The Enchantment of Gatsby

I was slow in reading this "Great American Novel." I finally got around to it in the past year. It awed and amazed me. The Great Gatsby is a remarkable and readable book. But what is even more interesting is its history, insights, imagery and beautiful writing. NPR Fresh Air book critic Maureen Corrigan has written an easily accessible book about this novel that continues to deserve its following. So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures gives both insights into the book's construction and commentary on the US in the mid-1920s and the writing and ups and downs of its author and its popularity.

When I mentioned to my daughter, who loves the book, that I hadn't read the book in high school she was shocked. Reading Corrigan's book, it would appear that my high school years (the first half of the 1960s) was when this novel was beginning to become the great novel it is now. Chances are it may not even have been on reading lists in my high school at that point. Corrigan covers the novel's critique of the "American Dream" and how Jay Gatsby et. al. lay it bare. Her deep knowledge of the book was refreshing and enjoyable.

Another "Great American Novel" I am currently reading for the first time is The  Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck's critique of the American economic system of the 1930s. I am mesmerized by his use of language and description. His attention to the smallest details of the land and people in the dust bowl years is entrancing and pulls me into the world of the howling wind, lost dreams and living hopes.

There are reasons why some of these books have become standards. Finally I am enjoying them. Better late than never.

My Reading List

Just kind of sitting around looking at nothing in particular as I was updating the old blog here. I looked over at the book list through this week. So far this year I am at 56 books, a little more than in the past, perhaps even in record territory. I am sure that part of that is because of my semi-retirement, a full month away in Alabama, and just generally working on the books. It is amazing how many excellent books are published each year.

One thing that struck me, though, was the split in the year between fiction and non-fiction. I have generally read more non-fiction than fiction over the years. There is so much of so great an interest in the world that I can hardly keep up. (Understatement!) But I also love fiction, the top-notch books that expand one's world through the imagination and writing of excellent writers. I also enjoy a good mystery, crime procedural and science fiction. If they are just plain entertainment- that's okay, although there is often a great deal of insight into the human condition in any good novel.

In any case I noticed that this year has an overwhelming difference between the two halves of the year so far. From January through June I read 12 novels of the 33 books read.

Since July 1, though, there are only 4 of the 23 that are novels- and I read those in the past month or six weeks. One thing I did notice overall is that I have been trying to pick up on some older and even classic novels like the Sound and the Fury, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hitchhiker's Guide, and Chronicle of a Death Foretold. I had promised myself that I would try to get to read some of these that I never read before. I have found that an excellent idea.

The list does not include any of the books I have been mining for the series on my Dad's time in World War II. I am not reading those cover-to-cover, but as I said, mining them for information. Some of them are truly deep mines!

I guess, then, that at least one of my goals for my move into retirement is working- I am reading more than ever. And there are so many more out there to go. It is a wondrous, never-ending stream of excitement, insight, life, and challenge!