The Great Gatsby
By F. Scott Fitzgerald

I first read this book when I was still a kid -- either in junior high or high school, and I don't remember caring too much for it, and feeling impatient to ge to the end. We read it again for our book club, and I'm very glad we did, because although I remembered the basics of the story, I didn't remember how beautifully written it was. I'd say now it makes my list of favorite books. I don't think it's a book that young people can relate to easily, so I didn't really understand it the first time. It's only after you experience intimate personal relationships -- love, betrayal, disappointment, and the indifference of someone you thought cared for you -- that you recognize what the characters are saying and feeling, and that's when the story comes alive. Like youth, Gatsby is wasted on the young.