Day 46
Tender is the Night (original version) - pages 7-30 (24 pages)
Total - 47 pages
Total - 4 books 211 pages
Result - 1 book 191 pages to reach goal
I finished Leaves of Grass! Woohoo! It actually ends with an essay by Whitman, then at the end there were a very few notes by Whitman, and a short biography by someone else, and, oddly, a small glossary hidden that was never mentioned so I never used. What's extra odd about it is that it's small and Whitman uses SO many odd and different words that need defined, yet this little hidden glossary just chooses a random few. Although, I wish I'd known before that "eidolons" means "phantoms". Googling led me to believe that the best guess was that it was something like "ideas" or "idols".
I can easily say that the Bantam version of Leaves is just terrible all around. Badly formatted, made my reader terribly slow, it said it had notes and it didn't, a little hidden glossary, and I could go on and on. Just no care at all put into it. But, most versions sold are the original, so at least Bantam has the deathbed version.
I will now eventually post a review on Leaves. I loved it, but it was a LOT of poetry to read! The review might not be right away...I still need to post reviews on the weekly films I've seen! With time though, my first priority is reading more and catching up to my goal more than writing reviews, so we'll see.
I also started Tender is the Night, and I swear, am I just reading all the books that have different versions? Don't most books just have one single version? But after the many translations of the Iliad, and the many different versions of Leaves that Whitman put out, now I find out that there are two versions of Tender is the Night. UGH!!! Why, why, why? A novel with two versions? Ridiculous. I just want to now read something where my daily updates don't include "x version".
Apparently, there's an original versions with flashbacks and a revised version published posthumously that takes out the flashbacks and puts everything in chronological order. And it's worse that someone else did the revised edition, but apparently Fitzgerald had wanted it and so the other person was working off Fitzgerald's wishes. I just want an author who writes a dang book and then leaves it alone!!!
Well, I want to read the original version. Unluckily, when you look at options, the books never specify which version you're getting! Luckily in the mobileread forum, some others have helped a bit. They're not sure either, but we've found an online version that *apparently* *should* be the original version, and I've compared it to the first lines of book 2 (where the revisions apparently start) and they're the same, so I'm *hoping* I have the original but still really don't know. They say book 2 starts with a flashback in the original but not in the revised, but of course I'm not going to start reading book 2 to find out until I finish book 1. Why are these things so difficult? It really is annoying, especially mixed in with all the reader problems I'm having lately. I just want something simple!!!
Anyway, as far as the reading, as suspected, it is SO much easier reading this than Leaves of Grass or the Iliad. I just felt like my eyes were floating through the pages comparatively and I hope the feeling remains. What's funny is that some people in the mobileread forum are complaining that Tender is a difficult read, but of course after my last two reads I'm finding it very easy so far.
I love the setting, the French Riviera around 1925, in the middle of summer which is a "dead" season for the area. A hotel and the rich people staying there, so far. Fitzgerald's writing is quirky and sometimes disjointed I feel with dialogue, but his descriptions can be beautiful and enchanting. Of course, I'm just beginning. I've read The Great Gatsby before but it was awhile ago. I loved it but don't remember the style right off the top of my head, but reading this does remind me of it.
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