rulers, rigid discipline and regimentation, then you have an idea of the school in which I spent my youth. We didn't have books like To Kill A Mockingbird; we had The Illiad and The Odyssey, Shakespeare, Thomas Aquinas, and other such literature, literature they probably don't teach anymore in grade schools. I did read Mockingbird and other non-prescribed writings on my own. In fact, I got most of my reading ideas from a list posted in the church weekly by a group called the "Legion Of Decency" who published lists of books, movies and TV programs rating them according to how they felt the material would affect and/or influence the Catholic public and, particularly, the youth. IIRC, there were three levels: Unobjectionable, Objectionable, and Condemned. When the list was posted each week, all us boys would eagerly look at the ratings and, for most of us, make efforts to find those items on the Condemned list. So, I do have to thank the "Legion Of Decency" for exposing me to Harper Lee, Kerouac, Ginsberg, Miller, and all the other great writers I have enjoyed through the years...


<O>

[AVGWarhawk]

Sorry Chris, what is that in age years?


6 to 13 years.

[AVGWarhawk]

When I was in school, Harper Lee wasn't required reading but John Steinbeck and Charles Dickens writings and books were. I'm sure it had more to do with the personal preference of the instructor and not the validity of the material.

It was all great reading material including that of Harper Lee. I'm sure others here had required readings by other authors as well. I'm sure the point of the readings was the great exposure to excellent writers like some of the authors I mentioned.

We also read Steinbeck (Old Man and the Sea). Do not recall any Dickens.

Other books required to read:
"Scarlet Letter A"
"Lord Of the Flies"
"Huckleberry Finn"
"The Catcher in the Rye"
"Beowulf"
"The Canterbury Tales."

Plenty of Shakespeare

[vienna]

We also read Steinbeck (Old Man and the Sea). Do not recall any Dickens.

Other books required to read:
"Scarlet Letter A"
"Lord Of the Flies"
"Huckleberry Finn"
"The Catcher in the Rye"
"Beowulf"
"The Canterbury Tales."

Plenty of Shakespeare

"Lord Of the Flies"
"The Catcher in the Rye"
"The Canterbury Tales."

All on the Condemned list in our school; oddly, the book, Mutiny On The Bounty, was on the Condemned list, presumably due to depictions of topless native girls...


<O>

[Sailor Steve]

"Lord Of the Flies"
"The Catcher in the Rye"
"The Canterbury Tales."

All on the Condemned list in our school; oddly, the book, Mutiny On The Bounty, was on the Condemned list, presumably due to depictions of topless native girls...
I went to a Catholic boarding school for my first three years of high school (1964-1967). It was run by Augustinian Priests, and while those books were not required they were highly recommended by the Fathers.

[vienna]

Our school was Jesuit and very hard line; aside from the "Unobjectionable" books, there was very little leeway in reading choices, not to say that a lot of us didn't stray. Our school was pretty much run by the nuns and they were a very conservative lot; the priests, being Jesuits, were a bit less severe, but the conceded to the nuns on all matters of curriculum. It was odd, since in other matters such as social sciences, religious history, and such, they were pretty progressive, but, then, the Catholics have been a rather contradictory sort...

BTW, I spent 9 years in Catholic school, from the mid 50s to the mid 60s, an interesting time span and an interest sort of place to spend it...



<O>

[Commander Wallace]

quote : and while those books were no required



I think you meant they were not required.

[Commander Wallace]

We also read Steinbeck (Old Man and the Sea). Do not recall any Dickens.

Other books required to read:
"Scarlet Letter A"
"Lord Of the Flies"
"Huckleberry Finn"
"The Catcher in the Rye"
"Beowulf"
"The Canterbury Tales."

Plenty of Shakespeare

I remember we had to read " The Pearl " and " Great Expectations ". We also had to read Beowulf. The ones you mentioned are some of the great classics.

[u crank]

Reading really good books at a young and impressionable age is in some ways a life changer.

Some of mine were Lee's, 'To Kill a Mockingbird', Pearl S. Buck's 'The Good Earth' and starting a life long interest in all things naval, 'The Cruel Sea' by Nicholas Monsarrat.

Thank you Ms. Lee for shaping my world view. R.I.P.

[Commander Wallace]

Our school was Jesuit and very hard line; aside from the "Unobjectionable" books, there was very little leeway in reading choices, not to say that a lot of us didn't stray. Our school was pretty much run by the nuns and they were a very conservative lot; the priests, being Jesuits, were a bit less severe, but the conceded to the nuns on all matters of curriculum. It was odd, since in other matters such as social sciences, religious history, and such, they were pretty progressive, but, then, the Catholics have been a rather contradictory sort...

BTW, I spent 9 years in Catholic school, from the mid 50s to the mid 60s, an interesting time span and an interest sort of place to spend it...



<O>

I'm sure the " Board of Education " took on a new meaning in the Catholic School in the form of being smacked or disciplined with a 2x4 piece of hickory or soft pine wood. :O:

[vienna]

Our nuns were more the yardstick or ruler type; there was one nun I remember who got angry at a student and took one of those hardwood blackboard pointers and broke it over the back of his hand with one very hard swing. What they were really masters of was the psychological sort of torment we all really feared. I really believe if Sister Mary DeLaRita had still been alive today, she could have made those Gitmo prisoners talk without the waterboarding...


<O>

[Sailor Steve]

quote : and while those books were no required



I think you meant they were not required.
A simple typo. Usually I try to proofread what I write, but sometimes I miss.

Thanks for the heads-up. Fixed. :sunny:

[AVGWarhawk]

I remember we had to read " The Pearl " and " Great Expectations ". We also had to read Beowulf. The ones you mentioned are some of the great classics.


We also read, "The Great Gatsby" as well as "The Red Badge of Courage." Two more great classics. I guess this makes me a classic.