As the whole literary world knows, the unbelievable has happened: Harper Lee has published another novel. Up till now her only book was To Kill a Mockingbird, which came out in 1960 and achieved classic and bestseller status, beloved of young and old, it has inspired lawyers, civil rights activists and children. And now we all want to know what the new book, released on Tuesday 14th July, is like.
My good blogging friend Bill Selnes, over at Mysteries and More From Saskatchewan, suggested that, since Lee will not be doing interviews or personal appearances, some keen bloggers should put a blog tour together for the book. He and Margot Kinberg from Confessions of a Mystery Novelist organized us, and they have set up this series of tour dates:
The tour starts at Confessions of a Mystery Novelist… on Thursday, 23 July.
Friday, 24 July – It’s all aboard for Canada, as the tour stops at Bill’s blog, Mysteries and More from Saskatchewan.
Saturday, 25 July – The tour heads off for its UK leg here at Clothes in Books.
Thursday, 30 July – The tour moves along to India, and a stop at Coffee Rings Everywhere.
Friday, 31 July – It’s back to the USA with a stop at Sue Coletta’s Crime Writer blog.
We’d love you to join in the conversation about Go Set a Watchman. Follow along on the tour train, see what your fellow bloggers have to say, and add your own comments.
We’ve all started reading it – we hope you will too, and join in.
And in the meantime, you could look at a Clothes in Books blogpost on To Kill a Mockingbird: in a prescient early criticism of Atticus Finch, it was called
You dress up as a ham, and your Dad doesn't turn up
And there is an entry on Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffanys here (with a particularly beautiful photo chosen for Holly Golightly) - Capote and Lee were great friends, and Capote is the model for the character Dill in To Kill a Mockingbird.
Thanks so much for the kind mention, Moira. Wasn't this a great idea of Bill's? Looking forward to this!
ReplyDeleteI'm very much looking forward to finding out what other people think of it...
DeleteGreat idea for the tour. It's amazing to me that Harper Lee took a year to write a book, was encouraged by her agent to write it in a different format and used the same manuscript all these years later to publish the sequel.
ReplyDeleteAnn
It's a strange story isn't it? I am very interested to see what the other bloggers will say about the book...
DeleteThese reviews will be very interesting and I will be stopping by and reading all of them. Looking forward to it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tracy. Look forward to hearing from you.
DeleteMoira: Thanks for the kind words and an interesting kickoff post.
ReplyDeleteI like the cover you have for the book better than the cover put on the book in Canada.
I began reading yesterday and am well into the book.
It's going to be a good tour!
That was a brilliant idea of yours Bill. I am well into the book now...
DeleteI'll sit on the sidelines for this one. I haven't yet read the original, so I'm not in a particular hurry to read this.
ReplyDeleteMockingbird not in the tubs somewhere? Anyway, you can find out all about it by reading the blog tour, you won't need to read it...
DeleteYes it is somewhere, but not yet read or located. I'm kind of underwhelmed by the hype on the new offering if I'm honest. Bah humbug, man......
DeleteI do know what you mean - I'm a fan, and it still seemed a bit much to me...
DeleteMoira, I read one review of this book, probably in NYT, and I was surprised by the portrayal of Atticus Finch, which is quite contrary to how we have come to know him in the original.
ReplyDeleteIt's a really strange and unexpected turn, Prashant....
DeleteI really can't wait for it, I'm sure it will be as good as most are saying.
ReplyDeleteIt's certainly generating excitement and interest...
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