Tender is the Night

September 14, 20201001 Books To Read Before Dying, Author Recommendation, Challenge, Classics, Classics Club, Library, No Pie Mentioned, Review, Sort of Review, Travelapparently, autobiographicalnovelmaybe, classic, Classics Club, didn't give this a good due, exotic locale, F.Scott Fitzgerald, French Riviera, I googled Jackson Browne, i i i I I I, I keep singing "Tender is the Night" but with Billy Squier tune, I love tags, I think the phrase comes from a poem, oh dear, poor F.Scott, sad, sanctity of marriage, set in France, so I over used the word "APPARENTLY", supposed to be lovely prose, the Billy tune is actually "Lonely is the Night", unprofessional romances, was hoping I would find some clever student re-enactment video recaps on youtube but nope, Why is the night TENDER?Care

Thoughts by F.Scott Fitzgerald, 1934, 356 pages

Challenge: Classics Club Spin

Genre: Classic

Type/Source: ebook, library

Why I read this now: SPIN!

MOTIVATION for READING: I had read somewhere that this was his best work. I may have read that wrong. Could be it is still a topic of debate.

WHAT’s it ABOUT: LOTS going on in this book and to be honest, I didn’t give it my full attention (which might mean that I actually failed to finish. Shame on me! I am still counting it as read…)

Dick Diver is married. He and his wife make a lovely much-admired couple and live in an amazingly glamorous spot on the French Riviera leading a glamorous life. But really, he is a psychoanalyst married to a former patient (named Nicole, who seems perfectly lovely in the first half) and is now attracted (the Dick dude) to a cute young glamorous up&coming actress who throws herself at him. But really, I didn’t get much farther than that. I love that history shocks me – that WHAT?! WHY young ladies don’t throw themselves at happily married men they meet on the beach AND admire the wives and yet still throw themselves at the husband anyway AND TELL THEIR OWN MOTHER?! in the late 1920s?! did they? Do they?

I would have never. (Told my mother.)

I put the book down and ten days later when I had the time and mindspace to jump back in, I found out that it was a 14 day library ebook loan and I FAILED. Oooops. It expired.

So I spent a few hours watching YouTube BookTube videos and caught myself up on the plot of what I missed.

Dick and Nicole’s marriage implodes. He does end up sleeping with the young actress apparently but the book takes a turn and shares how Dick and Nicole met in the first place; then Nicole sleeps with a friend, — apparently, they talk it out “LIKE ADULTS” (whatever that might mean) and it ends ambiguously with Dick being an alcoholic and Nicole hopefully have her HEA. I heard it had an ambiguous ending.

OK, maybe I kept zoning out on the less than 10 minute BookTube reviews. Sue me.

THOUGHTS: This book does seem to have CARE PIE written ALL OVER IT! But no, nope. I just didn’t quite get into that must-finish-keep-reading-it’s-past-my-bedtime-don’t-care state which I was wanting.

Should I have audiobooked it?!

oH yEA. I will watch the movie. Hopefully sooner than later. Casting looks suspect in my distant future viewpoint yet the pretties and the settings look like it just might deliver. Jason Robards, Jennifer Jones, Joan Fontaine?! and Jill St John. Adapted to the 1960s and made in 1962. Sign. me. up.

RATING: Three slices of pie.

pierating

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The Great Gatsby – Print & Audio

January 20, 20131001 Books To Read Before Dying, Audio, Book to Movie, Classics, Librarybook cover links to goodreads and the movie posters link to imdb, Book to Movie, F.Scott Fitzgerald, mint juleps, The Great Gatsby, the pie rating link will take you to my pinterest pin, wish I could see the movie they made in the twentiesCare

Thoughts The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald, Scribner 2004 (orig 1925), 180 pages, Audible 15.75 hours

WHY I read/listened to this: I am most excited to see Leo DiCaprio bring Gatsby to the big screen (latest schedule says MAY) and wanted to refresh the story in my mind before I see it. I both listened and read this; downloading the Tim Robbins’ narration per Softdrink’s recommendation and going to the library for the one with the gorgeous cover.

FIRST SENTENCE: In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.

So good.

I really enjoyed listening to Tim Robbins’ voice. Slow and sultry and hot. Like some of the scenes, actually. I never once sped up the narration. It was almost dreamy.

And then… I watched the 1974 film starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. LOVED! Although, I did think some of the camera closeups at scenery change were cheesy with overdramatic drama. With the story so fresh in my mind, I appreciated how very true the movie was to the book; dialogue and voice overs, especially. Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway was spot-on and I admit that I am fearing that Tobey Maguire won’t do the role justice. But I am willing to be surprised and impressed. I have no doubts that DiCaprio will nail it. And have been won over by the idea of Carey Mulligan as Daisy. (I am watching the BBC Bleak House miniseries now – she plays Ada and is such a fabulous actress, imo).

Honestly, I thought I had read this in High School but now I’m questioning that. I really wish I had a list of all the books I really read in High School but alas, I do not. I did a better job of tracking movies I saw but have little in the way of what books I read and I read ALL THE TIME back then.

Please click over to Roof Beam Reader for a FABULOUS critical analysis of F.Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.

Highly recommended: Five slices of Mint Julep Pie with Caramel-Bourbon Sauce – sounds decadent, yes?

HIdeinWhitetoSkipLine

Copyright © 2007-2013. Care’s Online Book Club. All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Care from Care’s Online Book Club. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.