NIAGARA FALLS — “I’m no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and the jury system…that’s no ideal to me; it is a living working reality”

Atticus Finch, “To Kill a Mockingbird”

I am always impressed by the mighty power of the pen. The ability to arrange the 26 letters of the English alphabet into millions of words and sentences, short stories and novels, poems and other depictions which can transport us away from our circumstances into an imaginary, or real world as described by someone else who may have lived a thousand years ago in a place many thousands of miles away, has always amazed me.

So whenever I get the rare opportunity to curl up with a book, or to disappear into a magazine, even in a crowded doctor’s office, I take it.

And if it is something special, something magical that tickles my imagination, or makes me say, “hmmm ...” I try to share it whenever I can.

So here are a few of my favorites; I hope some of you might read or re-read some of them.

Enjoy!

I did not read Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel until at least 10 years after it was originally published in 1960. Like many, I was living it in real time, in real life, and for too many, 50 years later the story and the reality of it still rings true.

When she completed it in 1959, the country was in the midst of a massive civil rights awakening as the nation was grappling with the extremely divisive issues of school desegregation on the heels the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v Board of Education case.

In June of that year, after the Virginia legislature repealed its compulsory school attendance law, Prince Edward County actually closed its schools in an attempt to avoid integration.

In April of the same year a black man, Mack Charles Parker accused of raping a white woman was dragged from jail in Poplarville, Miss., and lynched.

Those were difficult days.

It was against this background in 1960 that Lee’s controversial novel about the alleged rape of a white woman by a black man became an immediate best seller shortly after it made its debut on July 11, 1960, exactly 50 years ago this week.

Today, with more than 30 million copies in print, it remains as some have called it, the best novel of the century” and the 1962 movie adaptation staring Gregory Peck in the role of Atticus Finch, the fearless attorney who took up the defense of the obviously innocent Tom Robinson, portrayed by Brock Peters is still considered one of the best American movies ever made.

Though things have changed substantially for the better for the most part, in some cases, they remain the same. I highly recommend both the book and the movie, not just for their historical and educational perspectives, but also for their entertainment values. Lee captured an era which but for its racism and bigotry, reflect a time during the 1930s when everything complicated seemed simple, black and white and absolute.

The book makes great beach and pool-side reading, while the movie is a perfect rainy day alternative to the mall.

I must give honorable mention to another work by our very own Ed Chrzanowski whose first book, “The Dead End Kids of Port Richmond, Philadelphia: a Memoir,” I read several years ago.

His second, “Letters From a Lifer” chronicles the “letters” between Ed, a former priest and Danny Edwards between October, 1989 and July, 1996.

As the author put it in his preface, the book “contains more than personal letters from one person to another. It contains poetry, some about nature, about the death penalty, about the suicide-death of a dear fellow inmate. It contains serious essays about the prison system, capital punishment.”

This is heavy and serious reading. It took me a while to get through it, but I have a much greater understanding and appreciation for what it must be like to be confined behind prison walls yet aware that one’s mind can be free to reason, dream and create.

I was supposed to read Joseph Heller’s “Catch 22” while I was in high school but like many others, I got by with the Cliff Notes version; just enough to write a book report and “earn” a passing grade.

When I finally got down to reading the full text years later, I realized where the term “catch 22” came from, and I cannot think of a better novel to characterize the oil mess in the Gulf of Mexico today.

Published in 1961, it too is often cited as one of the best. I agree!

The story serves as a cynical critique of bureaucratic bungling, absurdity and circular reasoning, an all too common scenario in both public and private organizational structures, viz a viz BP and almost any level of dysfunctional government!

So if you are in the mood for some black humor and cutting satire, this one’s a no-brainer.

Finally, you absolutely must read Jack London’s “Call of the Wild.” This is a really great novel basically about a dog, the protagonist Buck who lives in California, is stolen and sold to a couple of Alaskan French Canadians who train him as a sled dog until he runs off to live with a wolf pack, and ... well you just have to read this one.

The bitter cold Alaskan settings and the dark undertone of the novel are enough to cool any reader, child or adult from the searing summer sizzles we’re enjoying this year.

If you can get your hands on the original 1935 movie adaptation staring Clark Gable and Loretta Young, pick it up for rainy day adventure, you will enjoy it too as well as the 1972 version with Charlton Heston and Mick Steele.

Following the theater release last year, a 3D version is available on DVD just in time for the new 3D televisions on sale now at an appliance store near you.

But read the book first, ok?

Contact Bill at: bill.bradberry@yahoo.com.