Sheila Bair's 6 favorite books

Sheila Bair is a former chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and author of Bull by the Horns, a first-hand account of the government response to the 2008 financial crisis.

One of her six favorite books, as told to The Week magazine:

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

As a kid, I was in awe of Atticus Finch, Lee's country lawyer, who defends an innocent black man against bogus rape charges. What I admired most was how Atticus defends his black client's truth against the white power structure of the time. Inspired by Atticus, I started my career as a civil rights lawyer, and to this day, I try hard to speak truth to power and stand up for people who need a voice.

Read about another book on Bair's list.

To Kill a Mockingbird made Kathryn Erskine's top ten list of first person narratives, Julia Donaldson's six best books list, TIME magazine's top 10 list of books you were forced to read in school, John Mullan's list of ten of the best lawyers in literature, John Cusack's list of books that made a difference to him, Lisa Scottoline's top ten list of books about justice, and Luke Leitch's list of ten literary one-hit wonders. It is one of Sanjeev Bhaskar's six best books and one of Alexandra Styron's five best stories of fathers and daughters.

Harper Lee believes her novel "remains the best translation of a book to film ever made, and [is] proud to know that Gregory Peck's portrayal of Atticus Finch lives on – in a world that needs him now more than ever."

Serious Mockingbird enthusiasts and architectural history buffs should track down the Summer 2003 issue of Alabama Heritage (the contents, sadly, not available online) which includes a fascinating article, "The 'Mockingbird' Courthouse," by Delos Hughes.

--Marshal Zeringue