With an interesting collection which ranges from great classics to contemporary literature, this list is sure to keep you busy for a while! I plan on starting my own 65 Book Challenge and finishing all the books on the list. I’ll be sure to post some good reviews once I finish each one! The first on the list is The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud which I will be starting today. Whether you are ten or one-hundred, you can feel free to join me in the challenge or even simply leave comments about which of the books on the list you’ve read and what you liked/ didn’t like about them. Now this is what I call a literary adventure!

1. The Bible – I think we can all agree this isn’t a shocker. I knew The Bible would pop up somewhere at the top!
2. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes – apparently the wayward adventures of Don Quixote and his stalwartly sidekick Sancho Panza are appealing to a lot of people!
3. Xinhua Zidian (Chinese language dictionary) – given how widely spoken Mandarin is, and the high population in China, this seems like a logical choice!
4. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens – this was foreseen as it was number one on our Literary Tidbit Tuesday blog two weeks ago.
5. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien – also on our list a couple weeks past!
6. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling – let’s admit it, we all knew Harry Potter just had to show up on this list eventually!

These are some interesting choices, some unexpected and some completely obvious. Which ones shocked you with their place on our list?

I was lucky enough to get the chance to see The Great Gatsby film this weekend, which means that today you will be treated to a movie review! Yay! This, of course, also means that this is your official SPOILER ALERT so that if you want to be completely surprised by the movie you should only continue reading at your own risk.

If you’ve been following us through the last week, which was appropriately titled Gatsby Week, you’ll know that I’ve really been anticipating the release of The Great Gatsby movie. I was definitely glad that I went to see it on the big screen and that I paid a little extra to see the 3D version; if there is any way to describe this film, it’s to say that it is definitely grand and glamorous. There’s lots of bling, sparkle, and glint to catch your eye and allow for a pleasant viewing experience. I thought this was great as I’ve always associated the Jazz Age with over-the-top glitz and glamour and this definitely came across in the on-screen version.

Another thing that I truly enjoyed about this silver screen adaptation was the accuracy. Much of the dialogue seems to have come straight from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous novel and the characters were very precise according to Fitzgerald’s own descriptions. I particularly liked how Joel Edgerton brought to life the dangerous strength of character Tom Buchanan and Carey Mulligan lent a vain and transparent air to the flighty and conflicted Daisy Buchanan. I wasn’t particularly happy with Leonardo DiCaprio’s depiction of Jay Gatsby – I didn’t feel that overwhelming passion and sense of control that I always associated with Gatsby’s character in the book – but at the same time it’s hard to imagine anyone truly being able to capture this complicated protagonist.

Now to the things I didn’t like about this film. With a staggering length of 143 minutes, the movie may feel a bit draggy to some. I found myself completely lost in the story and didn’t notice the passage of time, but this is mainly because I absolutely love this classic tale, so for others who are perhaps less excited by The Great Gatsby, length may be a problem.

Another aspect of the film that I couldn’t quite appreciate was the interjection of contemporary music into the story at different intervals. Playing a Jay-Z song at a 1920s party just created a conflict for me; it seemed that the director was trying too hard to make the era and the story appeal to the contemporary viewer, but in my opinion this wasn’t necessary. The 1920s were crazy enough and exciting enough without having to infuse unnecessary music from our current age. And music from the Jazz Age is amazing so it’s beyond me why the focus wouldn’t be on works from this same time period.

Overall, watching this movie was enjoyable and completely worth paying the extra buck to see in 3D. It’s both a visually stimulating experience and an emotional ride as you get drawn into the story. If I have to give The Great Gatsby a rating, I’d say it gets three and a half out of five stars. Kudos to the director for making a film that’s accurate to the novel even if the music wasn’t. If you are a fan of Fitzgerald’s book, this is definitely worth seeing. And if you’ve already seen it, we’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions about it as well!

To finish off Gatsby Week, and to celebrate Favorite Quote Friday, let’s enjoy a quote from The Great Gatsby, featured appropriately (and sweetly) on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s and his wife Zelda’s tombs.

Today, we are going to deviate a bit from Gatsby Week in favor of some good, hearty comedy. How would you like to give some of your favorite novels a friendly shot of clever humor? Apparently artist Kate Beaton does just that! With a combination of droll charm and hyper-active wit, Kate will infuse comedy into even the most serious works through her varied comics and drawings. Want to get a good chuckle out of Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, laugh at the interactions of authors H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, or see a whole new side to Jane Austen? Take a look at the following comics:

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Wells and Verne

Jane Austen

I admit these managed to extract more than one giggle on my part. Enjoy! J

This got me thinking not only about iconic book covers, but also about any type of artwork which strives to capture the essence of a particular story. I think we’ve done a great job with our own The Great Gatsby art print and have captured well the angst and longing of the one-sided relationship between Gatsby and Daisy. There are also several posters for the new Gatsby film which have caught my attention. So I’ve posted the original The Great Gatsby book cover, one of my favorite posters for the film, and our own Gatsby poster print below. We’d love to hear your thoughts on these! What do you think about each portrayal? Do you feel they adequately capture the spirit of this book? Do you have any favorites that are not included below?

We would love to hear your thoughts on which depictions of The Great Gatsby are your favorites and why. And to get your creative juices flowing, you can take a look at three completely different interpretations of this book. Enjoy! :)

This is the well-known book cover art created by Francis Cugat!

One of my favorite The Great Gatsby film posters! Why? The eyes of Dr. TJ Eckleberg in the background give this depiction a more than eerie feel.

And last (but hopefully not least), our own poster image. I particularly love how the sparkling and alluring East Egg seems to be calling out to the the enamored Gatsby!

This week is Gatsby Week! I’m truly looking forward to seeing F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby hit the silver screen this Friday in a film rendition starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the mysterious Jay Gatsby. So, for Literary Tidbit Tuesday we’ll be celebrating this great book with some fun facts.

1. The Great Gatsby was listed as one of the 100 Greatest Novels of All Time by Time.com. Wow!
2. Despite being set in the USA, Fitzgerald wrote most of the novel while in France.
3. Fitzgerald’s wife Zelda was originally uninterested in marrying him because of his rather poor financial situation. It’s believed that the relationship between Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan is a reflection of their relationship. It would appear that The Great Gatsby is a fusion of reality and fiction!

I encourage you to pick up Fitzgerald’s book and read it in preparation for this weekend. I, for one, definitely plan on brushing up on The Great Gatsby prior to going to see the film.