Last night I went babysitting at fairly short notice to help out my old Physics teacher. I've babysat there before and it's always been a few stories, early to bed, coffee and a quiet few hours for me, usually with the TV. This time I took my Maths revision and, remembering that I'd been reproaching myself for not reading much recently, decided to bring a book. My house is *full* of books; I once spent most of a day going through all the books in my room and re-arranging them so I could find ones I'd read or might want to read. Included in the ones I'd want to read, were the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald (those we have anyway) so that's how I came to grab Bernice Bobs Her Hair.
I read This edition.
I hadn't read any F. Scott Fitzgerald before and I'm glad I have now. Each story was thoroughly interesting in its own ways while keeping to the general theme of observations on society & relationships. I'm no great literature critic but I'd definitely recommend it.
One story stood out, in that it made me cry, a lot. It was called 'The Sensible Thing'. I didn't particularly identify with the main character, in fact I found him a bit nonsensical, but the way Scott Fitzgerald writes about his relationship & interactions with his fiancée, especially at the end of the story, really got me. It's only one of the eight stories in the book so I won't feel too guilty about possibly spoiling it with a quote. This is the final sentence
"There are all kinds of love in the world, but never the same love twice."
This seems so damning and final, defeatist almost; it occurs to me that it's a bit of a theme through what I've read so far of Scott Fitzgerald. It'll be interesting to see if this continues. After finishing Bernice etc. this morning, I've moved on and read all of This Side Of Paradise (his first novel) and intend to read the rest soon.
*edit - can't have a post without a photo.*
Fitzgerald...I really didn't enjoy The Great Gatsby. It wasn't entertaining and I don't think it had as much to say as people think it does, that isn't better said elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteHmm. I like to just immerse myself in the atmosphere of the story, I spose that's why I like reading old books or ones that are set in the past. It doesn't matter too much to me if they're saying anything or not. And I'm not sure about entertaining. I don't like to give up on books. Often I'll start reading and go the whole way through in less than 24 hours, given the opportunity.
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