To Kill a Mockingbird :: RtK Book Club Discussion

I love it when the person leading the book club discussion chooses a book for us to read that they feel very strongly about. This past month, Annette from This Simple Home invited us to read To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. It is one of her all-time favorite books and she explains some of the reasons why below.


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I've read To Kill a Mockingbird more than a dozen time, and I still glean something new from my all-time favorite book. Even if you didn't read along this month, I hope you'll take the time to read some of my thoughts.



To Kill a Mockingbird earned Harper Lee a Pulitzer Prize in 1960. The widely read book, not about mockingbirds, is an American classic set in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama in the early 1930's.



Scout (known formally as Jean Louise Finch), brother Jem (Jeremy Finch), and their friend Dill (Charles Baker Harris) spend their hot summer days mostly staying out of trouble and playing games about their reclusive neighbor Boo Radley. As time goes by, life is less about Boo and more about the impact of Scout and Jem's lawyer father and his most recent case. Atticus Finch defends a black man accused of raping a white woman. It's a case he has no chance of winning despite the evidence. Much to the dismay of his neighbors, Atticus intends to defend Tom Robinson.



Family. Atticus Finch is not a perfect father. Some think he lets his kids run wild. However, he listens to them and does his best by them. He may not hug them, but they know they are loved. As one raised by a single father, I appreciate the wisdom Atticus provides.  Scout judged the severity of many situations based on Atticus's reaction. He would assure her, "Don't you worry about anything. It's not time to worry." As the older brother, Jem uses the same phrase to help Scout. The siblings may fight, but they also protect and care for one another. Aunt Alexandra even comes to help out.



Prejudice. The Finch's help, Calpurnia, is treated like family. She cares for the children and Atticus and they care for her and respect her at a time when the "colored" help was beneath them.Yet the times are the times. Though Scout has a better upbringing than most when it comes to respecting those of different races, she later responds to Dill's distress with the treatment of Tom Robinson, "Well, Dill, after all he's just a Negro."



TKAM addresses the unique problem of those of mixed races and interracial marriage. Dolphus Raymond chooses to live with a black woman. Together they have children. He walks around drinking from a paper sack just to give others comfort. He explains that it helps others if they can "latch onto a reason" for him living as he does, so he lets them think he can't help himself as a drunk (when in fact, he is not much of a drinker).



I want to think of how far our country has come when it comes to looking past skin color. If it begins with me, I have a good start but wonder how much further I need to go. I have a niece and nephew who are biracial. I have several friends and acquaintances within an interracial marriage. My community is significantly more diverse than where I grew up (which likely remains 99% caucasian). But it's only a beginning.



TKAM also explores social class and what it means to have "background."  Jem and Scout discuss this quite a bit and ponder if it is how long a family has owned their land or how long they have been reading. Regarding a friend of  Jem and Scout's, Aunt Alexandra explains, "There is no doubt in my mind that they're good folks. But they're not our kind of folks." This makes me wonder about how I find the balance between being a good friend to those different than me (or my children) while intentional about friendships formed, too.



Justice. The American justice system is only as efficient as the men and women who serve within the courts. Atticus defended Tom Robinson, an innocent man, as well as he could. Despite the evidence, Atticus knew the battle was lost before he stepped into the courtroom, but it was a battle he was willing to fight.



Death. I discussed a passage from To Kill a Mockingbird a while back that discussed death with dignity.

Related Recommendations

If you like To Kill a Mockingbird, I highly recommend reading Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, by Charles J. Shields. Though Harper Lee would not authorize any biography or the content within the book, the author's research and writing was wonderful, even if Nell Harper Lee's life was not all peaches and cream. If you wonder why another book was not published by Harper Lee, Shields attempts to answer that question.



If you are one who likes to consider faith issues, you may like The Mockingbird Parables: Transforming Lives Through the Power of Story, by Matt Littman



If you are curious about the title, Jem and Scout receive air guns for Christmas.

"Atticus said to Jem one day, 'I'd rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'"

Thank you for reading along with a wonderful classic, and thank you, Carrie, for hosting the Reading to Know Book Club!

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Did you read along with the book club this month? If you did and would care to share your thoughts/a link to your blog post about the book below. We look forward to hearing what you thought of this remarkable book.

2014 Reading Year (in reflection)

The long and short of it is, I didn't read everything I wanted to read this past year. I also read a lot of different books that I thought I might. I rather suspect the same is true for a great many other readers out there.

As always, I keep a reading log of the books I've read throughout the year over at The Master List. If you are ever curious to see the whole kit and caboodle, you can click over there. Here is my 2014 reading list (complete). I list the books that I've read by/for myself and then also separately list the read-alouds which are shared with the bookworms. This year I read (outloud or to myself) a total of 79 books which is down considerably from 2013 (wherein I read 103 books!).

I attribute that to two factors, neither of which I would change:

1.) We added Bookworm4 to the family this year. Certainly I do not regret him at all! I love having four kids. It is a joy and a delight to have a household of little people running about, making merry. Yes, my reading time is feeling the affects but that is as it should be for this season of life. It's the best life and I'm chuckling to myself as the numbers of books read bothers me less than I thought it might. Quantity matters less and quality definitely matters more now than in previous years. I suspect this attitude to continue to develop over the next several years.

2.) Harry Potter. I read Harry Potter for the first time. I am still struggling to find books that I like quite so well. He definitely lit up my reading year and also effectively killed the last half of it. I will recover from him, right? Right?

Out of all of the books I read, here are my Top 10 Favorite Reads (linked to my reviews/thoughts):

1. Surprised by Oxford, by Carolyn Weber

2. At Home in Mitford, by Jan Karon (re-read) - I read this when traveling in Korea which impacted me more, perhaps, than it would have had I re-read it at home on the couch.

3. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. Second time was the charm for me and this title. I am glad to have read it.

4. The Prisoner of Zenda, by Anthony Hope (re-read). I also read this one on our trip to Korea. I loved it just as much as I did the first time.

5. Miss Buncle's Book, by D.E. Stevenson. Oh, have you not read it yet!?!? You must!!

6. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling - This is my favorite title in the series and the one that "got to me". After reading this one, I raced my way through the rest of the books. Curiously, Jonathan started reading the books shortly after I finished them and Book 4 was the same title that grabbed at him and sent him racing to the end.

7. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain. Definitely eye-opening and very interesting.

8. The Last Battle, by C.S. Lewis. Notable because this has always been my least favorite of the Narnia books. However, this book spoke loudly to me on this particular re-read. I will never drag my feet when it comes to reading this ever again.

9. The Princess and the Goblin, by George MacDonald which we read as part of the Reading to Know Book Club. Loved this book. (I also read it aloud to my children.)

10. Although I mention this last, it's not because it is the least important. Quite the opposite is true, in fact. This year is the first year in my whole entire life that I managed to read the Bible through in a year. I picked up this Chronological Bible at a local store for a good price and wanted to give it a try. I'd always wanted to read the Bible chronologically and I liked that this laid out the daily readings for me. No guess work. No multiple additional papers with references marked down. No computer programs and no highlighters. Just me and a Bible with passages clearly grouped into daily readings. I so valued this experience and found that there are not really any "boring" parts as we are so very inclined to think. Sure, certain parts take a little extra work but seeing the story laid out chronologically was helpful in my being able to better understand the whole.

I've picked up The One Year Bible ESV arranged into 365 readings for next year.

As for Bookworm1's independent reading list, well . . .

Last year I managed to keep a list of his reads. This year he out read me and I have no idea what all he managed to consume. I know he loved the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series and devoured Encyclopedia Brown and Magic Tree House books. We allowed him to read the first Harry Potter book and I just handed over The Mysterious Benedict Society which he is currently in the middle of reading. It is fun to see his reading take off and also a little sad that I can no longer keep up with it. (Waah!) I'm working on a solution to see if I can keep up with his titles next year but only time will tell if I can succeed at that or not!

This wraps up our "year in review." I'm curious to hear how you fared and if you shared a list of your top ten reads from 2014, I'd love to see it! Do share if you will.

In the meantime - MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Louis Zamperini & Jane Austen (Now there's a match!)

Just like so many others, I have also read Unbroken and found it one of the most compelling, inspiring and fantastic stories I've ever read. If you've not yet read it, do. Yes, the movie is coming out in just a few short weeks (and I am SO looking forward to seeing it) but don't let that be an excuse to let the book slip away from you. It is a spell-binding read.

Dey Street Books sent me an e-mail a few weeks back asking if I'd like to read Don't Give Up, Don't Give In, written by Louis Zamperini (published posthumous). I couldn't say "YES!" fast enough. If you've got a Zamperini fan on your hands this Christmas, look for this book! It's delightful to read his take on his life in his own words.

The subtitle of this book is "Lessons Learned from an Extraodinary Life" and it is co-written and edited by David Rensin. Basically this book is encouragement to continuing pressing on in life, giving it your all, and keeping a positive attitude. Zamperini believed that all things in life work together for good and he clearly enjoyed sharing that message with others. He lived with no regrets about his own life, recognizing that each thing that appeared to be bad on the surface ultimately ended up making him the man that he was. He couldn't change anything about his circumstances and so he wasn't going to waste time worrying about them. He's a "pick yourself up by your bootstraps and march on" sort of fellow and I like that about him. He doesn't waste time with pity and encourages others to follow suit. In today's society, that's a message that we need to hear. (I suspect in any society and any age, preaching against self-pity is quite important.) This new title, as I say, is an inspiring read and I'm glad to have spent a little bit of time with Zamperini again.

If you haven't yet read Unbroken - (for shame!) - do that first. Then pick up Don't Give Up, Don't Give In. You won't find that hard to do, trust me.

Many thanks to Dey Street Books for sending a copy of this book my direction in order to facilitate this review. I received no additional compensation and all opinions are my own.

Do you have a Jane Austen fan on your list this Christmas? You might want to look up At Home with Jane Austen. This book is filled with beautiful full-colored photographs, period illustrations and family photographs of the Austens. It explores the world of Jane Austen through the homes in which she lived which is a fairly unique take.

At Home with Jane Austen is a coffee table-style book except it is more heavy on words than you'll find in most books of that nature. Besides talking about the history and architecture of the buildings, you learn about what homes and rooms might have inspired certain locations in Austen's books. You learn about the landlords, her father's position as locate curate and various members of the household staff. Then, of course, there are the photographs which make Americans want to pack up and move to England. (Ok, it makes me want to pack up and move to England. And you only think I'm joking!) I would thoroughly enjoy a stroll around Steventon, let me tell you.

For people who dream of walking where Jane Austen walked and who wish to learn more about the practical side of her life, this is a fantastic title to consider.

Many thanks to Abbeville Press who sent a copy of this title my direction in order to facilitate this review. I received no additional compensation and all opinions are 100% my own.

Reading to Know Classics Book Club 2015

It's really that time again, yes.

It's time to schedule out our book club readings for the coming year. I've asked a few new people to join the ranks and host a month. You'll also note that none of the books on the list below are epic novels,  thereby allowing everyone time enough to read the book during the month it is being discussed.  Another thing you'll recognizing is that the book club reads are being combined with the annual reading challenges which I host here at Reading to Know. The RtK Book Club will be combined with the Lucy Maud Montgomery Challenge in January and the Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge in July. This will also help to simplify the reading year, allowing for greater ease in participation.

One additional note: it recently came to my attention that using the description of "book club" seems to insinuate that if you commit to being a part of it, you are signing up for all 12 reads. That's not true! (But I also can't think of a better name for this than a "club" because we read the books and then "come together" to discuss.) Having no better term or label for this, we call it a book club but we invite you to read as you are interested and able. If there are only 3 books on this list of interest to you, please feel free to join in just for those three books! Of course, we hope everyone will play along as much as possible and share their thoughts on the books which they end up reading. We hope you'll make new bookish friends and read authors that you might not have otherwise picked up all on your own. The point is always to have fun so use this "club" in a manner that best suits you and your family.

Now, without further ado, let's move on to the books selected for the upcoming year, shall we?

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January - Any Lucy Maud Montgomery title of your choosing, held in conjunction with the Lucy Maud Montgomery Reading Challenge (discussion hosted by Carrie)


February - Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad (Discussion hosted by Heather from Don't Let This Universe Forget You)

March - The Pursuit of God, by A. W. Tozer (Discussion hosted by Shonya from Learning How Much I Don't Know)

April - 1984, by George Orwell (Discussion hosted by Annette from This Simple Home)

May - Christy, by Catherine Marshall (Discussion hosted by Stephanie from Simple Things)

June - The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Discussion hosted by Amy from Hope is the Word)

July - Any Narnia book (or book about Narnia or C.S. Lewis) of your choosing. Hosted in conjunction with the Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge (Hosted by Carrie)

August - Laddie; a true blue story, by Gene Stratton Porter (Discussion hosted by Heather from Lines from the Page)

September - The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis (Discussion hosted by Barbara from Stray Thoughts)

October- The Hound of the Baskervilles (Discussion hosted by Sky from Circus Caravan of My Thoughts on Things)

November - Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales. Feel free to read one or all, as you please. (Discussion hosted by Rebekah from Bekahcubed)

December- The Sherwood Ring, by Elizabeth Marie Pope (Discussion hosted by Tammy from Bluerose's Heart)

Hope you found something on this list you like! We look forward to reading with you in 2015!

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Advent Books for Toddlers

Time for a little Q&A.

Someone asked me what Advent book we use with our kids and what I might recommend.

A: Back in 2012 I was given an opportunity to review Why Christmas?, by Barbara Roach (linked to thoughts). We really did like that one and have used it since. We're using it again this year. We find it perfectly suited for the kids in our family. (To clarify, our kids are currently: 2, 3, 5 and 8.)

Each page has a passage of scripture to read through and a prompt for further discussions. Parents are encouraged to define particular words and phrases to their youngsters so that they are better able to understand the story of Christ's birth. There are also song suggestions for each day. (This is a wonderful addition as our children love to sing and seem to do their best memory work when facts are set to music.)

You can read our full thoughts on this title HERE. Also, you can read Annette from This Simple Home's endorsement of this title as well. Her kids are close in age to mine and she loves using this book also.

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This year I was given an opportunity to review Prepare Him Room, a family devotional by Marty Machowski.

I read through the first half of this book and flipped through the second half and ultimately decided it wasn't a great fit for our family. That said, I do think it's a solid book that ought to be considered by families. I would categorize Prepare Him Room and say that it is best used by "teacher types." This is a thin book but it is laid out like a well organized lesson plan, complete with specific scriptures to read, songs to sing and science experience/art projects to help drive the lesson home.

Please understand that there is absolutely nothing in this book that I didn't like. It just is not a good fit for me because I don't like a book to put me in too tight of a box or structured system. This is likely not at all what Marty Machowski intends but that's how it feels to me. I can think of several friends (coincidentally, all of them are teachers) who would absolutely love this book because it removes the need for a lot of your own thought process to come up with appropriate songs or activities to do to share a message. This book is, as I say, very orderly and, should you choose to use it, you can begin and end your Advent season knowing that you covered all of your bases. It is a nicely put together curriculum and I know some people will love it for that reason. If you prefer things organized for you, this book is for you!

Many thanks to New Growth Press for sending a copy my direction in order to facilitate this review. I received no additional compensation and all opinions are my own.

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Once upon a time I reviewed a couple of different advent books that I had purchased myself. I have tossed all of them in favor of Why Christmas? In a few years, I'll no doubt need to find another resource but for now this is what is working for us.

Christmas Book Countdown

As many of you are aware, every year for the past several years I have wrapped up all of our Christmas picture books for my kids to open as they countdown to Christmas Day. I initially got this idea from Amy at Hope is the Word who does the same for her family. The idea is this: collect mass quantities of Christmas titles for your home collection (heh) and then each day one or more children can open one or more of the Christmas book packages to be read altogether. We usually open our books up in the morning, along with our advent calendar candy. (This way the kids can always be smacking in my ear as I am reading to them. Some year I will figure out how to separate these two activities but at the present they really love sitting down to eat candy during the reading time. I therefore struggle to concentrate heavily on the story, not being an enormous fan of smacking lips. I have, however, learned to avoid crunchy things.)

Now, for us, I like lining up the books that we read with particular activities. So, the first thing I do is start ordering out our Christmas parties and then I might schedule in some special family activities or movie nights with particular themes in mind. Example: I select in advance the day we will watch The Polar Express and then I wrap up the Polar Express book and "schedule" it for the same calendar day. And then every day leading up to that day I hear the begging and pleading from Bookworm2 that we get out all things Polar Express (his favorite story). The children have learned that when they open the Frosty the Snowman book that means that they get to watch that movie the same day. They have definitely learned that the books can be a tip off for events in the evening and that also adds to the excitement level. We've had some books in our collection now for long enough that my oldest two eagerly await "finding" them in the stack and cheers have been known to erupt when they finally open the book of choice. (Bookworm1 was really excited to open up The Christmas Story: The Brick Bible - linked to thoughts - this past weekend. No, I haven't gotten rid of yet. But Mater Saves Christmas did bite the dust.)

Let me be clear: this tradition takes a lot of work. It typically takes me 2-3 hours one evening to sit down with the calendar, stack the books in order and get them all wrapped up. In some ways it's a bit of a pain. But in most every other single way, it is a delight to be able to do this for my kids and I can't recommend the practice highly enough. It is something that they look forward to and, truth be told, I do also. (Because I forget which order I have placed the and sometimes I'm surprised myself! Such is my memory.) Ha!

Now, as I talk about our habits with the books, I also try to share about some of the ones in our home library and give a quick review. Here are some links to past reviews/titles which I have shared:

• St. Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend
• A Magical Christmas (Still one of my favorites!)
• Little Rabbit's Christmas
• A Christmas Spider's Miracle
• Small One

All of the above titles are still included in our collection. That said, at the end of last year I culled our stack a bit, eliminating some titles that I didn't care for as much. At the beginning of this year, I replaced some with new titles I had researched.

Here are two of our new titles:

Good King Wenceslas was one I researched a bit. My kids especially love books which invite you to sing and I wanted to find a book based on a lesser-known-but-still-familiar carol. I know the song of Good King Wenceslas but I don't think I've ever paid much attention to the words before. I found this edition on Amazon and liked the classical look of it. We read it for the first time the other day and I absolutely love it.

You do sing the song as you read the book but the verses are broken up and mixed into the story of the Good King who sees a peasant gathering wood for a fire. The king and his page boy go out to help the begger and take him some food. The king spends an enjoyable evening with the "least of these" in this kingdom before returning to his palace as the song and story go. And, as I say, as you read along the story you pause to sing the various verses.

This book includes a DVD which is narrated by Jane Seymour and sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I can't tell you how the DVD is because I couldn't bear the Amazon price for the book. I purchased this one through a third party seller on Amazon but the DVD was not included. (The price, however, was more to my liking!) I'm glad I picked this one up. I think it's a great addition to our collection.

The next book I purchased was one that we had previewed from our local library last year. We borrowed The Christmas Train: A True Story land I absolutely fell in love with it. I stuck it on my Amazon wishlist until such a time came to feel comfortable with the price. (Again though, I picked up a used "like new" copy via third party seller. However, I also bought a brand new copy to be gifted to some friends of ours this year.)

This book tells the true story of a little boy who was given an electric train from his parents for Christmas. His mother has also purchased a wind-up train to gift to a neighborhood boy who is "less fortunate" then he. When he discovers the gratitude which exists in the friend who has a mere wind-up train, he feels remorseful over his own attitude of greed.

Now, I'm not a proponent (in the very least) of making anyone feel guilty for receiving good gifts. I hope I give my children good gifts and I trust they will enjoy them as they should. There is nothing wrong with the giving and receiving of good gifts. (I've already argued this.) I like this book though because the message is delivered in a way that doesn't beat you over the head with false guilt, but makes the reader to know that they ought to be thankful for everything that they have received. The message isn't, "Oh, he got a simple train and you got a fancy one. You should give yours away." Rather, the message is: "Maintain a proper attitude concerning what you have been given."

Give and receive, but do both joyfully! This is a lesson I hope that my children learn well in this life. We should always look to bless and receive the blessings with thanksgiving. God is generous to us and we, in turn, ought to be generous towards others. These are the messages of this book and so I love it. I whole heartedly love it and am happy to have it among our collection.

Now, just because we have a nice collection of books doesn't mean that I'm necessarily done with my set. There are still books among my stack that I would weed out if I were to come across a better one. I'm always up for suggestions! If there is a Christmas picture book that you and yours have loved, please tell me about it! I'd love to hear from you in the comment section with recommendations of your own.

In the meantime, I hope you all are having a fun December celebrating time with your loved ones and are pursuing a few fun traditions of your own.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

The Gift of Christmas, by Debbie Macomber

Ok, I've been reading a lot of review copies (which all looked interesting to me and came available in the last month or so!) because I've been working on a very long tome (Atlas Shrugged) of late. That means I'm reviewing shorter books (mostly review copies) until I finish Atlas. However, this past week I've been recovering from fluid build-up in my ear (who. knew. that an inner ear problem could cause so much pain!?) and yesterday I found myself lying on the couch wanting to do nothing but sleep and read fluff. I did both.

Prior to December I picked out The Gift of Christmas as my personal Christmas read. I have read two others by Debbie Macomber which I liked and so I wanted to try another. While I liked the others, this one tried my patience. Remember how I said that my pain tolerance is rather high when it comes to Christmas books? I'm almost delighted to tell you that apparently there is a limit to what can be endured. I cannot abide this book. It made me to feel that I'd just as soon avoid her books in the future.

The Gift of Christmas tells the story of Ashley Robbins, a twenty-something year old English teacher who has been in love with her mother's employer, Cooper Masters, since she was 16 years old. (Her mother is Masters' cook and housekeeper.) Cooper is so far out of her reach though that she doesn't believe that she has a chance in the world at ever marrying him. He is a wealthy business man, roughly 40 years old, and travels in completely different circles. Yet, they have a common bond of a godson and this gives them a distance sort of relationship. The book is supposed to describe a relational tension between the two and leave you feeling breathless over whether or not they will or will not ultimately "get together." However, it's so predictable you know it's going to happen.

Aside from being predictable, it is also completely ridiculous. To say that there is character development in this story would be laughable. From page two Cooper Masters is sighing because he wants to kiss her and yet is cold and distant because he feels the age gap. He kisses her anyway. From there the book is filled with the two of them misunderstanding each other repeatedly (to the point where you want to knock their heads together) and kissing to make up. The cycle is this: frustration, sighing, kissing, frustration, sighing, kissing, etc.. Nothing ever changes but the book ends on a happy kissing note. So I guess that's ...goodish. Except! I have no idea what Macomber's personal belief system is but she writes Ashley up to be a Christian. Ashley is so Christian that Macomber notes that she does Christian workout DVDs in her home. She carries a Bible in her purse which she whips out from time to time. She goes to church and hugs babies. And, to be very, very safely righteous, she only works out with Christian exercise DVDs.

Problem: Cooper Masters is not a Christian. He is just not sure about this "God thing." But this does not prevent Ashley from pursuing a sighing, kissing - yet frustrated! - relationship with him in hopes that he will fall desperately in love with her. This, in spite of the fact that she had a previous boyfriend who was not a Christian who she had felt compelled to break up with because she knew that this other guy's lack of faith was problematic. She suffers no hesitations about Cooper Masters though, because he is handsome and he sighs a lot. The author of her fate, (referring to Macomber, of course), kindly makes Masters a Christian in the end, thus solving any faith problems. And because I disliked this book so much so as to not to care about offering you spoilers, he even proposes to her by using a Bible. Because it's just that good.

When I finished this book, not only did my ear hurt but so did my head. Christmas read fail. Debbie Macomber is struck from my list.

But here's the more embarrassing part (aside from the fact that I actually read this): I closed the book annoyed and discovered to my great horror that it was published by Harlequin! I was so embarrassed I almost fainted. (Except that I didn't faint. I just kicked myself internally really hard.)

I purchased this book for myself (which is why I felt compelled to read on to the end). I'm horrified that I didn't note the publisher this time around. Pray, don't make the same mistake! Believe me when I say it's not worth your valuable reading time (or reading money). (I'm grateful that it only took 1.5 hours to read or else I would be even more disgruntled with myself than I currently am.) Goodbye, Macomber. I think I've gotten out of your books all that I care to. (Strongly worded? Yes.)

To Kill a Mockingbird :: RtK Book Club December

With this post, my friends, we introduce our last book club read for the year 2014. The plans for 2015 are in the works and will be announced in the next few weeks. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. First, let's check in with Annette from This Simple Home who chose To Kill a Mockingbird for this month's reading selection.

Here are her opening thoughts:

***** I became enchanted by Scout and Jem when I was in seventh or eighth grade. My homeroom teacher for grades 7-12 was also an English teacher. Sitting on her shelves were 25 or so copies of To Kill a Mockingbird. To kill time during homeroom, I read the book. I loved it, though at the time I didn't appreciate as I do now. Every year I read the book during homeroom, though never with a group to discuss it.

When I went to college, I bought an inexpensive copy. Though I didn't continue with my annual reading of To Kill a Mockingbird, I did read it several times. Once I married, I began listening to the audio book or reading the book each year. Several years ago, I even upgraded my copy to a beautiful hardcover edition.

If you don't know the story, Scout Finch tells of the time her little Alabama town changed forever. She's finally going to school for the first time, along the side of her brother Jem. She starts hearing things about her daddy. As an attorney, he is defending a black man accused of rape. Not just any rape: the rape of a white woman. Scout, Jem, and their friend Dill find their lives interrupted and changed forever.

Justice, class, and race are heavy topics, but Harper Lee tells this effective story through the eyes of a child.

If you have ever watched the movie, please note it follows the book quite well. However, the movie focuses on the courtroom and Atticus Finch, and the book focuses upon the children. If you have recently read To Kill a Mockingbird and are eager to learn why Harper Lee never published another book, I highly recommend Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee. For Christian enthusiasts, I also highly recommend The Mockingbird Parables. Feel free to join in with the book club with either of those titles, too.

I recently shared a quote from To Kill a Mockingbird that speaks about dying with dignity.

Would you read along with us this month? December may be a bit busy, but you'll find if you read just one chapter a day, you'll finish before the new year!


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We do hope you will read along with us this month. If you are, of course, we always like to know. Please leave a comment below.