Ever since I read my first Fitzgerald (I believe it was The Beautiful and the Damned) he kinda is one of my top favorite authors. I can't get enough of the jazz age, and I read The Great Gatsby at least three times, because I love the reason behind Mr. Gatsby's actions so much. So romantic. So when I came across this internet pearl, I knew I had a new mission:
In 1936, F. Scott Fitzgerald was convalescing in a hotel in Asheville, North Carolina, when he offered his nurse a list of 22 books he thought were essential reading. The list, above, is written in the nurse’s hand.
It’s an idiosyncratic list. Fitzgerald appears to have restricted his selections to books that were available at that time in Modern Library editions. At the top of the page, the nurse wrote “These are books that Scott thought should be required reading.”
Well, we all know these kinda lists, when friends ask a few good dating cafe spots, must watch films or just your latest reads. But I've never created a master list, and I probably never will. It's too hard. But mr. Fitzgerald did, and I must read them all. Although, back in 1936, lots of great literature wasn't even written, so it was probably easier to create a must read list. Most of the following titles I don't even know, let alone have read!
Good reads for the upcoming winter I'd say:
Sister Carrie, by Theodore Dreiser
The Life of Jesus, by Ernest Renan
A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen
Winesburg, Ohio, by Sherwood Anderson
The Old Wives’ Tale, by Arnold Bennett
The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiel Hammett
The Red and the Black, by Stendahl
The Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant, translated by Michael Monahan
An Outline of Abnormal Psychology, edited by Gardner Murphy
The Stories of Anton Chekhov, edited by Robert N. Linscott
The Best American Humorous Short Stories, edited by Alexander Jessup
Victory, by Joseph Conrad
The Revolt of the Angels, by Anatole France
The Plays of Oscar Wilde
Sanctuary, by William Faulkner
Within a Budding Grove, by Marcel Proust
The Guermantes Way, by Marcel Proust
Swann’s Way, by Marcel Proust
South Wind, by Norman Douglas
The Garden Party, by Katherine Mansfield
War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy
John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley: Complete Poetical Works
Sister Carrie, by Theodore Dreiser
The Life of Jesus, by Ernest Renan
A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen
Winesburg, Ohio, by Sherwood Anderson
The Old Wives’ Tale, by Arnold Bennett
The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiel Hammett
The Red and the Black, by Stendahl
The Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant, translated by Michael Monahan
An Outline of Abnormal Psychology, edited by Gardner Murphy
The Stories of Anton Chekhov, edited by Robert N. Linscott
The Best American Humorous Short Stories, edited by Alexander Jessup
Victory, by Joseph Conrad
The Revolt of the Angels, by Anatole France
The Plays of Oscar Wilde
Sanctuary, by William Faulkner
Within a Budding Grove, by Marcel Proust
The Guermantes Way, by Marcel Proust
Swann’s Way, by Marcel Proust
South Wind, by Norman Douglas
The Garden Party, by Katherine Mansfield
War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy
John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley: Complete Poetical Works
Via.
Revolt of the Angels is an amazing book, but very heavy. I highly recommend it.
ReplyDeleteThanks, good to be a little bit prepared ;)
Delete