The Great Gatsby

Actually, I would think Steinbeck would be pretty well the direct opposite to Scott Fitzgerald.

Sorry Feetlebaum

'timshel'. I always really liked that. It's a good thought. I don't know why I wrote Grapes of Wrath instead of East of Eden - nobody say 'Senility' !!

There is a new e-book coming out soon published by Harper Collins called 'Cat's Eye' that really reminded me of Tortilla Flat quite a bit.

A Steinbeck novel that went down very well with my Kenyan pupils was 'The Pearl', for some reason not so well known as 'Cannery Row' and 'Of Mice and Men', maybe because its anti-materialism message doesn't resonate so well with today's GCSE candidates.

Broomsticks it was "timshel" but, as jingl says, it was in "East of Eden". Love the concept.

"Of Mice and Men" is another one that the students of all abilities loved and could deal with well. (That being the case, it will probably be taken off the syllabus!!) #don'tgetmestarted

I think that may have been East of Eden Broomsticks. I can't find my copy either so can't help.might have Oxfamed it in a fit of clearing out-Ness.

My students sat a special GCSE oral exam for mature students which involved talking about a book they'd read. One of them, doing a mock oral with me, told me she'd been reading 'CANARY Row'. Luckily for her I was able to put her right and she passed.

Ariadne. I was just thinking about Grapes of Wrath while I fought weeds in the garden today. What was the word that Adam used at the end? It meant 'He may', something like 'timshel'. It's bothering me and I've lost our copy.

Indeed anno

Agreed (as usual) Ariadne. I love The Grapes of Wrath - even the film (Henry Fonda0 was good. My African pupils enjoyed it too. I think there were aspects of it that they could related to. Travels with Charley stuck in my mind because of the dreadful scenes he observed of white protesters shouting and swearing and threatening little black children brought in to attend a previously all white school.

Hitchcock (doh!) and Hyde Park on Hudson.

A short story often makes a better film than a big fat book, doesn't it Ariadne. I haven't seen Brokeback (yet) but it was a brilliant short story, for instance.
I loved East of Eden for its male characters, particularly the Chinese man. I watched a film (on a plane) recently that reminded me a little - about father/son/brother relationships, called Jayne Mansfield's Car. BB Thornton in it and directing. I thought it was really good.
Also watched the one about Hitchcock with Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren - pretty good I thought and of course GREAT acting. And another one, also based on real people, about middle aged love, about Rooseveldt. If you bear with me, as they say, I will post the titles.

"Travels with Charlie" is something I must read again! thanks, jess! My favourite is "East of Eden" to which the film does not begin to do justice, and I must read it again....in the glory days of 100% coursework I taught at GCSE and after the usual "Oh miss, it's sooooo long!" it was a resounding success.

But nothing could beat "The Grapes of Wrath". Ever.

Yes the best bits out of that part of his life made it into Cannery Row.

Now, I liked Cannery Row. Sweet Thursday came after and had the same characters. But, for me, ran out of steam part way through.

Steinbeck - now your talking - a writer who focusses on the poor and the ordinary (didn't the 19th century do stories about rich people to death?).
I agree pity he did not write a few more long novels and live longer. But Cannery Row is a short classic.
Last thing I read by him was Travels with Charley. A wonderful selection of essays about travelling around the States. Did Steinbeck invent the camper van I wondered?

jingl I love Steinbeck too!

As far as GG is concerned, it's a book that I hadn't read until it popped up one year on the "A" Level syllabus and everyone else had got there first and picked the ones I knew. So I had to read it, and teach it, and loved it. (Same with Plath..)

I have booked to take DD and DGD1 (17) on 28th May - the day before DD's 48th (48?????!) birthday. Theseus will drive us into town, we shall watch the film, then have dinner, the DSiL will pick us up. So, whatever the film is like, a good time will be had!

Now I get it. Gransnet/Kindle is another mismatch.

I mean the time spent gransnetting eats into reading time. I read far more before GN came on the scene.

? Jingle I don't follow? Grans/books not mutually exclusive. surely? Most of us can read.

Anyone else find 'Gransnet' and 'Book Club' a contradiction of terms?

Steinbeck! Loved his 'big' novels but ground slowly to a halt halfway through Sweet Thursday. Must find it and try to finish it.

I too put off reading Gatsby for years - but I recently picked up a Kindle edition, and was very agreeably surprised... I can certainly see that any film-maker would have problems with it, as with any novel with a first person narrator.

It seems to me a very American style, lean and surgically accurate use of vocabulary - I can't help thinking of Steinbeck...

I never go to see any film of a book I have read, and as I read The Great Gatsby as a young woman - and found it rather long winded- I won't miss anything. It was serialised in Radio 4 Classic serial a while ago and actually there have been so many better American novels written.

Its appeal must be the time and the dressing up of the American moneyed classes and a few goodlooking actors.

This is a bargain if you haven't read it. Gatsby and two more

Yes, I have read it Maggiemaybe. Going to download this lot and read it again though.

Wow, I loved it! So different from the 1970s version, but the party scenes were spectacular and the modern music track really worked. I'm glad I didn't listen to the critics.