Ah, The Great Gatsby. I first read it the summer before my senior year of high school to prep for my AP English class. Then, read it again [for that class] right before graduation. I remember liking it back then and a vague sense of the storyline has lingered in my memory, but I didn’t list it among my favourites, nor was I moved to read any further works by Fitzgerald. But when I reread it this month for my bookclub, I couldn’t put it down.
If you haven’t yet read The Great Gatsby, or if it’s been a long time since you read it: pick a day this summer, go outside, and read this book. It’s less than 200 pages and will only take you a few hours. Even if you don’t like the plot or the characters, you won’t want to miss reading the words of a writer like Fitzgerald who chooses and lays each word out like a perfectly strung pearl necklace.
A few months ago I found these brilliant art prints on Etsy that paired striking illustrations with an impressive list of eloquent quotes and now I get to offer one of Obvious State‘s creations as a giveaway in honour of F. Scott Fitzgerald.
What is Included in the Giveaway:
One participant will win one unframed F. Scott Fitzgerald Quote Art Print. The winner gets to choose between two Fitzgerald prints created by Obvious State.
In keeping with Great Gatsby week, here’s a Gatsby-inspired travel moment.
The Lingering Power of Poetry
Back in May of 2007, I went to Europe for a month to visit a few friends. Starting in Spain, I spent a week with Kate & André and then, randomly decided to spend 36 hours in Basel, Switzerland before heading to Germany to see Taryn.
As I mentioned before, I’ve got a crush on vintage Penguin books. Imagine my delight when I found someone who embroiders cushions to look just like them. And now one of you lucky readers gets to win a Penguin cushion in honour of the upcoming film release of The Great Gatsby!
I am getting a little too excited about Baz Luhrman’s upcoming Gatsby film. But I’m not alone. My bookclub is reading Fitzgerald’s novel in anticipation of the movie release next week. I found this gem of a video thanks to Cass (fellow bookclubber) who wanted to share Mario Testino’s amazing photographs of Carey Mulligan starring as Daisy. You get to see behind the scenes footage of Vogue’s photo shoot with Mulligan and even better, you get to hear her reading a selection from the book itself. Bravo Vogue.
I am a visual person. As such I can be swayed by a good book design. I think that’s one reason it’s harder for me to embrace ebooks (though I do love that you can click on a word and go directly to its definition!) — they don’t have the visual allure of a hardback or paperback. A physical book can age, gain character, be affected by those it comes in contact with.
I am also a sucker for a good story (shocking, I know). Whether it’s finding out how important it was for Beatrix Potter to make her work available to the average person while still including quality colour illustrations or that Allen Lane, the founder of Penguin Books, published the first ten Penguin books in 1935 out of his desire to make good fiction both affordable and convenient.
Poetry lends itself to nature — its subtlety, simplicity, and attention to detail exemplify the visual it describes — so, it’s not surprising to find that many spring quotes come from poems of spring or that poets can’t help but put their pen to paper in homage to spring.
Oh to experience what Langston Hughes captured so well: I stuck my head out the window this morning and spring kissed me bang in the face.
I’m intrigued by words that define a “between” moment and often need to remind myself that between-times can be beautiful. Like last week’s word, nascent, which describes something coming into existence — budding, but not yet in full bloom. Or one of my all-time favourite words – gloaming, which so aptly names that time after sunset and before dark.
Spring always seems like a good time to restart and try again. A time of new beginnings. It can be easy to think of time wasted and time lost, because we don’t know how much time we will be given. But it is the unknown that holds possibility and hope.
