This afternoon I saw the preview for The Great Gatsby. My son witnessed my excitement and watched me text my sister. Running, he followed me in to my bookshelf to find my copy of the Fitzgerald classic with all the underlined sections and circled words with the definitions scribbled beside them. On page 46 of the paperback is where I learned that "bona-fide" means genuine. Feeding off my excitement, my son asked if he could read it too. He is five. I explained to him how I first read this book in high school and fell in love with the story. How I often refer to Gatsby in conversations and think of the character more often than that. Gatsby's life and especially his end is so tragic. He essentially dies in the pursuit of wealth that he never truly enjoyed, to impress and a woman who would never truly be his. I didn't say all that to my son though. I explained to him how it feels to read a book and to see it in your head so clearly that when you see it with your eyes, like I did on the Gatsby preview, you know it instantly. I looked up from where I was standing in the kitchen and knew those images were Gatsby before I even knew what the trailer was for. My son was so excited that he asked me if there was a movie for How to Eat Fried Worms
. We're reading my old copy from childhood now. After a quick IMBD search on my iPhone, I answered yes. He said, "I cannot WAIT to SEE IT!"
Questions:
- How much do I love that I'm passing on my enthusiasm for reading on to my son?
- How much do I love that Leonardo DiCaprio is Jay Gatsby?
- How much do I love that Jay Z is producing the soundtrack?
- Does Jay Z see any similarities between himself and Mr. Gatsby? Rags to some-would-say-shadily gained new-riches? Lavish parties? King of New York? Entertaining the people and whatnot?
- Am I the only one who even cares about the irony of him being involved with the project?
- How much do I love that Beyonce and Andree 3000 have collaborated again and the new song is on this movie soundtrack?
- How much do I love that Baz Lurhman is the director?
Answers to all of the above:
- smh
I haven't been this excited about a beautiful book to film since Memoirs of a Geisha.
I heart the movies.















