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Book of the month

Find reading inspiration on our Book of the Month forum.

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Original poster

FEBRUARY BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION NIGHT - To Kill a Mockingbird chat will take place here on Tuesday 26th FFeb

83 replies

TillyBookClub · 06/02/2008 11:32

This is the place to come for our February discussion night on To Kill a Mockingbird. We'll kick off at the usual time of 8pm - and I'll let you know if we get an author chat sorted...

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LardyMardyDaisy · 06/02/2008 16:12

an author chat would be fab.

I've never joined in the book club talks beofre but this is my all time favourite book

Original poster

TillyBookClub · 20/02/2008 22:23

Just to let you all know that the March selection is up and ready - join the thread and see the selection [[http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/5005/482153?rnd=1203545886107 here}}

I'm waiting to hear about the author chat, will keep you posted.

Looking forward to Tuesday night - does anyone else's copy of Mocking Bird have Study Notes in the back? Mine has whole essay plans. So when I start sounding off like a GCSE Eng Lit teacher you'll know why...

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Original poster

TillyBookClub · 20/02/2008 22:25

oops, my brackets are squiffy

Here is the March Book of the Month thread - get voting now...

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Original poster

TillyBookClub · 25/02/2008 11:38

Sadly I don't think we'll have the author joining us tomorrow night - I haven't heard anything back from the publisher - but I'm looking forward to having the full 2 hours to chat about it amongst ourselves. See you at 8pm tomorrow.

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sophiewd · 25/02/2008 13:14

Have enjoyed reading it and would love to join in but Tuesdays really difficult . Have fun.

DarrellRivers · 25/02/2008 13:27

I'm working tomorrow evening during prime-time book club, and can't get internet access at work, but will pop in when i get back at 11pm to see how the chat went
Am v gutted no Harper Lee for author chat . oh well, i suspect self -imposed isolation was unlikely to be tempted by an on-line chat

Nerdbomber · 26/02/2008 19:46

Might not be able to make it tonight - ds & dd have chicken pox and are going mad....

in case, I was wondering if ya'll (just getting in the mindset - it's a common southern-us contraction) would share your favorite quotes from the book.

i love miss maudie's "a merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance" - i would love to say that wearing a "grin of the uttermost wickedness" one day.

have fun!

fryalot · 26/02/2008 19:59

Original poster

TillyBookClub · 26/02/2008 19:59

Oh no, what a shame, looks like tonight is a bit tricky for many...

But for those of you who can make it, hello.

I want to get stuck in straight away and say that when I first read this book (aged 12) it seemed to be all about race and the trial. And then when I read this book last week (aged 32) it suddenly became all about parenting skills and how to bring children into the world with the right values. It occured to me that everything hangs on these very strong father characters: Nathan Radley (who imprisons Boo), Bob Ewell (who probably molested his daugher) and Atticus (who is a moral hero). Its their attitude to children that drives the main action, in many ways. And the mothers are all absent.

Did anyone else read it with massive Motherhood goggles on?

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fryalot · 26/02/2008 20:02

yep.

Dp had read the book at school, but I hadn't and when he saw me reading it, he told me that it was all about a rape trial where a black man had been accused of raping a white woman. I felt that, whilst that storyline was important to the story, it wasn't what the book was actually about.

joyfulspike · 26/02/2008 20:08

me too, i agree with squonk the story to me was the people, rather than the trial. Even though it was written a while ago, the issues are still relevant I think

Original poster

TillyBookClub · 26/02/2008 20:10

I hardly paid attention to the rape trial this time. In fact, i thought the author's approach to her black characters seemed a bit out of date. What really interested me was how Atticus tried to work within the system of prejudice and still get his kids to think freely. I wanted to know if he felt horribly responsible for putting Jem and Scout in danger. And the ending is quite shocking in many ways - Atticus is preparing to put Jem through a trial and legal process for murder when he doesn't have to, and its only because Heck sticks to his guns that Atticus doesn't insist on blaming Jem for it. Isnt' that taking moral high ground a little too far?

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strawberrylace · 26/02/2008 20:11

Also that it takes a whole community to bring up children, not just parents...

joyfulspike · 26/02/2008 20:13

probably, but I think Atticus came accross at times as the sort of bloke who likes to take the difficult path, even when there's an easier one.

fryalot · 26/02/2008 20:14

I felt that Atticus would not allow anybody to accuse him/Heck of not pursuing Jem just because of who his father was, and also, I thought that he felt that he could not allow Jem (and Scout) to see him going back on his principles when it suited him.

Original poster

TillyBookClub · 26/02/2008 20:17

realise that i sound ridiculous saying Harper Lee is out of date when she wrote this book a good 40 years ago. What I mean is that her black characters are all still fairly stereotypical and not as filled out as her white characters. Scout and Atticus' characters are so strong and so interesting that I focused on them.

I thought the book was all about being brave and being compassionate, no matter what is going on around you. And also about loss of innocence, how it is almost impossible to hold on to a pure, untainted goodness in society.

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strawberrylace · 26/02/2008 20:18

I think Atticus felt he would lose the respect of his children if he didn't do the right thing - but, as I said, it takes a community to raise a child, which is why Heck's reaction is v important. he could see things that Atticus couldn't

Original poster

TillyBookClub · 26/02/2008 20:20

Meant to add that I read a note saying the book was originally called Atticus but her publishers made her change it. Funny though that he was the original lynchpin rather than Scout.

I think he's a very good father. What does everyone else think?

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strawberrylace · 26/02/2008 20:20

the fact that the black characters are stereotypes just underlines the fact that the trial is a plot device rather than the plot itself (iyswim). Agree it is about the loss of innocence and how views change with experience

fryalot · 26/02/2008 20:20

yeah, strawberrylace, that's what I was getting at.

Besides, wasn't Heck trying to tell Atticus that it was Boo Radley who had actually killed Bob Ewell?

So there was absolutely no need to prosecute Jem for it as he hadn't done it?

gemmiegoatlegs · 26/02/2008 20:22

i think the black characters seem less "well filled" because they are from a "white" perspective IYKWIM. The white child narrator didn't have the same knowledge and experience of blacks as she did her own white friends and neighbours

strawberrylace · 26/02/2008 20:23

definitely squonk - though it took me a couple of reads to get that (being a bit dense I think!). I love that Boo is the hero at the end. And that Atticus isn't always right

2Good2BTrue · 26/02/2008 20:23

Hello all,

This is the first time that I have entered the realms of a book club, and it seemed the perfect excuse to re-read this book 25 years after my first attempt (which left me wondering what all the fuss was about).

Having 'grown up' and had kids I saw this in a very different light. I was touched by Atticus who I feel brought Jem and Scout up as best he could as a single father, and found myself welling up at the end of the book (Dh looked on amazed he hated the book at school and says the book put an end to all books and has not read one since).

The relationships between the characters struck me most about this book, and I do agree that the issues are still relevant.

This will now go down as one my favourite books of all time (but I won't pass it on to my 2dds unitl they are old enough to appreciate it!)

Original poster

TillyBookClub · 26/02/2008 20:24

And strawberrylace, I agree, its the community that takes responsibility for its future (i.e children). In most of the book I felt like Scout, jem and Atticus had to fight every aspect of the community (bar Miss Maudie and Tom Robinson) - they were fighting prejudices in school, in the law, in the streets.

But then Heck and Boo and a few others seem to redeem the place.

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strawberrylace · 26/02/2008 20:26

I agree that Atticus is a good dad - very fair, just and makes his kids think for themselves rather than just telling them the answer. Wish i could be sure i would be a parent like that. But the ending shows that he is as infallible as the rest of us - that he has to learn his way through things....

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