I have always been a reader. I learned to appreciate reading from my Mom, and as a little girl, I remember admiring her bookcase. I couldn't wait until the day I was able to read her books. Well, that day came and I realized the books my Mom had on her bookshelf were not the books I wanted to read.
In High School the Flowers in the Attic books were the thing to read, so I read them. They lead me to other books. I was always a bit all over the map on what I would read; Sci-fi/fantasy, historical fiction, memoirs, really anything that interested me. However, I soon got frustrated. I realized I wanted to read about how people actually lived, especially in the past. I got very frustrated. What I wanted was an accurate account of how people lived, but instead I was getting stories of modern girls, with modern sensibilities in the past. I was on the lookout for a more accurate account.
Starting in 1999, I decided I was going to read the classics (everyone should know the classics, right?). So that is what I started to do. I read Hawthorn and Dickens, Henry James and Oscar Wilde, and of course Jane Austen. I was happy. I loved reading the classics. I had no rhyme or reason to who or what I read, just as long as it was a classic.
I then started to have babies. During my pregnancies, all I wanted to read was about was my body and what was going to come out of it. I read about babies and childcare for almost 3 years. I slowly came out of my baby haze and wanted to read again. I started to with the Harry Potter series (which I thoroughly enjoyed) and then I slipped back into reading any old thing and the same frustrations I had in the past came back.
I wanted to get back into my classics, but this time I vowed I would be a bit more conscious of what and how I read, but still be flexible. I wasn't going to feel like I haven't read Orwell, so I better read him next, instead I was going to let my interests dictate my reading. I was then given a book of Fitzgerald's short stories. And that was it. I was hooked.
That was March of 2008, and I have been primarily reading him ever since. I've always had an affinity for him, but while reading his early short stories I fell in love with his writing. It was like he was writing what I thought, or should I say, he wrote how I thought. He spoke to me and he expressed my feelings, and of course he was better at it than I.
And as I read more, and devoured more of his stories and novels, it occurred to me that we were living in a time that had much in common with the 20's. A time when it seemed like the good times were never going to end, and as I looked around, I realized we too were living on credit, thinking our good times are never going to end. However, we all know what came after the 20's and today we are living through our own credit hangover. So is there more we can gleam from the Chronicler of the 20's? I think so.
I am aware that F Scott Fitzgerald has fallen out of fashion, but I hope that there are others out there who also find a connection with his writing and see the relevance to our day and age. Or maybe I can turn someone on to his works. Either way I will be writing my little blog about my experience with Fitzgerald.
In High School the Flowers in the Attic books were the thing to read, so I read them. They lead me to other books. I was always a bit all over the map on what I would read; Sci-fi/fantasy, historical fiction, memoirs, really anything that interested me. However, I soon got frustrated. I realized I wanted to read about how people actually lived, especially in the past. I got very frustrated. What I wanted was an accurate account of how people lived, but instead I was getting stories of modern girls, with modern sensibilities in the past. I was on the lookout for a more accurate account.
Starting in 1999, I decided I was going to read the classics (everyone should know the classics, right?). So that is what I started to do. I read Hawthorn and Dickens, Henry James and Oscar Wilde, and of course Jane Austen. I was happy. I loved reading the classics. I had no rhyme or reason to who or what I read, just as long as it was a classic.
I then started to have babies. During my pregnancies, all I wanted to read was about was my body and what was going to come out of it. I read about babies and childcare for almost 3 years. I slowly came out of my baby haze and wanted to read again. I started to with the Harry Potter series (which I thoroughly enjoyed) and then I slipped back into reading any old thing and the same frustrations I had in the past came back.
I wanted to get back into my classics, but this time I vowed I would be a bit more conscious of what and how I read, but still be flexible. I wasn't going to feel like I haven't read Orwell, so I better read him next, instead I was going to let my interests dictate my reading. I was then given a book of Fitzgerald's short stories. And that was it. I was hooked.
That was March of 2008, and I have been primarily reading him ever since. I've always had an affinity for him, but while reading his early short stories I fell in love with his writing. It was like he was writing what I thought, or should I say, he wrote how I thought. He spoke to me and he expressed my feelings, and of course he was better at it than I.
And as I read more, and devoured more of his stories and novels, it occurred to me that we were living in a time that had much in common with the 20's. A time when it seemed like the good times were never going to end, and as I looked around, I realized we too were living on credit, thinking our good times are never going to end. However, we all know what came after the 20's and today we are living through our own credit hangover. So is there more we can gleam from the Chronicler of the 20's? I think so.
I am aware that F Scott Fitzgerald has fallen out of fashion, but I hope that there are others out there who also find a connection with his writing and see the relevance to our day and age. Or maybe I can turn someone on to his works. Either way I will be writing my little blog about my experience with Fitzgerald.
I <3
I hope you do too.
