Harper Lee died today. Shall we take a moment to remember a great person and a great author?

The author of one of my all-time favorite books. Although I had a quarrel with the way “Watchman” was marketed, I’m glad she got more acclaim in her last years if that’s what she wanted. And Atticus Finch remains a towering figure in both the Mockingbird book and film.

She lives in that book. She’s therefore immortal.

I have a hard time feeling sad about a life long-lived and well by someone who will live on in memory long after this day. I do hope that those who love her find comfort in their pleasant memories.

It’s a shame that her final years were marred by the controversy surrounding the publication of Watchman, but it can never diminish the accomplishment of Mockingbird in my mind.

I hope she really did orchestrate the publication of Watchman, for better or for worse. As long as she was aware of the publication and happy with it, all ends well.

Thanks, Ms. Lee!

The guy who killed Kennedy?

Please don’t be crude on a memorial thread.

To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my favorite books, and it really opens your eyes to prejudice and racial inequality in the US.

Farewell to a great mind.

I recently attended a lecture about Go set a watchman. I admit that I didn’t much care for the book, but the speaker opened my eyes to an alternate way to think about it. Also some insights about Harper Lee. Good journey to her.

I knew that some of the older members of my husband’s family knew her back in college and law school. (Yes, she went to law school but dropped out). She wrote in the University newspaper too. A few weeks ago a photo surfaced on Facebook with her and my husband’s aunt in the editorial office back when they were in school. Seeing it was a nice surprise. I was sorry to hear of her death but she had a good run of it. Eighty-nine years I think. I haven’t read anything of hers other than To Kill A Mockingbird. I read earlier today that that book defined racism. I’m not sure I agree but it surely was the inspiration for many people to seek careers in law; that is well documented.

The only person I could compare her to is J.D. Salinger. Remarkable!

Today’s Bloom County had a nice tribute to her.

Mockingbird is one of my all-time favourite books. I haven’t read Watchman yet. I think I’ll buy it and put it on my reading list. I just watched a piece about her on the news. They had a clip of a longer, doco about her and about Monroeville. I also didn’t know she lived next door to Truman Capote or that Dill was based on him. You learn something new every day. Thank you for Mockingbird Harper Lee. Rest easy.

I learned that about Capote and Dill last year, myself, @Earthbound_Misfit.

Did you know that @janbb has pretty good knowledge of Harper Lee and her books?

@ibstubro, I would not be surprised by @janbb being very knowledgeable on that subject (or others). I know she is a librarian, and she also teaches classes about literature.

I know she finally came to peace with Watchman, but I’ve not asked her if she really recommends it.
I don’t really want to read it, personally.
Funny, I reread Mockingbird last year shortly before the Watchman flap, but for no reason other than I bought a copy at a yard sale.

This book is in my ‘top ten to a tropical island’ list. Who else but this eloquent woman who could make a world of a six year old being written in her perspective, while allowing her readers to know and understand beyond her child’s narrative? I am not pleased, and do not believe that her lawyer ‘miraculously’ discovered the second manuscript in with Mockingbird’s original. Ms. Lee’s sister had it put away and closed to publication, as they both had decided. Then why not destroy it, as an agent once told them to do? The material was described as dark and from a place of anger. I will most likely not pick it up, but who knows?
I’ve read this book aloud to two different groups of people of various backgrounds unable to enjoy the printed word. From the tree, to Boo’s back porch, to the steps outside the jail, you can’t help but to be pulled in. I tied the chapter about Old Tim Johnson and Jem seeing his Dad as a ‘Sure Shot’ to ask VHS’ers when they realized something like that in their own lives. Man. What a masterpiece. Wow. Ms. Lee, I so appreciate your dogged persistence, and incredible skill you poured into a book such as this. How large the crowd of admirers. Thank you. clink

I made a delicious mockingbird squab.

I finished it up with a couple tequila gimlets.