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Update 29Dec2021: The New York Times celebrated the 125th anniversary of its "Book Review" & asked readers to pick the best book published during that time. This book won & some of the reasons are well worth reading. You can find it here:

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Briefly, it's an excellent read about kids growing up & facing prejudice, along with other trials of life, morals, & death. While the movie with Gregory Peck was excellent, I still prefer the book. If you haven't read it, do so. It's one of the shorter, better classics & has aged superbly.

I first read this when I was in my teens (quite close to Jem's age) & loved it. Now I'm Atticus' age & have raised children of my own, which lends a different perspective. Knowing the story ahead of time meant I could relax & the details really popped. Scout is quite the character. Precocious, she's often a square peg in a round hole. Her experience with learning in school resonated quite deeply with me.

The combination of Scout's 8 year old POV & the small town background complimented each other & made the subtext come alive brilliantly. The huge problems of the racial divide, prejudice, & poverty during the Depression were obvious, but the way Scout tried to sort the good from the bad in people was fantastic. She had some definite ideas on how things should be & was quite bewildered by the reality of what was. Can't say as I blame her - I still don't understand people. Most of what should be black & white is gray, though it trends to paler shades in Atticus' opinion, one that she & I didn't always share. He's a far better, more understanding man than I.

The wording was captivating. For instance, the book starts off with:
When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem...
That tells us so much, so fast. Only a child would make such a fine distinction in age & we know the narrator holds Jem in high regard or else he'd just be 12.5.

Our introduction to Calpurnia made me chuckle.
Calpurnia was something else again. She was all angles and bones; she was nearsighted; she squinted; her hand was wide as a bed slat and twice as hard. Scout obviously doesn't place much importance on race as it is sometime before we get any clue as to Cal's race. Not until she speaks about old Mr. Radley & then we just know she's not white. That means she's different or has different rules to Scout only.

I remember operators fondly. As an only child with a busy mother & a perpetually absent father, I called them more than once for advice, so I got a real kick out this:
Eula May was Maycomb's leading telephone operator. She was entrusted with issuing public announcements, wedding invitations, setting off the fire siren, and giving first-aid instructions when Dr. Reynolds was away.

Or Scout's evaluation of her uncle's looks:
He and Aunty looked alike, but Uncle Jack made better use of his face: we were never wary of his sharp nose and chin.

Her comparison of one old biddy winding down like a pump-up organ:
I was reminded of the ancient little organ .... The last note would linger as long as there was air to sustain it. Mrs. Merriweather had run out of air, I judged, and was replenishing her supply while Mrs. Farrow composed herself to speak.

The characters were intriguing. Of course the focus was on discovering more about Boo & Atticus, but just what was Miss Maudie's story? She was some one I'd like to know more about. And the newspaperman, Mr. Underwood (perfect name) had a lot more bottom than showed most times. The sheriff & judge were good men, too.

Possibly my favorite scene was the one in front of the jailhouse. They did that well in the movie, too. You can find it here:

Thanks to Florence for turning me on to it.

Anyway, great book, a must read, highly recommended & all that. If you haven't read it since you were forced to in school, by all means make some time now. I wish I hadn't waited so long. It's amazing how much more was there now than I remembered.