The Great Gatsby

I've just finished reading "The Great Gatsby." One of my goals for 2009 was to read a great American novel. I chose "The Great Gatsby" because suprisingly, I never read it in high school. It was a suprisingly a short book - only 180 pages. But it took me two weeks to read it. It was hard for me to get entrenched in the book at the beginning due to the writing style of F. Scott Fitzgerald. But I pressed on and started to really enjoy reading it.

I couldn't get over the vanity and shallowness of some of the main characters - Tom, Daisy, Jordan and Gatsby. I felt pity for Nick as he seemed completely out of his element. I don't feel sorrow for Gatsby because I don't believe his love for Daisy was true. I think she was an obsession, an object that he wanted to possess. I enjoyed the book and I am happy that I chose it as my first American novel to read for 2009.

My next selection is "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck. Another novel that I didn't have the pleasure of reading in high school. I'll probably start reading "Of Mice and Men" in March. Right now I need to start the VCA Good-Trash Reading Movement. I've received the first two books in the Casteel series in the mail so I need to get cracking. I haven't read VCA since I was a teen so it will be interesting reading her novels as an adult.