Harper Lee, Harper Lee, Harper Lee

         "If you did not want much, there was plenty."-Harper Lee
         Miss Lee was talking about living in a small southern town, when she wrote the above words.
         The sentence, is one of the few that I loved in the book.
          Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee, Maybe??? Is not a great book, but note I did not like the first one. To Kill A Mockingbird was a great movie, the book would not be required reading if not for the movie. Its southern, without the sweet tea. I need to feel the humidity of the south, along with its racism, to see the truth.
        I have read every book written about Miss Lee and her family. Did she write this book, we will never know for sure. I just think if she were in her right mind ( which may have never been possible!, she was a bird) now, she would continue to promise that she never wrote another book. I believe her. If indeed she wrote this one, I don't see the rhyme nor reason.
        I did not enjoy it, yet I read it straight through, out of respect.
        There is so much about the south that I cherish and feel in my bones, but....then there is the rest.
       The rest is hard to see on paper, the N word has never been OK to me, and to hear/see the reasoning behind some of the small town minds of the past, takes my breath away. ( I am not so sure, that it is in the past, that is even more horrific) It is a bitter pill to swallow, but it is our history and I don't want to forget it. We can learn and grow from our mistakes and our accomplishments.There is a hangover of hatred, still in the south.(quotes from the book) Prejudice is a dirty word, and faith, a clean one, they both have something in common; the both begin where reason ends.( another book quote)
         Tobacco Road, is paved, and sits upon the ghosts of the Civil War. It is in the history books, or novels, where it should be. Miss Lee (or her neighbor? whomever wrote the book) brought to my attention the sins of the south, but also the love that remains.
          I love the south, I embrace the crazy and I do not tolerate ignorant hatred of any kind.
         Would I recommend this book? Yes, to southern people, to remind them of how not to be, and how to be. Yes, to all other humans, that are not born in the south, if you can be patient with the writing, you will see why there was some fear, even misguided. Simple minds, and poverty, throw in humidity, the trash is hard to wash away. ( another quote) ( I wish they were all mine, but they are not) ( Just the trash is hard to wash out, is the quote, I will take the credit of all the other glorious words!)
         Harper Lee fascinates me, her writing is not the best, but I still cherish her words. Her personal story is better then any of her novels, if you get a hankering to read them.
        Now I have two paintings, to get into to, my July reading is done.
        How do these days, go by so fast. Filled to the brim, with joy.
        Until another day