The Annotated Great Gatsby - 100th Anniversary Deluxe Edition

 

The Annotated Great Gatsby - 100th Anniversary Deluxe Edition

I couldn't resist this gorgeous book. It's the original story, commentary, and almost a textbook, all in one. Okay, textbook might not sound appealing, and I don't really mean it that way. But there's so much information to help put the story and the writing process in context.

There's so much in this book that I haven't even made it all the way through yet, but check out the details from Penguin Random House:

• A new introduction by Amor Towles, bestselling author of Rules of Civility and A Gentleman in Moscow
• A corrected text of Gatsby based on Fitzgerald’s composite manuscript, working galleys, and personal copies 

• Restored American spellings and emendations made by Fitzgerald throughout the book’s life 
• 13 annotated letters between Fitzgerald and Gatsby’s star editor Maxwell Perkins 
• A detailed chronology of Fitzgerald’s life and career, plus extensive explanatory and textual notes 

Here's just a sample of the page layouts, with the original text there to read, but also sidebars about F. Scott himself or details about that time, things he mentioned in the book, etc.

I think this is a must-have for any Gatsby fan, or anyone who loves history, or anyone who loves reading classics and putting them in context. Above all, it's also a gorgeous book.

I Need You to Read This by Jessa Maxwell

I Need You to Read This by Jessa Maxwell

Alex Marks moves to New York City hoping for a fresh start—just a quiet life with her copywriting job. But when she hears about the murder of her childhood hero, Francis Keen, everything changes. Keen wasn’t just any journalist; she was the beloved voice behind Dear Constance, a famous advice column. Her death shocks everyone, but the killer was never caught.

On a whim, Alex applies to take over the column, never thinking she’ll actually land the job. But once she does, strange letters start showing up at the office, making her wonder—why hasn’t the murderer been found? And could her new boss, the powerful editor-in-chief Howard Dimitri, have something to do with it?

As Alex digs deeper, she realizes she’s not just uncovering Keen’s secrets—she’s stirring up ghosts from her own past. And the closer she gets to the truth, the more dangerous things become. Can she solve the mystery before she ends up just like Francis Keen?

I loved the premise of this book. It felt almost comfortable and literary at first, before unsettling things came into play. One slight pet peeve was that I felt like Lucy was too obvious - not who she was necessarily, but how she fit in. I think that reveal came a bit too early and was too heavy-handed. 

Overall the book was a page-turner and I wasn’t sure who did what until the end.