I Am Scout by Charles J. Shields

A perceptive newspaper reporter had remarked that To Kill a Mockingbird "is written out of Harper Lee's love for the South and Monroeville but it is also the story of a father's love for his children and the love they gave in return.

I don't remember what year in school I was assigned to read To Kill a Mockingbird, but I do remember it becoming an immediate favorite. For quite a few years, it held the ranking of my absolute favorite book and even now it continues to stand stall among many other books that have been claimed as favorites of mine. It definitely holds a special place in my heart.

So when I spotted I Am Scout: The Biography of Harper Lee on display in my local Half-Price Books store, I was drawn to it. Of course I would want to read the biography of Harper Lee! Plus it had a typewriter on the cover, so there was no denying that I needed this book. Thankfully, my dad had already agreed to get me a book while we were there. You can rest assured that I was grinning from ear to ear as I walked out of the store clutching this book.

I wasn't disappointed. Before I read this book, I honestly knew next to nothing about the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, which is frankly unacceptable--at least in my book. I love knowing as much as I can about the authors I admire and I feel like that curiosity was sated by the reading of this lovely book.

Charles J. Shields does a spectacular job in answering all the questions a body could have about the much-loved author whose sole novel is a classic and continues to be read by thousands of students every year. I finished this volume feeling like every question I had was answered. Shields handled his material perfectly and with such an interesting and much-loved character as Nelle Harper Lee, that was absolutely necessary.

I have so much admiration for Nelle Lee and truly enjoyed the experience of finding out more about her and her creative processes, as well as the events and occurrences that shaped her into the woman she became. In many ways, I see her as a role model. She is the type of person who is exactly who she wants to be and is entirely unapologetic when it comes to being who she is.

All in all, I really enjoyed reading this book. It was very well-written and put together. If you enjoyed To Kill a Mockingbird or just want to know more about Harper Lee, you should definitely pick up this book. It's certainly worth a good read.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Poking out from the branches was a white envelope addressed "Nelle." Inside was a note: "Dear Nelle, You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas."
"What does this mean?" she asked.
"What it says." They told her to total up what it would cost for a year to stay home and write full-time. The sum was their gift.
Several seconds passed before she found her voice. "It's a fantastic gamble. It's such a great risk."
Michael smiled. "No, honey. It's not a risk. It's a sure thing."

J.K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter by Marc Shapiro

"I was sitting on the train, just staring out the window at some cows. It was not the most inspiring subject. When all of a sudden the idea for Harry just appeared in my mind's eye. I can't tell you why or what triggered it. But I saw the idea of Harry and the wizard school very plainly. I suddenly had this basic idea of a boy who didn't know what he was," [Joanne] said in a School Library Journal conversation.


J.K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter is an unauthorized biography of the woman who created the series that capture the minds of a generation. In 2000, Shapiro gathered together the information garnered from interviews with the press and similar sources, and this was the result of his effort.

This short and sweet biography covers all the basics. From Joanna's early childhood to the point at which this book was published, we get to see a detailed synopsis of what her life was like and what inspired her to write about the Boy Who Lived.

This biography was a little over one hundred pages, a book one could read in a single sitting, and is filled to the brim with the basic information one might want to know about J.K. Rowling. The lives of authors and how they reached success in their lives always enthralls me and I enjoyed reading through the journey.

My only real complaints with this book are these:
1. There is an error on page seven. Shapiro states that the banks in Rowling's tale are run by owls. They are, in fact, run by goblins. Owls are used as messengers, not bank tellers.
2. Shapiro seems to over-romanticize Rowling's life and the stories within it. His use of language leaves you feeling like he is trying to play her up instead of simply giving the truth. He might want to tone it down a bit if he wants people to take his work more seriously.

By now, there is a more complete biography, I believe. This book was written just after Rowling had produced the fourth book in the Harry Potter series and the first movie was simply an idea. Perhaps he has fixed these errors since then. I suppose you can be the judge of that.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥


Every day she would put Jessica in her baby carrier and walk her around town until the child fell asleep. She would then head for one of a number of local cafés, where for the price of a cup of espresso and a glass of water, she could sit and write for a couple of hours while her daughter slept. Years later, Joanne would marvel at how much she had gotten done in those short periods of time.

Those Amazing Ringlings and their Circus by Gene Plowden

"Sure, it's a gamble," John admitted, "but so's everything else. You'll never get ahead if you don't take a chance. Help yourself or you'll never get helped. We're smart and we can do it."


I picked up Those Amazing Ringlings and their Circus because I was interested in learning more about circus life after reading about the tattooed men and women often displayed in circuses via Vintage Tattoos by Carol Clerk.

Those Amazing Ringlings and their Circus is an extensive biography of the Ringling brothers, how their circus started, and a retelling of it's fight to keep going until the very end. It was incredibly informative and I found it quite interesting.

The Ringling brothers started off with a dream that they could create a circus to rival those big names like Barnum & Bailey. To those around them, it seemed like a goal too far away to ever be accomplished, but those people were wrong. The Ringling brothers, as you probably are well aware, are still considered somewhat of a household name, though their circus went out of business decades ago. The Ringling brothers themselves had a hand in many different enterprises during their lifetimes. John, in particular, opened a museum, created portions of the national railroad, and helped discover oil in Texas.

Overall, it's quite an interesting journey of how one family affected our nation and also, how greed makes a person become something of a villain. John Ringling may be admired for his drive and business prowess, but he was a sad, bitter old man who died with few friends still at his side. It's rather sad, in all honesty.

This book is not for everyone. It's pretty straightforward in being presented as a comprehensive history of events surrounding the rise and fall of the Ringling Circus. It took me a while to get through, though the writing is easy to read and the history intriguing. I would suggest it to anyone who really has an interest in circus history and doesn't mind a longer read.


Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥


Since the early days, circus life had had no appeal for [John]; he was a front man all the way, who liked luxury and high living. Perhaps it was more than mere coincidence that he did not show up for business conferences until the fag end of the day. By that time most men had done a day's work and were tired, thinking of getting home to wives and childen.