IT'S A SIN TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of "To Kill A Mockingbird". I love the book and also the movie. As a teenager, I read the book and I re-read it Sunday night and Monday. Despite Malcolm Gladwell's recent criticism of the book in "The New Yorker", it still holds up.

Harper Lee and Truman Capote were lifelong friends and the character Dill in "To Kill a Mockingbird" was based on him.

I highly recommend the movie "Capote"; if you've seen it, you know that Harper Lee helped Capote with the book "In Cold Blood"; she was working on "To Kill A Mockingbird" at the same time. The movie stars the marvelous Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Capote and the wonderful Catherine Keener as Harper Lee.


CBS' "Sunday Morning" featured a tribute to the book and a visit to Monroeville, Alabama, Harper Lee's hometown. The cutest thing: the drink of choice is "Tequila Mockingbird"!


As my brother and I watched the tribute, Les mused, "Capote was supposed to be the great writer; in 50 more years, WHICH books will still be being read--Capote's or Harper Lee's?" When someone asked Harper Lee why she had never written another book, it was reported that she said, "When you have a hit like that, you can't go anywhere but down."

"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing except sing out their hearts for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." --Harper lee