Text: Jay Gatz, Holly Golightly and Elliot Templeton

The night before I listened to the Book Show for the first time in my life, I had actually placed The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald on my desk to read.

I had just learnt that The Great Gatsby is a book that every man should read as it poses questions like what good is it having lots of friends if they desert you when you need them most? and when do you discover who your real friends are?

Then suddenly, as if by magic, the Book Show podcast (15 May) I downloaded discussed the very same book by talking to the director of Gatz, and the actor who played Nick in Gatz - a complete and unabridged theatrical production of the entire book, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Amazed and excited that the book only took six and a half hours to read, I got into reading it as soon as I could. I thought about going to see the production if I could read the book in time.

This classic literary gem from 1925 arrived in my life at a time when I had recently deserted my 750-strong facebook friends to focus on my own interests, rather than being bemused/annoyed/frustrated/fascinated by the interests and activities of my facebook friends, without actually spending time improving myself as a person.

I read it with a week, on the bus to and from work and uni. I read it voraciously. This then led me to read another classic - Breakfast at Tiffany's by
Truman Capote. Now I'm reading The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham.

The running theme? All classic romantic novels.

The ironic thing is that when I returned to facebook a month later more or less, I was a little uncertain of my own voice for about a week. I finally regained complete confidence and can update my friends on my opinions, successes at uni and the funnier side of life that take my fancy. Being self-consious has such an odd way of manifesting itself.

The Great Gatsby posed all manner of questions. One little gripe I have with some 'modern' writing is its over-wordiness and the lack of depth. The depth to Gatsby comes as its based on a psychological theory about how people have alter-egos. A theory which seemed to occur again with Holly Golightly's character in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Another question that I must ask is Are there any recently written novels that use the technique of having an objective first person narrator whose prose allows for the reader to engage in the emotions that the characters feel while allowing them to watch from the sidelines? (a la the objective reporting from Nick in the GG). I noticed this same technique in Breakfast at Tiffany's and again this is popping up in W. Somerset Maugham's The Razor's Edge.

Looking forward to discussion below.

Also thank you to the Book Show for such an engaging interview. It's had a Domino Effect on my personal life and given me fresh enjoyment of reading. Does it ever happen to anyone that you go through reading phases? I'm so pleased to be back!