Books can live forever in your soul....

What books have you read that had an influence on your life? Why did it have an influence on your life? Would you read it again or have you already read it again? Was it made into a movie and was that movie as good as the book?
For myself that book was Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird". I remember well when the book was sent to my grandmother one summer. She locked it away in her beautiful antique secretary and told me I was not to read it as it was much too adult for me. I was an avid reader and to tell me that was like dangling the proverbial carrot!! I darn well was going to read that book, one way or another!!
I waited until everyone was asleep and got the key to the locked doors on the bottom the of the secretary..not hid too well I must say. I got the book out and went under the picture of my Uncle Franklin that had this huge spotlight over it..there I first saw the cover of the book. I thought how adult can a book be if it is about killing mockingbirds and just why would anyone ever kill a mockingbird? I mean my father had said they could be a bit irritating with the constant singing, but he had never killed any!
The title of the book made me think of the passages in the Bible about sparrows. So it intrigued me even more to remove the jacket, so as not to wrinkle it and read the book. Maybe the danger of being caught reading it made it an even better book..no not really..it was and still is an outstanding book!
I read it in 2 nights of my sneaking into the living room and sitting under that spotlight on the very itchy horsehair stuffed settee. I was totally captivated by the book! I was afraid of being caught but the book was impossible to put down! I was afraid of Boo Radley and what he might do to Scout..I wondered why Mayella lied about Tom..I wanted a father like Atticus!! I wanted to have a daughter named Scout! I was afraid of dogs for awhile and worried about rabies!! This book brought me alive and I loved it and I still do!!
I later found out my great grandmother knew I was reading the book when she gave me her first edition leather bound copy of "The Song of Hiawatha" and told me I would not have to sneak around to read it!!
When they made the book into a movie I could not wait to see it and it did not disappoint me at all! I still wanted Atticus as my father, even more since the very handsome Georgry Peck was Atticus...I still wanted a daughter named Scout..I still was afraid of Boo! I knew now why Mayella lied! The movie was first class, top notch and still is today.
Read this book and see the movie if you have not and if you have do it again, you will not be sorry you did!!

To Kill a Mockingbird, the novel, won a Pulitzer Prize when it was published in 1960 and the film adaptation of the novel by Horton Foote staring Gregory Peck (and Robert Duvall in a debut film role as Boo Radley) received 8 Academy Award nominations and won the Academy Award for Best Picture of the Year.