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I finished The Great Gatsby a couple of days ago. It was assigned reading years ago, and at the time I also lacked the reading sophistication to understand it. For example: early on in the book the author mentions an optician's yard-high glasses. I didn't grasp then that it was an oblique method of describing a prominent billboard. It also didn't further my understanding of the novel that I was surreptitiously reading Dick Francis mysteries in class.
Second time around (or should I say first?) I can see why this novel is called a classic. Its plot is somewhat predictable but it has many pleasing turns of phrase and a lingering elegiac tone.
I've just started Susanna Kearsley's Rose Garden.
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