I love The Great Gatsby, the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, set in the roaring twenties about the enigmatic Jay Gatsby. I’ve read it several times and since it came in public domain in 2021, I’ve found new ways to consume it. I had previously read it as a paper book a very long time ago, an e-book on Kindle a few years ago, and as an audio book on Audible (narrated by Jake Gaylenhall, who I consider to be overrated, but that’s a different post). In 2021, I heard it again as read by the hosts of Planet Money on their podcast. Late last year I happened to notice a beautiful new edition at Indigo, a popular Canadian bookstore that my kids adore. This beautiful new edition is what I ended up reading at the beginning of this year. It had a beautiful jacket featuring the green light on the end of the dock at Daisy’s house in East Egg, visible from Gatsby's mansion across the bay in West Egg.

The book also features many key quotes framed over beautiful haunting artwork.

Speaking of quotes, the description of Tom and Daisy as careless people has been overly influential in my life.

And speaking of Gatsby’s continued influence, Logan’s damning rebuke of his kids as “unserious people” in the 2nd episode in the last season of the hit HBO drama “Succession” felt heavily inspired by the same sensibility from Gatsby.

The exhausting despair of dealing with people who don’t really care to be serious about what you’d think they’d be serious about.

For the last several years, I’ve combined my notes on all books I read in a year in single posts. This year I am going back to writing a post per book. Hope to keep it up!