Monday Mailbox #4 and #5, Wednesday Style
So, I missed two Monday mailbox entries. Go ahead, kick a man while he’s down.
I have recieved two questions regarding my reading habits, so I will take this opportunity to kill two birds with one stone (just not mockingbirds).
Dear Tony,
What book could you read again and again? and What book has had the most impact on you?
It’s sort of ironic that these questions came up when they did, because the easy answer to both questions is “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. It’s ironic because that book has come up in conversation with two different friends at different times in the past week, and I also found from a recent magazine article that it’s you-know-who’s favorite book, too. (Any doubts now that we were meant to be?)
Like most people we were required to read “Mockingbird” in high school. Even though I enjoy reading, I only enjoy reading what I enjoy reading. So, I never finished most of the stuff required in school (Beowulf, The Lottery, etc.) But, “Mockingbird” I did. I read it all, even though I had read it all before. Granny actually gave me the book to read that summer after my mother passed away because one day she used the phrase from the story that it was “a sin to kill a mockingbird” and I asked her what it meant.
I read the book, and have read it several times since. And read several other books since. But no where else in my experience with literature have I found such a simple, gentle phrase that can blow your doors off. A mockingbird is a harmless bird that doesn’t have it’s own song. It would be a sin to harm the harmless who can’t speak for themselves. Pure and simple.
I have always wondered how the story comes across to people who do not live in or are not familiar with the rural south. I find that a lot of southern people see it just as a story about racial injustice. I think that’s definitely the most obvious aspect of the story. Tom Robinson is the mockingbird, his harmless offer to help a young white woman with chores turned into false accusations of rape. Being a black man, he has no voice within the town and is unjustly convicted and hanged. But I think its a lot the same with Boo Radley. Even though he is a white man, he is mysterious and there are wild stories that he is an evil and dangerous man, when, in fact he is just a gentle recluse. Although he is not killed physically, the harmless man is killed through rumor and gossip. Just as much a sin as what happened to Tom. I think sometimes people miss that about Boo. I think they mistake his saving of Scout at the end for a turn around rather than his true nature.
I don’t mean to disrespect anyone’s religion, faith, etc. But I think the message in “To Kill A Mockingbird” is as strong and valid as any in the Bible with regards to how we should treat one another. So that book has certainly had a big impact on how I attempt to lead my life.
There is one other book that is not one that I have read again and again…and I think I have only read it once…but has had an impact on me is “All Over But The Shoutin’” by Rick Bragg. The book is sort of an autobiographical valentine to the author’s mother who sacrificed everything to make sure her sons would have a better life than she did. It is a powerful and heart-wrenching book and it was one that I could identify with.
Like Bragg, my mother made sacrifices, although our situation did not require her to make anywhere near the sacrifices his mother did. We both had alcoholic fathers, but at least mine was around. We both grew up on the poor side of the tracks. But, I’m sure we would have been considered at least middle class compared to what Bragg suffered through in very rural Alabama. He lived in the kind of poverty that you just can’t know without living in it yourself.
So, while I definitely have had an easier road, I could still identify…mostly with a desire to be a writer. It was a profession that boys from rural Alabama didn’t consider, and it’s the same for boys in rural Tennessee. I was about five years out of high school when I read his book, and knowing that an Alabama redneck could eventually write for the New York Times and win the Pulitzer Prize helped me accept my desires.
As fate would have it, it was around that time that I came back to live with Grandaddy and Granny and care for them. So there was no real pursuit of those desires. At least for the time being. But, I’m also a believer in things happening for a reason. And maybe being back here for a few years might be the subject matter that I’m going to need.
I really need some good questions folks, if I am to continue this all year. I want a good backlog going. So if you have a Monday Mailbox question, e-mail me.
January 31st, 2007 at 5:28 am
You didn’t finish reading about Tessie Hutchinson’s fate? Or of Grendel? I think you would like the ending of The Lottery. It’s a good review of outdated (arguably pagan) rituals.
Harper Lee’s expanded short story is one of my favorite novels, too. I won’t kick you while you’re down, but I will tell you this – YOU BETTA PURSUE (your dream).
January 31st, 2007 at 10:07 am
The first time I read To Kill A Mockingbird, I was 13 years old. It moved me deeply. Courage, innocence, a sense of justice … the seeds of these things which were perhaps tiny sprouts in my mind, began to take root. The mockingbirds among us sow beauty and gentleness wherever they fly. I’ve always seen the metaphor as being that when we don’t protect the fragile and vulnerable among us, when we don’t respect differences, then we smother all our songs. It’s the essence of the destructiveness which hurts our humanity the most.
January 31st, 2007 at 10:08 am
Oh, and I meant to say one more thing. You ARE a writer.
January 31st, 2007 at 11:09 am
TKAM is also one of my favorites for many reasons. The story is quite simple on the surface, but grows more and more complex as you continue on. You and Cooper have described it very well and I don’t need to add anything. Interestingly, it’s one of the few books that I think translated well to the screen. And also, Cooper is quite correct. You are a writer and a pretty damned good one at that, so don’t ever think that you aren’t.
Hope you feel better!
January 31st, 2007 at 12:02 pm
I agree with Cooper, you are a writer; and a writer I look forward to reading daily. Regarding your request for questions, I’d like to read more about time spent with your granny and grandad when you were young. What are those childhood memories?
January 31st, 2007 at 12:25 pm
i dont have a particular one since i usually do read and reread the books i like; currently drylands end by picano. id have to say that i could read and reread the lord of the rings trilogy. yes, i am a geek!
January 31st, 2007 at 12:49 pm
I’ve told you more than once that you take words and weave them into the very fabric that is our lives. The plaids and patterns that you create show us All who we are, because we need only to read your stories to identify with them.
You ARE a Writer, and you’re just as capable of writing the profound as either of the authors discussed. And Yes, I really believe this.
I agree with Rayrayj. It would be sublime to read more stories about Granny: like the one you told about the Tennessee Waltz. I think everyone was moved by that story. You know, I accused her of marrying your grandpa just so she could get off with his furs. Surely there’s a story in all that?! What would Granny tell us about: ghosts?
And, if you don’t Feel Better, I’ll tell Jake what he can Do to get his picture on the cover of TIME as “Man of the Year.” Hahahahaha
February 1st, 2007 at 12:10 am
PERFECT choice and rationale (tho Tom was shot by prison guards while trying to escape..killed). A new question…Do you ever fantasize about an LTR with a man? What does that fantasy “look” and “feel” like? Day-to-day life? Arguments? Make-ups? Skidmarks?
February 1st, 2007 at 7:32 pm
I first read TKAM when I was 11 or so.
I saw the movie on tv and was so taken up in it that I had to have more. I had to read the book, come hell or high water. My mom had a 1st edition that she read when recovering from an operation in 1961 and I devoured the book. Since then I’ve seen the movie many many times. Whenever it’s revived on the big screen see it. I saw it last year with Mary Badham and Phil Alford sitting 2 rows in front of me. That was cool! That Elmer Bernstein score gives me goosebumps just thinking of it.
The screen adaptaion is regarded properly as one of the best, a blueprint for how to adapt a book to film. I’ve always been sorry that we never got to see the Jem/Mrs Dubose story, or Aunt Alexandra/Francis. But I also know, being a film historian, that any book to film adaptation must practically have omissions and consolidations due to time constraints.
If you havent already, read and see “The Grapes of Wrath”
February 1st, 2007 at 7:33 pm
btw.. i’ve re-read the book about 7 times. the only other books i’ve re-read as many or more times is Tolkien’s LOTR trilogy. Too bad those movies were not as well adapted.
February 2nd, 2007 at 2:19 pm
I concur with the other posts. You are a writer. Even though you area painter by trade, your heart’s desire is clearly in the writing. Of course, I haven’t seen your painting, but I imagine it’s as well crafted as your prose. It takes some time to segue from one profession to another. There have been several blogs that have been converted to published form. Joe My God, Gay Haiku by Joel Derfner, Clubland, etc..
I’m ending a fifteen year career as a network geek to finish a degree in art history and enter grad school by the Fall. For years, my heart’s desire has been in art. It has taken me almost four years to finish the degree at night, but I’m doing it!
Favorite Topics? I enjoyed reading about your interactions with clients and your co-workers. Obviously the stories about your family and in particular your grandma. Life with the Fantasy Jake husband are awesome! The vignettes about life in TN remind me of my youth in Oklahoma.
February 2nd, 2007 at 11:27 pm
I’m quite fond of southern writers,esp,Flanarry O’connor(great short stories,very S.gothic,Strange/wWeird & wonderful,also Carson Mccullers-read “the Member of A wedding”T”he heart is a lonely Hunter” films on V or DVD,also like Truman Capote,strange,sweet,weird,Gothic,Sensitive-Homoerotic,aslo Tennessee williams,mainly a playwrite,yet some short Sts,read some Faulkner,also like Thomas wolf_who died too young, Eudora Welty have read some(funny),know what U mean about teh south,it’s so diff,from other areas,i’m fr. the Northmyet have traveled/read.take care.truly enjoy Ur Blog,honest,fun,well-written,sexy,etc,aawe shucks too much flatery-Will give U a big head! Ha he,he
February 3rd, 2007 at 10:58 am
Aw gee!…do you Still feel bad? It just sucks when you don’t talk to us. Do you need some chicken soup? A skillet of gingerbread? Maybe Jake should give you a dose of salts! We’ll see if you go waltzing across Tennessee then!
Maybe it will help if you know we all worry about you and miss you terribly. Besides, you best feel better fast — Jake’s courage is growing.
“Nobody knows…de trouble I’m in…”
February 3rd, 2007 at 8:07 pm
You know you can go to the library(public) and they have the editions of most books that you can check out for free. It might turn up some good books for you and you don’t need anything but a library card.
I’ve been impressed with Catch 22, also Norton’s Anthology of Greek Methology, One Flew over the Cookoo’s Nest, Fear and Lothing in Las Vagas. Even though those are from my college days, many moons ago, I still like that I have read these.