Favorite Quote Friday: Celebrating “The Great Gatsby”!

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.

Fun Literary Comics by Kate Beaton!

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

Re-Discovering Gatsby Through Art

Yesterday, we received an interesting comment on our “Literary Tidbit Tuesday: Fun Facts About The Great Gatsby” blog post; one of our readers pointed out how iconic the book cover of this particular novel is. Not only has it been considered as one of the most iconic covers on practically any list ever made, but it is so popular that it is instantly recognizable to almost anyone.

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!

Literary Tidbit Tuesday: Fun Facts About The Great 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.

Favorite Quote Friday: Learning to Write from Ernest Hemingway

Since I spent the day with Ernest Hemingway yesterday using Hemingway Hijacker, I’ve been inspired to feature one of his quotes for our Favorite Quote Friday this week. Enjoy!