To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

I wish I could pull off this haircut.

This is one of those books everyone is shocked that I haven't read, which is a large number of books, actually. It makes sense that my southern Baptist school never assigned this to me, but oh my god. This was incredible and I don't know how long it would have taken me to read this if it hadn't been for this project. My dad gave this to me when he found out I hadn't read it, and I think I have to give it back to him now and get my own copy because I need it in my life. I don't know a lot about the reception/history of this novel, or anything about Harper Lee, really. But I knew this book was a Big Deal and that there was someone named Boo Radley and that's about it. So let's get into it!

Fun fact: this is my dad's copy.

I haven't read a lot of books set in this time period or location, but everything unfolded about as much as I assumed it would. NOTE: I'M REALLY GLAD I KNEW NOTHING ABOUT THIS BOOK GOING INTO IT, SO IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT, STOP HERE PLEAE. Scout, the narrator, hangs out with her brother Jem and their friend Dill every summer. One summer they decide to pry Boo Radley out of his house, where he's been cooped up and talked badly about for a loooong time. Their father, Atticus, is SUPER smart and nice and incredibly thoughtful (amazing human love him) and tells them to leave him alone. Then he's not talked about for awhile, and instead, Atticus takes on the case of an African-American man who was accused of raping a girl in the town. He is clearly innocent, and Atticus proves it to the courtroom, but he's convicted for it anyway. The father of the girl is PISSED (also an abuser soooo) and threatens Atticus multiple times, until one night he attacks Scout and Jem, but they're saved by Boo Radley. There's a lot more that goes on, obviously, and it's all set in a strange town with a bunch of great neighbors and Scout is sassy and has serious spunk. I'm really glad I read this.

I was surprised about how much I enjoyed this book.

I left this book crying a LOT. I think I may have cried about three or four times. And then when I was done reading it, I was really sad. Before I go to bed I try and read a chapter from a book I'm reading currently, but with this one, one night I literally had to cut myself off because I needed to wake up early. Ridiculous. One night I just read it for three hours and finished it. I cannot recommend this novel enough and if you haven't read it, PLEASE do. I already need to reread it. Jesus Christ. It's such an important book to me. I didn't even want to write this post because my feelings and love for it probably are poorly demonstrated here but oh well. I had to.

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NOTES IN THE MARGINZ FACTS

Book number: 8

Books left: 331

Amount of time taken to read: 11 days (weird because I was excited about it)

Books by Harper Lee for NiTM: 1

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