So excited about this sequel. Unlikely to match what has become a cultural prize. We treasure it as much for its actual quality as for what it has come to mean to readers. But who cares if the sequel is as good as the original? I can't wait to check it out.

She said that she wrote this before TKaM and wrote of Scout's younger years based on the flashbacks in the original book. Very interesting. It doesn't have to be as good as TKaM. As long as it's good, especially if it's great, it could make for a terrific duology.

Isaiah 21

For thus the Lord said to me:

“Go, set a watchman;
let him announce what he sees.

...

And he answered,
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
and all the carved images of her gods
he has shattered to the ground.”

The new book was written before TKaM and actually set afterwards so I guess it's technically a prequel sequel.

and, if it's as good, an 'equal prequel sequel'?

This all sounds like a terrible idea.

I like the open-endedness of a stand alone To Kill A MockingBird....I don't need to know what happened next to Atticus or How Scout grew up....I prefer that remains a mystery.

I wonder if the publication was driven by the author or perhaps by financial necessity or indeed the greed of the publisher. I know which motive first occurred to me.

It's highly unlikely to be a financial necessity on the part of Harper Lee. TKaM has sold millions and millions and millions of copies, but she lives a pretty small life without any obvious exaggerated expenses.

I took from her interview that she is 88 years old and, in the final stages of her life, would like to put out one final piece of art that she feels confident standing behind.

Of course the publisher jumped at the chance to release the book. It will be an immediate New York Times bestseller. It will win awards and probably be adapted into a film. And it will create a sales spike for TKaM even higher than its already consistently good sales. Which is not to say that her editor and the publisher don't also feel the book has tremendous literary and artistic value. You'd need a literary heart of stone not to see the potential value beyond money of a book from one of the most acclaimed writers ever who, until now, had only ever released ONE BOOK.

This article in the NYT suggests that Harper Lee may not fully understand that the book is being published and that the quotes attributed to her may be of dubious origin. It all seems to have come about because of the death of her sister who was her caretaker and guardian.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/04/bo...ide-nyt-region

Did Harper Lee get zilch from In Cold Blood?

This article spells things out more explicitly regarding Lee being senile and her protector/advocate sister dying 3 months before the new manuscript was miraculously found:

http://jezebel.com/be-suspicious-of-...vel-1683488258

Lol...my GF is good friends with the author. I haven't read it.

Eek. That's potentially sad news about Harper Lee and this sequel.

Started The Outsider by Albert Camus, Sandra Smith translation. I've read all the other published French to English translations of this novel. So far, I'm liking it very much.

Finished and loved. A very real book about the troops

Top ten fav of all time for me, ope you enjoy the rest of it.

Read Urban Hermit by Sam MacDonald, which is an autobiographical account of how a 28 year old whose weight and financial problems lead him to ascetic life choices. He lose 160 pounds over a six month period eating an 800 calorie a day diet that consists of lentils and canned tuna fish. Interesting side stories of his going to Bosnia, the Rainbow Family Gathering and meeting his wife.

Redeployment is excellent. As is The Narrow Road to the Deep North.

Currently reading Summertime by J Coetzee....interesting construct.

I am not sure if I have read The Outsider...I think I have. I know I have read The Plague and I loved that book.

I just finished Want Not by Jonathan Miller. I was a bit put off by the opening but the second chapter was very funny and I quickly got caught up in and enjoyed this narrative about waste and desire in twentieth-century American culture. David Eggers, in The New York Times Book Review, was also at first resistant to the book but wound up enthusiastic.

Okay, kioshk, finally starting The World According To Garp. Hope it's as good as you say it is.

Love George Saunders' short stories. He is one of the very few truly funny authors out there.

I just finished The Antiquarian by Gustavo Patriau. For a short novel, it's fairly demanding. It's worth reading if you like mysteries and stories with madness as a theme, but you'll fall asleep if you try and read it at night after four beers.

That's a great read

Demolished Summertime by Coetzee onto Chandler and The Long Good-Bye.
Where does The Long Good-Bye rate in the Chandler anthology? I have only read The Big Sleep.

I preffered Owen Meaney but it's been a while since I've read either book