The Great Gatsby

As a part of my Back to the Classics challenge I have recently read The Great Gatsby.

I'm still trying to find out if I love or hate this book - it's an ambivalent relationship.

Let me illustrate...when I started reading it I spent the first 5 pages exclaiming:
why am I doing this to myself again? It is still not to late to stop reading.
But after 10 pages I was already caught completely up in the story.

And on one hand I didn't especially like the characters or the plot, but on the other hand I do not remember the last time a book left me so sad (and threw me into a post reading depression that lasted almost a month)

So I must conclude, while I didn't particularly like the story it still left a deep impact - but I guess that is what a good author can do. That is one thing I like about the book - it is really well written and gives a very good picture of  the Roaring Twenties.

The way it describes the life among the jet set and their everlasting search for new parties and amusement stroke me as very similar to the way many people live their life today - though it all happened 90 years ago. So I guess the themes are still relevant.

The thing I both like and dislike about "modern" classics is that they often focus less on making a plot and more on presenting themes and problems for us to think about. While I like stories that make me think after I put it down, I sometimes just want a good story I can lose myself in. If it also makes me think then all the better.

But I'll admit I look forward to going back to the "old" classics that describe a society and way of living long gone.
 

Back to the classics challenge 2014

I just stumbled upon this wonderful reading challenge.
You have to choose classic books to read in 5 different categories, and write reviews of them - and what do I mostly do at this blog anyway? You named it.

Also I have this long lists of big classics that I really want to read (or that my friends tell me I have to read if I call myself a lover of classics), so now instead of just saying I will read them someday I put up a deadline.

But no pressure - 2014 is still young.

If you want to participate in the challenge you can still sign up until February 28. at this blog.


My list:

1.  A 20th Century Classic   - The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 
2. A 19th Century Classic   - Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens  
3. A Classic by a Woman Author - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
4. A Classic in Translation -Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
5. A Classic About War  - War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
6. A Classic by an Author Who Is New To You - Vanity Fair by William Makepiece Thackeray

Optional Categories:

1. An American Classic - Gone with the wind by Margaret Mitchell
2. A Classic Mystery, Suspense or Thriller - The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
3. A Historical Fiction Classic
4. A Classic That's Been Adapted Into a Movie or TV Series.  
5. Extra Fun Category:  Write a Review of the Movie or TV Series adapted from Optional Category #4.