The Short Stories Book

So different from Gatsby and This Side of Paradise, but exceedingly clever and often funny. Of course, this is where Fitzgerald made his money, so the stories tend to lean more toward entertainment than does his "serious" work. There's even a film based on "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. If kids were forced to read that and "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz", perhaps more people would be Fitzgerald fans. Or perhaps not.

So as I continue to read, more and more stories echo or foreshadow The Great Gatsby, which I suppose is not much of a surprise. This does not make them bad. The more I read, the more I feel like Scott and I would have been friends, if, you know, I had money and went to Princeton and lived the high life during the Jazz Age.

Favorite line from a short story so far (from "The Sensible Thing"): "Well, let it pass, he thought; April is over, April is over. There are all kinds of love in the world, but never the same love twice."