my books - This Side of Paradise (1920) by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Wiki:

This Side of Paradise is the debut novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Published in 1920, and taking its title from a line of the Rupert Brooke poem Tiare Tahiti, the book examines the lives and morality of post-World War I youth. Its protagonist, Amory Blaine, is an attractive Princeton University student who dabbles in literature. The novel explores the theme of love warped by greed and status-seeking.

Usually when I have a hard time with a book, it comes from the feeling that the book needed a lot more editing (Winesburg Ohio).

I honestly did not think that with This Side of Paradise. I thought it was well written. I thought it hung together well. I just was not interested.

I have read The Great Gatsby. It was not a favorite either. I will say I liked The Great Gatsby (1925) better than This Side of Paradise (1920). I suppose this is as it should be. Paradise was his first book, Gatsby was five years later. In comparison, (I thought) there was more plot and character development in Gatsby.

If you are trying to remember, here is a list of all Fitzgerald's novels:
This Side of Paradise (1920)
The Beautiful and Damned (1922)
The Great Gatsby (1925)
Tender Is the Night (1934)
The Love of the Last Tycoon (originally The Last Tycoon, published posthumously, 1941)
There is a very long list of short stories also (bottom of this link).

Oldest said - I think you are just not a fan of Fitzgerald.

Maybe so.



There is one more Fitzgerald book on my list. I think it is Tender is the Night.

Both Tender and Paradise were on the list of books my one group read before I joined. I am still picking up a title here and there as I have time around my assigned monthly titles.

I belong to three book groups which each meet monthly, so I have three assigned books each month. Every once in a while one of the books is very short or I have already read it, and I have time to pick up an extra title. I listen to every thing I read on audio. 

I am hoping (at least) one of you has read Paradise and leaves a very long note for me. I would
like to have a closure on this book. It is always a little tough for me when I am not discussing a book
in detail at one of my groups. I am very used to reading with a purpose and then having a long discussion.  If anyone has perspective on Fitzgerald in general or Tender, that would be appreciated also.

my books - The Song of the Lark (1915) by Willa Cather

When I finished O Pioneers!, I went directly into the second book in this series - The Song of the Lark.

O Pioneers! is centered around the Bergson family (who have one daughter and three sons) and takes place in Nebraska.  One of the Bergson son's daughters marries a clergy man and moves with him to Moonstone, Colorado and raises their family there (this all happens between the end of O Pioneers! and the start of The Song of the Lark). One of the daughters of that Colorado/preacher's family, Thea Kronborg, is the main character in The Song of the Lark.  The original characters/family from O Pioneers are barely mentioned and not a part of the second book, but the history of the family is there in subtext.

The book's title (The Song of the Lark) comes from a painting at The Art Institute of Chicago. The art museum and the specific painting are mentioned in the book.  I remembered the painting as soon as I saw it. I spent a lot of time at The Art Institute the year ME was with us. Her law firm was in Chicago. While she was meeting with her lawyers, I would spend lovely afternoons at the museum. I think I covered the entire museum,  every single piece, that year.



Very interestingly, although O Pioneers! and My Antonia (books 1 and 3 in the trilogy) are listed in Sparknotes, The Song of the Lark is not. It should be (in my opinion).

I am not linking to the Wiki notes, because they give away too much of the plot of the book (in my opinion).



When I started this book, I was a little nervous it was going to be a daddy thing nearly bordering on a pedophile thing. Because older men gravitate toward Thea in this book. It starts right at the beginning of the book when she is 10-12 years old.

There is a 30 year old who is waiting for her to grow up so he  can ask her to marry him (for example). But he IS waiting until she is 18-20. So it isn't actually a pedophile thing. It is more the type of thing that happened back then when families thought of those men as settled and reliable and able to provide for a family. And in this book, Thea's mother, does not approve of this man's plan anyway. 

At various points in the book the characters even discuss how older men gravitate toward her. It is actually part of the plot. There is nothing icky about it. It is part of the character development. I just happened to pick up on it right when the book started. It is a subject that raises my hackles.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. (If you loved the Little House series, I suspect you might love this series too.)

And as soon as I finished this second one, I went right into the third in the trilogy, which is Willa Cather's most famous - My Antonia.

my books - State of Wonder (2011) by Ann Patchett

Wiki notes:

State of Wonder (2011) is a novel by American author Ann Patchett. It is about a drug company employee who journeys to Brazil, to bring back information about seemingly miraculous drug research being conducted there by Dr. Swenson on behalf of the company.

So, this was a contemporary read for me. Not a classic. The title was assigned by one of my book groups.

There were 11 discs/12.3 hours in the audible edition I used, read by Hope Davis (who was very good).

I had no idea what to expect with this book. I listened to it on the plane on the way to and from Charleston, SC and then finished it within a couple days of returning home. (I listened to the whole of The Lemon Tree (between flights) while we were there. I had no trouble dropping right back into State of Wonder.) I finished this one, in the house, because I was very curious to see how it ended. I do not have driveway moments (NPR term) as much as I have headset in the house moments.

State of Wonder is very much a story. No historical background. Not an intellectual read the way One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich or Lemon Tree was. So this book came up just in the right place (after those two) on my reading list. A welcome break after two thinking cap kinds of books. (Wait until you see what I read after this one, stay tuned for next week's review).

To be honest, I am not sure what I would have thought of State of Wonder if I had been reading other contemporary, non classics, books all at the same time. It might have seemed light to me then. But in view of the heavier reading I was doing before and after this book, it was very much enjoyed.

There are not a lot of characters in State of Wonder. I did not feel I needed to keep notes. I found the story to be captivating and believable*** and interesting. I had no idea where the story was going at any point in the book.

***I am the one, in every reading group I attend, who says - odd coincidences do happen, if you keep your eyes open and can see them, strange sets of events happen all the time. 

It also confirmed South America stays on the NO TRAVEL ZONE list for all of my kids.