Join us to discuss This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Considered scandalous (and brilliant) when it was published in 1920, This Side of Paradise describes the intellectual, spiritual, and sexual education of young Amory Blaine in the tumultuous America of the early twentieth century. Highly sophisticated yet hopelessly romantic, Amory flounders from prep school to Princeton to glittering Jazz Age New York, confident that he is destined for greatness but unsure how to go about it. Fitzgerald’s razor-sharp re-creation of a defiant, disillusioned generation “grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken” makes This Side of Paradise a timeless autobiographical novel of youth and alienation. It moves from tenderness to cynicism to hope with the grace and power that make Fitzgerald one of the greatest of American writers. (From the publisher)
Copies of the book are available here. Ebook copies are available through Digital Library of Illinois or the Libby app. Both ebook and eaudiobook copies are always available through Hoopla.
For those who would like to purchase a copy of This Side of Paradise, please support our local independent bookstore, The Book Stall at 811 Elm Street in Winnetka. Copies may also be available at Books Down Under on the Lower Level of the library. Proceeds benefit the Friends of the Wilmette Public Library.
From the south: Go north on Green Bay Road. Turn left on Wilmette Ave. Turn right on Park Ave. Library is located on the corner of Wilmette Ave. and Park Ave. Parking lot is on the north side of the building.
From the north: Go south on Green Bay Road. Turn right on Wilmette Ave. Turn right on Park Ave. Library is located on the corner of Wilmette Ave. and Park Ave. Parking lot is on the north side of the building.
From I-94 (Edens Expressway):from the South - exit at Lake Ave. East. Go east on Lake Ave. a little over 2 miles. Turn right on Park Ave. • from the North - exit at Rt. 41/Skokie Blvd. Turn left (east) on Lake Ave. Go east on Lake Ave. a little over 2 miles. Turn right on Park Ave.
Mass transit options include CTA, Metra, and Pace.
