Welcome to READ GATSBY-DISCUSS GATSBY

READ GATSBY-DISCUSS GATSBY is the blog to go to if you are part of The Big Read. In addition to Vigo County, Indiana, the following communities have been selected to participate in The Big Read and have chosen The Great Gatsby as the book they will be reading: Libertyville, IL, Sioux City, IA, Craven, Pamlico and Carteret counties of NC, Newark, OH and Charlottesville, VA. All are invited to post comments and questions on The Great Gatsby and The Big Read on this blog. At READ GATSBY-DISCUSS GATSBY we agree with F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Either you think, or else others have to think for you and take power from you, pervert and discipline your natural tastes, civilize and sterilize you.”

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

READ GATSBY--DISCUSS GATSBY Here


Welcome to READ GATSBY--DISCUSS GATSBY

This online space supports Vigo County’s Big Read program (go here) and many across the country (go here). Read Gatsby–Discuss Gatsby provides a place on the internet for the online discussion of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The Big Read is designed to encourage people to read this great American novel and then discuss Fitzgerald’s deep, thought-provoking look into American society. However you found your way here, you are a reader and you are welcome.

Please pass the word along on Read Gatsby--Discuss Gatsby. The more readers who participate the livelier the discussion and more we all learn.

What READ GATSBY--DISCUSS GATSBY Offers You

Big Read programs in Vigo County for the month of March 2007 are extensive and well worth attending. (Go here for calendar of events and scheduled book discussions.) Recognizing that many readers of The Great Gatsby will not be able to participate in these outstanding programs, Read Gatsby--Discuss Gatsby offers those readers the opportunity to comment and raise questions about the novel on this blog. You can contribute to the discussion right here.

For those of you who do attend scheduled Big Read events, how many times have you walked out of a program or meeting with a buzz in your head, saying to yourself: Why didn’t I say this . . . ? Why didn’t I ask this . . .? Through READ GATSBY--DISCUSS GATSBY, you can ask the questions and make the comments you never quite managed to formulate and contribute at these events. This is your chance to say what you really meant and wanted to say; ask what wasn’t asked and what was needed to be asked.

What
to expect on READ GATSBY--DISCUSS GATSBY

Great books expand our imaginations and deepen our personal experiences–we should all revel in this.

All points of view on every question pertaining to the novel and its author are welcome here. Not everyone will read Gatsby and be bowled over. Lovers of the book need to hear other’s reasons for a luke warm or cold reception to Fitzgerald’s novel. And it is expected (and hoped) that discussions and disagreements will become passionate and heated but always courteous and civil.

I (and guest contributors) will raise questions and post comments on the The Great Gatsby and F. Scott Fitzgerald that you may want to respond to. But the best questions and comments will be yours and the responses they elicit in others. Jump in whenever and as often as you are moved to do so.

Once again, welcome. You’ve read The Great Gatsby, but it’s a good guess that the last page in this book is not really the last page. On Read Gatsby–Discuss Gatsby you can continue the conversation with Gatsby and Fitzgerald that's going on in your mind. And this blog will not be the last page either. Great literature doesn’t allow for easy closure. Let’s just call Read Gatsby–Discuss Gatsby a next page.--Gary W. Daily

*********

[As Jay Gatsby might put it: "OK, sport, here's a brief guide on how to post comments if you're not familiar with blog apparatus." Look for this line on the blog:

0 comments"

To post a question or a comment on
Read Gatsby–Discuss Gatsby you need only click on the term "comments." This will take you to a page that includes a "Leave your comment" box. Type in your ideas and send them off to the community and the rest of the world. If you have questions or a problem, email me at:
gdaily@indstate.edu ]

Why not send your first post now? Here are a few questions you might respond to:

--Are you reading The Great Gatsby for the first time? What are some of your impressions of
the novel?

--Are you re-reading
The Great Gatsby? If you are re-reading this book is it as you remember it? What has changed, what remains unchanged?

--Or, better yet, post your own question or comment.

No comments:

THE BIG READ

My photo
Terre Haute, Indiana, United States
The material I post on this blog represents my views and mine alone. The material you post on this blog represents your views and yours alone.