Jazz Age June Wrap Up

I'm glad Laurie and I have decided to host #JazzAgeJune. I've had a lot of fun for the first time during the Covid-19 pandemic. And this event has become the quiet readalong we've been planning from the first. Here's a wrap up of my activities during #JazzAgeJune:

BOOKS

This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

This book is like a compilation of incoherent snatches of the protagonist's daily life in his journey to adulthood. It's a semi-biographical story of Fitzgerald himself. The style is jumping from prose to poems, to dramatically dialogue, to letters. The reading effect is... confusing, but at the same time, strangely enough, amusing and entertaining. This Side of Paradise is Fitzgerald first novel, published on 1920, and it's a pleasure to have read it in its 100th anniversary!

The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

This is a tale of a stuffed rabbit toy with velvet skin a boy has got as Christmas present. It's a sweet story about love and sacrifice, which was published in 1922.


MOVIE

My original plan was to rewatch at least three movies, but ended with only one:

Midnight in Paris

I think Midnight in Paris would be one movie that I'd rewatch every year without ever feeling bored. It has everything I love: Paris, the Jazz age, and (a glimpse of) the Belle Epoque. Is there any other film where you can meet the Fitzgeralds, Hemingway, Cole Porter, Gertrude Stein, Picasso, Dali, Josephine Baker - all the prominent figures of the Jazz Age - and at the same time: Gauguin, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec - the Impressionists of the Belle Epoque - in one place? It's a shame though that we see no Zola, Cezanne, or Manet! I would have watched it every month!

I actually own a DVD of Chicago, and have intended to rewatch it, but instead, I've been having a father-daughter quality time by binge-watching Harry Potter movies (another pleasant moments, though not of Jazz Age theme!)


MUSIC

I've bookmarked some 1920s jazz musics on my youtube, and listening to it while reading This Side of Paradise added the joy of the reading. I also loved nearly all OST of Midnight on Paris. The Chareston, in particular, is a perfect music to listen to whenever I get my depression.


Well, I've had so much fun last month, that I'm thinking about doing another #JazzAgeJune next year, how do you think Laurie? :) And now I must close this post with a bunch of thanks to my co-host: Laurie, for letting me work with her in this refreshing event!

Jazz Age June: A Reading Event

2020 is the 100th anniversary of the publication of The Great Gatsby, which, in Literature, is the epitome of The Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties. Early this year Laurie and I have discussed about the possibility of hosting a reading event, but then the pandemic came, and I, for one, have been struggling with reading and blogging. Nevertheless, we thought it would be an exciting distraction to our present condition, and so we decided to - borrowing Cole Porter's song - Let's Do It!

#JazzAgeJune
01-30 June 2020

It's very simple; just READ any book published between 1920 to 1929.

Blog your reading, add link to your post in Laurie's blog, and share it in social media with hashtag #JazzAgeJune.

You can also accompany your reading by discussing 1920s musics, movies, arts, fashion, or just anything related to the Jazz Age.

Easy and fun, right?

Don't know where to start? Just check on Laurie's post for more reading ideas. 

I will be reading Fitzgerald's Flappers and Philosiphers, and maybe.. This Side of Paradise.