The contested legacy of Atticus Finch is a smart article about not just fictional Atticus but Harper Lee's rl father, and the very different ideological uses To Kill a Mockingbird was and is put to. (Am both appalled and amused in a sick way to learn Republicans referred to the Kavenaugh hearing as "our Atticus Finch moment".) I would say Go Set A ( Read more... )

The conference doesn't start until this afternoon, and I got up early, so I had the chance to read it - it's not a long novel. Overall verdict? As a novel - a debut novel, even, which it would have been had it been published when it was written - , it has both strenghts and weaknesses; you can see both why her editor rejected it in this form and ( Read more... )

In theory, I know that the History Exchange won't go live until the 19th, but in practice, I keep checking it. Ah, that itchy feeling of wanting to read the other stories and wanting others to read yours...

Speaking of reading, To Kill a Mockingbird doesn't have the iconic status in my part of the world which it has in the US (and Britain?). Of ( Read more... )