To Kill A Mockingbird

I know, I know. "How could you never have read To Kill a Mockingbird?"

My stock answer is, "I'm Canadian. Have you read Fifth Business?" That usually will stop them in their tracks.

I try to read at least one classic a summer, and since I am working in an American school now, I thought, I had better bone up on my American Classics. So I polled some colleagues of mine, and once TKAM came up, everyone said that was the one that I had to read.

Boy I'm glad that I did.

There is no real reason to give any plot synopsis since it seems like everyone has read it, but wow. A friend at work said to me, "Atticus Finch is the perfect man", and I am inclined to agree. Scout, Jem and Dil are all such authentic characters, as is the illusive Boo Radley. We all had a Boo on our streets growing up, didn't we? Our street definately had a haunted house with a mean old lady living inside. Noone went there on Hallowe'en except on a dare.

It only took me two days to read Mockingbird simply because the story was so compelling. Eventhough as an adult, I knew what was going to happen, I kept hoping that the ending would turn out differently. Amazing writing.

So if any of you out there would like to recommend an American classic to me, feel free to post a comment.