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May 2017
2:33pm, 15 May 2017
29,132 posts
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McGoohan
This tale o' pirates a-sailin' the high seas in the Caribbean by that black-hearted rogue Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald be the May 2017 book group book. Ar. That it be. Be ye unafeared to gi' yer opinion? Then do so, yer dogs! Ar. Shiver me timbers! But be it known, there be spoilers to larboard. Ar, that there be.
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May 2017
4:33pm, 15 May 2017
92,772 posts
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GregP
Tom: Daisy! I command you to cease playing with the curtains and come see our guest!
Daisy: Oh, Tom! You know how important it is for me to make the right impression whenever you bring somebody new over. Speaking of which, did you love my entrance, Nick?
Nick: Huh?
Daisy: Did the fluttering curtains and all the rays of sunlight emphasize my fairy-like qualities? My middle name is Fay, after all.
Nick: Yes, they did.
Daisy: Then I'm paralyzed with happiness! Come, take my hand and look into my eyes in a way that says you want me, even though we're cousins.
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May 2017
4:49pm, 15 May 2017
1,814 posts
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Serendippily
My reading experience was hampered by all the asinine a level notes I'd made in the margins. I enjoyed it and their roaringly rarified lives and artfully constructed sentences. And it was lovely and short. But it wasn't my favourite. There were no belly laughs. Or snorts of recognition. I didnt admire it from my heart. So only a 7 from me.
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May 2017
4:51pm, 15 May 2017
29,135 posts
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McGoohan
What about when Tom makes Gatsby walk the plank?
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May 2017
11:02pm, 16 May 2017
12,905 posts
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Columba
I love the way he describes things:
"His station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains"
"She was extended full length, completely motionless, and with her chin raised a little, as if she were balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall. [then, on the next page] she nodded at me almost imperceptibly, and then quickly tipped her head back again - the object she was balancing had obviously tottered a little and given her something of a fright"
The people, when you think about it, are all horrible, with far too much money and far too much time on their hands. Not all, of course; Jordan has her golfing (though there is a strong suggestion that she cheats, or has done at least once), and the Wilsons are in a different category altogether though Myrtle grabs all she can get with both hands, including a puppy that she clearly has no idea how to look after. It gradually transpires that Gatsby himself is working hard for his money in the background, though we learn very little about what he does, just enough (as the story progresses) for us to become aware that it is something illegal on a grand scale. Yet he alone among the wealthy has no real interest in money except as a means to make contact once again with his one true love, his pearl beyond price. In some sort of way this makes him a truly noble figure. This put me in mind of Harry Lime in Graham Greene's "The Third Man", though it's ages since I read it and I may be remembering it wrong; he too had made money by evil means, wrecking lives, but there was something admirable about him, Greene suggests.
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May 2017
6:50am, 17 May 2017
92,817 posts
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GregP
I've moved from 'I hate everyone except Nick' to 'I hate everyone especially Myrtle'.
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May 2017
8:56am, 18 May 2017
92,848 posts
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GregP
"There was a machine in the kitchen which could extract the juice of two hundred oranges in half an hour if a little button was pressed two hundred times by a butler’s thumb".
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May 2017
12:11pm, 18 May 2017
1,468 posts
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Gus
I found it one of the most boring books I've ever read
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May 2017
12:27pm, 18 May 2017
12,927 posts
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Columba
Good heavens!
What's the most interesting book you've ever read?
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May 2017
1:36pm, 18 May 2017
92,852 posts
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GregP
I hate the characters, but the writing is, for want of a better word, sumptuous.
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Read a book from every year of your life challenge
Feb 2025