Plot
It is our national novel. Reading to Kill a Mockingbird is something we all have in common. Harper Lee's first and only novel turns 50 this summer and the author hasn't given an interview since 1964 or published a second book. In compelling interviews with Scott Turow, James McBride, Wally Lamb, Rosanne Cash, Anna Quindlen, Oprah Winfrey,Tom Brokaw, among others, and with rare cooperation from Harper Lee's sister and friends, Mary Murphy traces the history of this astonishing phenomenon.
Keywords: author, book, classic-literature, famous-author, harper-lee, literature, novel, reference-to-to-kill-a-mockingbird-the-novel, writer
Annie Laurie Williams: Where is Barbara Parkins?
Jacqueline Susann: That's Patty Duke over there, and this is Sharon Tate.::Annie Laurie Williams: Um. And where is, what's her name - Barbara Parkins?::Sharon Tate: She's not in this scene.::Annie Laurie Williams: Well, she should be.
Nelle Harper E. Lee (born April 28, 1926) is an American author known for her 1960 Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which deals with the issues of racism that were observed by the author as a child in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. Despite being Lee's only published book, it led to her being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom of the United States for her contribution to literature in 2007. Lee has also been the recipient of numerous honorary degrees but has always declined to make a speech.
Other significant contributions of Lee include assisting her close friend Truman Capote in his research for the book In Cold Blood.
Nelle Harper Lee, the youngest of four children of Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Cunningham Finch Lee, was born and raised in Monroeville, Alabama. Her mother's maiden name was Finch. Her father, a former newspaper editor and proprietor, was a lawyer who served in the Alabama State Legislature from 1926 to 1938. As a child, Lee was a tomboy, a precocious reader, and best friends with her schoolmate and neighbor, the young Truman Capote.
faces i’d forgotten
haunt me now i find
some importance more than
the sum of all these times
reflected in these moments
fragments filter through
echoes getting softer
ripples left by you
whatever i do
wherever i go
i can’t get you out of my brain
maybe i’ve neglected
the words i still regret
somehow misremembered
the stupid things i said
maybe there’s September
a quiet summer lost
maybe there’s just aching
maybe there’s just loss
whatever i do
wherever i go
i can’t get you out of my brain
when i wake up hurting
you are all i want
the feeling leaves me reeling
there’s something that takes hold
whatever i do
wherever i go
i’ve counted the times
so many times i’ve changed my mind
maybe resigned
that no direction can save me
there’ve been some good times
believed in all the words they said
maybe fell for
the importance they conferred
an importance i’ve never deserved
there’s a light in me, there’s a light in me
there’s a light in me that’s gone
i know we try to
try to keep a hold on to
these passing moments
the smallest glimpses that shine through
but if you can’t do things better
maybe you shouldn’t do them at all
if it’s just getting harder
maybe it’s time to let it go
time to let it go
there’s a light in me, there’s a light in me
how long have i sat and tried
to work out where i’ve gone in life
people say we dragged ourselves down
is this the comfort that i crave
that whilst you’re lost i know you’ll stay
left brutally bound
because everybody leaves
i was too damn dumb to give you up
i’m sorry if i scared you off
if my honesty let me down
this was the future that i feared
that those you need just disappear
they turn and they’re gone
they turn and they’re gone
but if i’m wrong
if i’m wrong
talk me down
please stay around
because everybody leaves
i don’t want to go on
if i can’t have you
it’s just a miserable lie
if i can’t have you
i won’t find anyone else
so don’t kid ourselves
if i can’t have you
i guess my life is through
so let me know
and let me go
i don’t want to go on
if i can’t have you
it’s just a waste of my time
if i can’t have you
i won’t find anyone else
let’s not kid ourselves
not that anyone cares
well, no one like you
so let me know
a garden lined with trees
i’ve dreamt of days as good as these
the smell of autumn leaves
can you see this life tonight?
a bonfire in your eyes
the coldest starry night
it’s you i’m holding tight
remember what it feels like
to wake up in bed alone again
haunted by the things you said
the times you rarely once made sense
where is the hope i lost the trail
my only life half wasted now
the suffocating emptiness
the ugly shuffling loneliness
this is the sound that a heart makes when it’s breaking
am i just the only one
who struggles to stay warm alone
like frosted glass my eyes just blur
reaching out there’s no one there
where is the hope i lost the trail
my only life half wasted now
the nights are getting darker now
they’re drawing in, they’re crowding in
think it’s going to turn out nice
the sky’s so blue it holds me tight
and in its warm embrace i feel so slight
and if you say life’s passed you by
i’ll wave it on its way and try
to find my place in my own way
not yours
think it’s going to turn out nice
i’ll close my eyes and get it right
in my own head i’ll find some peace at last
and if you say i’ve never lived
i’ll tell you that i never wished
someday i will find
this better life
i know i've got to find it
a place where we can hide
closed in open minds
i know i'll never get that
but one day
someone said
your world is dead
someday soon
i wasn't sure about it
i cannot live without it
i look into your eyes
for the smallest sign
to show i'm not deluded
but one day
someone said
you world is dead
i know i'll never change
these feelings will remain
i know i'll never lose that
but i'm scared of what to do
i'm scared they'll get to you
i remember how you had your hair
the clothes you wore the drink we shared
like it was today
a conversation froze in time
i remember clearly every line
like it was today
and now we sit and edge around
the brutal truth we’ve not allowed
that’s weighing on us
there’s nothing changed
this still won’t work but we just close our eyes and turn
our backs to the sun
isn’t this where we came in?
but the days just drift and pass away
and what we have just stays the same
and that’s not much
we’ve wasted time on idle dreams
on half lived lives and stupid schemes
but still we need us
isn’t this where we came in?
why did you, think i needed to see
your plans and your dreams?
he has it all
the warmth of your lips the curve of your hips
because i love you
since when has that not been enough?
because i need you
since when has that not been enough?
why did you, think i needed to know
your wonderful world?
a future rolls
in mountains of green, of valleys and streams
because i love you
since when has that not been enough?
because i need you
since when has that not been enough?
because i want
i want someone like you
i need, i need someone that’s you
that’s you
let me know
i don’t want to go on
if i can’t have you
it’s just a miserable lie
if i can’t have you
i won’t find anyone else
so don’t kid ourselves
if i can’t have you
i guess my life is through
so let me know
and let me go
i don’t want to go on
if i can’t have you
it’s just a waste of my time
if i can’t have you
i won’t find anyone else
let’s not kid ourselves
not that anyone cares
well, no one like you
so let me know