Thursday, July 31, 2008

The Great Gatsby and Totally Lit Book Club


We met last night, at my house, for our book club Totally Literature...(or Lit for short), and it's funny because while I took a few pictures, I didn't see a book in any of them.
I saw food...and I saw wine. And I saw friends having a nice time. But we really, really did talk about the book. Quite a lot.



That was the only theme of the night....except for perhaps, the decadent (not), extravagant (not), indulgent (not), profuse (not), BBQ.

Many thanks to fellow book clubbers, Kathy and April, for coming early to help me put the ka-bobs on the skewers.
It isn't the ka-bobs themselves that are hard to do (a little meat, a little marinade), it's the skewering of them.
(I think I'm making up words as I go along here...skewering?)
I would have still been "ka-bobbing" this morning, if not for their help.

Ah, my point? Book Club.
As always, it is fun to hear everyone's opinion of the book. Sometimes they vary slightly and sometimes there is a huge difference, but we always enjoy the points of view.
It's early...6:00 a.m.
my brilliant blogging ability is "still asleep". My words are not flowing from my mind to my fingertips this morning. sorry. :~)
We ate and talked and then we kept talking and talking and talking---about the book of course.
I think towards the end of our discussion, we came to the conclusion... because some of us had a hard time understanding why "Gatsby" was one of the "Great American Novels".... that for it's time, it was a very controversial book. Something new, a shocking social commentary of the very rich. And F. Scott Fitzgerald was one of the first post ( oh what was it? I've taken literature classes for heaven's sake... I just can't think this morning) Postmodernism... no, maybe that's not right....
But he is considered one of the "Lost Generation" those American Authors, or rather "literary notables" to quote Ernest Hemingway, who lived abroad, in Paris, after WWI, and wrote very, very depressing novels. But very, very worth reading.
In some ironic way.....looking back now.... I think Fitzgerald's novel of Gatsby is a bit autobiographical. Only a bit. (and its' sad, when you think about it), the partying, the drinking, the wastefulness, the flaunting of money, the women.... and then at the end of his life, (Fitzgerald's) the obituaries were condescending and very few people attended his funeral...he was 44 years old.

It was a nice evening. A nice book talk.... it got darker and while you can't tell in the pictures, I had to get a flashlight to be able to see my notes on the book...and then we'd pass it around...just like a campfire group!
There is nothing nicer than talking about books with friends. And eating with friends. And laughing with friends.
We did it all last night.....at the Totally Lit Book Club meeting.










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