Saturday 20 December 2008

Once again to Zelda ...

... is the famously romantic dedication inside The Great Gatsby. The very nice reading blog Shelf Love recently posted about Gerald and Sarah Murphy who inspired the characters of Dick Diver and Nicole in Tender is the Night. This made me want to re-read some F. Scott Fitzgerald so I've replaced my battered old edition of Gatsby.

Finished Home by Marilynne Robinson. Arguably, Home is Gilead from a different point of view. It's dialogue driven and centres around the characters of John Boughton, his wayward son Jack and daughter, Glory. It's a beautifully written novel, but I have to say I much prefer Gilead.

Merry Christmas everyone and I hope you all manage to squeeze in some reading time over the festive season!

5 comments:

Teresa said...

I just read Gatsby for the first time this year (on audio actually). It is excellent, and Fitzgerald is now on my list of authors to read more of.

I also enjoyed Home quite a bit. It wasn't the revelation Gilead was, but I imagine some readers will find it more accessible. Have you read Housekeeping? It's been on my shelf a while, but I've been putting off reading it because then I won't have any more Robinson to look forward to!

LINDA from Each Little World said...

I am here to say I've read Gatsby and re-read Gatsby and read it yet again, and every time I am left completely flat.

That said, I've read all of Fitzgerald's short stories, a number of the other novels, every letter the man ever wrote, Zelda's book and bios of both of them. But Gatsby doesn't do it no matter how many times I try.

Happy Christmas to you and I've got more books sitting by my chair than I can possible get to — but that's mostly a good feeling!

Vintage Reading said...

Teresa, I loved Housekeeping and would highly recommend it. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Linda, isn't it strange, I love Gatsby yet I've never been fond of Tender is the Night. I've read all the short stories, too and a couple of novels and bios of Scott and Zelda. Not read any letters, though.

Anonymous said...

I read Tender is the Night twice with a 10-year gap in between, and hated it both times. I thought the style was beautiful in places, but I found the characters very unsympathetic and it annoyed me that the author seemed to be so in love with them.It has put me off trying anything else by Fitzgerald, but maybe I should give Gatsby a chance.

Merry Christmas to you too! I have started on some lovely Christmassy re-reads.

kristina said...

I haven't read Gatsby since school--perhaps I should pick it up again.

Best wishes for a very merry Christmas! Definitely hoping to squeeze in some reading time, too!

And please send me your email address re puzzles!

K x