To Kill A Mockingbird belongs turns 50 Today!

To Kill a Mockingbird turns fifty today - so I think we can officially welcome it to 50-Something LTers! And thought it would be nice at this 50th anniversary of its publication to share stories of when we first read it.

For me, it was 40 summers ago, when I was a lonely girl who'd just moved to Los Angeles. I've written about it in a piece that is running as a Top News story on AOL today, "My Summer with Scout Finch."

(Well, I called it "My Summer with Scout" and the editors added "Finch" - as if there might be another Scout? And I'd put more here but, alas AOL contract gives them an exclusive for 6 months, so I can only link.)

Please share your own stories and thoughts about this wonderful book!

I just bopped over to your link and had a great read. I think my company is here. eeek

Nice AOL article Meg, fun to remember a still , to me, stunningly well written and influential book. I remember To Kill a Mockingbird and Mark Twain's books as the few I did not feel bad about being required to read while in obligatory school.

>To Kill a Mockingbird and Mark Twain's books as the few I did not feel bad about being required to read while in obligatory school.

:-)

I did a paper on Twain in the 8th grade, and read a half dozen of his books for it.

I was introduced to To Kill a Mockingbird as a freshman in high school by attending the school's play in 1974. I must have picked up the book soon afterwards. When I got my first VCR in 1982, it was the first movie I rented. Just watched it again for the umpteenth time last week. Still one of my all time favorites.

>a freshman in high school by attending the school's play in 1974

you youngster! you're barely old enough to be in this group.

:-)

I think my mom had a copy of the book and I picked it up to read. I remember being a little awestruck that a movie had been made about a book I now held in my hand. It must have been my first awareness that contemporary fiction could be made into a movie. I also remember being aggravated when, after finishing the book, Mom told me that Harper Lee had never written another book.