Mine is F. Scott Fitzgerald's THE GREAT GATSBY. I'm reading it right now and the language, the dialogue, the everything just excites me so much. I read one perfect sentence after another and I just get so lost in its perfection. It is THE perfect novel for me. I'm sure we all have one. I have tons of favourites...but as a writer, this is the one I use for a yardstick against all others, including my own. WHAT IS YOUR PERFECT 'IT' NOVEL?
As a bit of an aside, but still slightly on topic - Here's a little homage I once wrote to Fitz...it has a line from Gatsby in it...my all-time favourite line from anything I've ever read.
Fitzgerald and His Two Young Women
And I will dig up his grave,
and wonder at the box
in which he is kept.
And I will adorn
myself with his bones,
wear them like a coat
enshrouding
my fragile body.
And if he be but dust
I will swallow
in handfuls
to have him inside me.
And all for the sake
of an image
he wrote,
will I suffer
the height
of my madness.
“and the curtains
and the rugs
and the two young women
ballooned
slowly
to the floor”.
And for that
I will adorn myself
with his bones,
wear them like a coat,
Wrap myself in wonder
and partake of his dust.
I'd love to hear about the novel you measure all others against. I'm looking for something new to read and if somebody has a book like I have Gatsby...it has to give something to the writer inside...please share.
As a bit of an aside, but still slightly on topic - Here's a little homage I once wrote to Fitz...it has a line from Gatsby in it...my all-time favourite line from anything I've ever read.
Fitzgerald and His Two Young Women
And I will dig up his grave,
and wonder at the box
in which he is kept.
And I will adorn
myself with his bones,
wear them like a coat
enshrouding
my fragile body.
And if he be but dust
I will swallow
in handfuls
to have him inside me.
And all for the sake
of an image
he wrote,
will I suffer
the height
of my madness.
“and the curtains
and the rugs
and the two young women
ballooned
slowly
to the floor”.
And for that
I will adorn myself
with his bones,
wear them like a coat,
Wrap myself in wonder
and partake of his dust.
I'd love to hear about the novel you measure all others against. I'm looking for something new to read and if somebody has a book like I have Gatsby...it has to give something to the writer inside...please share.
