Screw Atticus. Great man, wonderful father.

For me, it's all about Scout. A little girl like no other. I will read this book to my daughter and hope that she gets just a smidge of Scout's honesty and capacity for love and acceptance.

Q'uest-ce que si je comprends Francais seulement assez au lire ces mots?

Pas de problem. Les mots dans le lire sont tres simple.

I don't think the walking-80-miles-to-water story is in _Cowboys Are My Weakness_.

It happens that my "classics" are mostly in the two six-foot by four-foot bookcases behind me in the office. (There are more bookcases in other rooms.) I'm going to turn around and see what I recommend.

Certainly To Kill a Mockingbird. It's about loss of innocence and doing the right thing, no matter how painful it is. The viewpoint character is one of the best little girls in fiction.

Moll Flanders. It's about a whore who doesn't even have a heart of gold. There's sex and amazing coincidences! What's not to like?

Tom Jones. There's sex and amazing coincidences! What's not to like?

Gulliver's Travels. One of the most vicious attacks on the damned human race, in which three fantastic societies (you know about the Lilliputians) illustrate the flaws of human society.

(to be continued)

For me, it's all about Scout. A little girl like no other.

Here is my Scout story.

It took me about fifty pages to realize Scout was a girl.

It took me another fifty to realize she was white.

Does anyone have an interest in a list of poetry recommendations? I'd be happy to do it but only if it would be useful.

Does anyone have an interest in a list of poetry recommendations? I'd be happy to do it but only if it would be useful.

Sure! Keeping in mind that I've mainly read 20th Century Canadian poetry (there's more than Cohen and Atwood out there).

I hate to dissent from the TKaM love, but I will say this: I read it in college, because I had been told so often it was great.

I can picture the cover perfectly.

I cannot remember a single other thing about it.

Lyra, I can totally see that. It took me a couple of tries to get through it. A couple of tries over the course of 15 years, mind you. :)

I recommend this with hesitation, because honestly I can't ever get over the feeling that all the lead female characters are Pam Houston and that this isn't a work of fiction at all, but the writing is excellent.

Jen, they are! If you've read her tongue-in-cheek titled set of essays, "A Little More About Me" you'll see it really clearly. I once heard her say that the difference between her fiction and non-fiction (in terms of source material, etc) is that her fiction is revelatory and takes longer to write where her nonfiction the destination is out in the open.

Jilli, I'd second TKAM with vehemence. First of all, I think that Atticus Finch is absolutely a hero, in a non-selfserving sence. And he's a bad ass. I like the fact that Scout, the narrator is so unreliable based on her age and her understanding of things. I love how Harper Lee shows the humanity of the characters, and writes the South.

It's really an incredible book.

Does anyone have an interest in a list of poetry recommendations? I'd be happy to do it but only if it would be useful.

Yes! My poetry horizons always need expanding.