True, you need a very wealthy society to even have that to aspire to. Remember that Gatsby's mansion was built by a beer tycoon, so he was really just replacing an older generation of wealth.

I am from Argentina and read it in english last year. I really liked it, Scott Fitzgerald certainly had one of the most beautiful prose of his generation. The way he describes the city, the docks or when he talks about the midwest during winter in one of the last chapters, really powerful images. It is one of those books in which the plot isn't really the main course though. The story itself is pretty simple, it is the way it is told and the character study that makes it captivating. It is obviously very critical of the vapidness and materialism of the roaring 20's but it's never heavyhanded, even Gatsby you can't help but feel a little sorry about him, he's apparently living the dream, but behind the façade he's really insecure and lonely.

I'm Irish and I found it quite dull and everyone was absolutely awful! I didn't find anything admirable or aspirational in any of their ideals at all, tbh.

Interesting. But ur right I have no idea what u are referring to. Will Google tonight!

Equally logical and stupid just about sums up the English language. A complete mess. Haha

(Stupid update, stupid broken Typio lost remarks about each book in first post.)

Four good novels:

Thursday Night Widows, Claudio Pineiro.

The Past, Alan Pauls.

Open Door, Iosi Havilio.

The Incompletes, Sergio Chejfec.

I hugely enjoyed the Pinero & wd re-readit before the Pauls but list is inorder of increasing regard for the books.

I have a small pile of unread books and I usually have an idea of what I'm feeling next, but I do change my mind, so I never 'schedule' specific books as it were, but I have a general goal of 2 books a month. I'm just generally trying to push myself to read more and not buy any new ones, so the pile is dwindling, which is nice! (am excited to go on a book shopping spree once I hit the bottom of the pile)

I've just got a pile that I put newly bought books onto. If it's an especially interesting book, it goes right next to my bed, to be read after the current one.

I do a tbr stack of more than I can possibly read. That way, I have options- like if I start something and I'm not feeling it, i can swap it out for something else.

Welcome to "the great wait".

>ThriftBooks.com

This is lovely, I wish there was a UK equivalent!

No, but I wish I could. Alas, I'm a mood reader. I could write the tbr of my dreams, and it wouldn't matter in the least, because I'd end up doing something completely different! 🤷‍♀️

Don't you even start with that... LOL :)

With the great ideas everyone is giving me, I think we're going to have a really good one!!

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I think Gower Street is much better. Piccadilly is just a big shop. Gower Street is slightly smaller by shelf space, but it is full of nooks and crannies which give it an atmosphere of wonder.

When I'm not enjoying what I'm reading, I just put it down and move onto the next thing.

I read it recently. Most likely you won't understand my references but I do find eerie contemporary echoes with Nadia Bartel's lockdown parties, Bec Judd's Brighton crime wave and the Micheal Clarke/Jade Yarbrough/Karl Stefanovic kerfuffle.

So, yeah, to some extent Australia resembles The Great Gatsby 100 years later.

Historically, not as obsessed with status, certainly not as obsessed as Gatsby was. Those who have and flaunt it are (or, were) seen as a bit foolish. "Tall poppy syndrome" means that people will be cut down to size if they don't stay humble, although that's been changing since the 2010s.

Plus NZ didn't really have anything quite as extravagant as the Jazz Age was in the US.

Is is only 740 pages? I remember it being longer than that, but it’s been a while since I read it.

I actually think it has worse variety than a comparable Waterstones - for whatever reason they stock extremely large quantities, rather than a large variety.

I literally have piles of tbr in my bedroom and just choose from the top one at a time

Person after my own heart

I've got the same! Just recently read the one about the sick baby...

I like his short fiction. I have read the one about a mother giving birth to a baby struggling with health problems. Gosh. The f* end had me thinking