Kill a Mockingbird. According to the Alabama Huntsville Times, Harper Lee denied her novel was
autobiographical, although many parallels existed between the novel and her childhood. Harper Lee's father was also a lawyer, and there is speculation that Scout was inspired by Lee's childhood; and, perhaps
Dill was inspired by Lee's own childhood friend Truman Capote. Truman often stayed with his cousins who
lived next door to Harper Lee's family.
Two quotations from To Kill A Mockingbird: "Shoot all the bluejays you want. If you can hit 'em, but
remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird," and " People generally see what they look for, and hear what
they listen for."
Harper Lee quit granting interviews in 1964, and the citizens of Monroeville respected her wishes for privacy and were protective of her. Before her stroke, Lee lived with her older sister, Alice Finch Lee, who practiced law until the age of 100! Harper Lee in recent years suffered a stroke leaving her partially paralyzed and limited to a wheelchair. Lee's last novel, Go Set a Watchman, was published in 2015. She died at the age of 89.
To Kill a Mockingbird will be one of our discussion books for 2016-2017.
It's a powerful story that speaks to many.
It's my sister's favorite book, she recently named her 2 new kittens, Boo and Scout.
To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than 40 languages.
his spell; what a masterful story he wove. The movie that followed in 1991, starred Nick Nolte, Barbra
Streisand and Kate Nelligan (remember her as Lucy from "The Eye of the Needle").
According to a New York Times article reporting his death:
"Mr. Conroy mined the people , the places and the trauma of his childhood and young manhood for
his thinly fictionalized novels and a series of memoirs that captivated readers with their openly
emotional tone, lurid family stories and lush prose...."
A sample of his writing from The Prince of Tides:
"To describe our growing up in the Low country of South Carolina, I would have to take you to
the marsh on a spring day, flush the great blue heron from its silent occupation. Scatter marsh
hens as we sink to our knees in mud, open you an oyster with a pocketknife and feed it to you
from the shell and say, "There. That taste. That's the taste of my childhood." I would say, "Breathe
deeply,' and you would breathe and remember that smell for the rest of your life, the bold, fecund
aroma of the tidal marsh, exquisite and sensual, the smell of the South......"
At bedtime his mother, described as a romantic, would read Gone With the Wind to him.
Pat Conroy's novels include: The Great Santini, The Lords of Discipline, The Prince of Tides, My Losing Season,
The Water is Wide and South of Broad (2009).
His first two marriages ended in divorce, he is survived by his wife, the author Cassandra King and 4 daughters.
Pat Conroy died at the age of 70, on March 4, 2016.