I read this book first as a teenager. It came up as the selection for my moms club book group this month, and I thought I'd like to re-read it. I recall enjoying the book as an adolescent, but I think at that time I was reading more for meaning than the pleasure of reading (especially since I read it as a school assignment). Now as an adult, a mother, a more mature reader, and as someone who spent a fair chunk of her adult life in the American South, I have a new appreciation for the depth of Lee's genius in this work. 
 The writing is melodious. I luxuriated in the construction of her sentences, which hold layers of intricate meaning. The characters are human; they have complex motivations and make embarrassing gaffes like the rest of us do. Reading this book, I have clear images of Maycomb and its inhabitants. This for me is one of the tests of a "good book." I want to feel part of the cast of characters, and I absolutely feel a part of this town. 
 A scene that I had forgotten as a teen but which moved me nearly to tears reading it as an adult was when Scout approaches the crowd outside the jail. With relatively few words, Lee conveys fear, embarrassment, relief, pride, love, anger, and, for me, a sense of the ability of humans to redeem themselves simply by acting human.