To Kill A Mockingbird

I am a news junky. This results in my having read very few of what are generally regarded as 'the classics'. So last night when the opportunity presented itself to me, I jumped at the chance to have a taster of 'To Kill A Mockingbird' by Harper Lee. My sister read it a few months ago and of course loved it, so having a few hours to kill babysitting, I sat down with it. The language isn't convoluted or pretentious and there is a directness about the viewpoint. In short, I'm loving it.
I'm a really slow reader oddly enough, so it'll take me while to finish it, plus the fact that most night's I'll be too wound up or tired to have a quiet read. I'll get back to you when I'm further in than page 70, but so far it's two thumbs.

"When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem's fears of never being able to play football were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury. His left arm was somewhat shorter than his right; when he stood or walked, the back of his hand was at right angles to his body, his thumb parallel to his thigh. He couldn't have cared less, so long as he could pass and punt.

When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out.

I said if he wanted to take a broad view of the thing, it really began with Andrew Jackson. If General Jackson hadn't run the Creeks up the creek, Simon Finch would never have paddled up the Alabama, and where would we be if he hadn't? We were far too old to settle an argument with a fist-fight, so we consulted Atticus. Our father said we were both right."

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