Twofer Tuesday – The Second Time is Great

Many long years ago I read The Great Gatsby. It bored me. I could not imagine what all the fuss was about. What was the point?
I could go on, but I think you’ve realized the problem: me.
Of course I didn’t get it. I was stupid and young and had no context. Books like this require someone to have had a life in order to appreciate them.
I had a rescue copy from a sale decorating my TBR pile and a vague notion that I’d get to it again someday. Then I read Lillian Hellman’s memoir and it gets mentioned several times. I don’t recall the words used, but I think at one point Hellman or someone in her circle told F. Scott Fitzgerald it was brilliant and/or his best work.
Obviously, I’d missed the point when I read it in my teens. I can tell you now, on second reading, that I get it. I’m glad I gave it a second go.

Here’s a sample. I’ve sneaked an extra sentence to round out the paragraph.

“Outside the wind was loud and there was a faint flow of thunder along the sound. All the lights were going on in West Egg now; the electric trains, men-carrying, were plunging home through the rain from New York. It was the hour of a profound human change, and excitement was generating on the air.”
-The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald. (Collier Books, MacMillan Publishing Co. Copyright 1925, Charles Scribner’s Sons.)
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I’m still tapping away at Biting The Dust’s obvious errors.
Here’s a sample featuring one of the God-fearing folk in Saintree:

"Roy Hansom went to church to atone for his sins of the week and if he didn’t have sufficient ones, then he’d go to town early to make some. Roy loved the Lord and it was important to him to beg for forgiveness and absolution."
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For more, or to find out how to participate, please see the Women of Mystery.
And thank you for stopping by. I appreciate it.
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It's the Bag Lady's birthday whether she likes it or not.
How about we slip over to her place and make a fuss?