Wednesday, January 19, 2011

wordless wednesday #2

One of my very best friends just got back from Paris (where she got engaged!) and, in true Darcey fashion, brought back with her the most thoughtful gift for me. (She's the absolute best at unique and personal gifts. It's unreal how she truly nails it every time.) Well, she did it again! This time she bought me a new, uniquely hard-covered version of The Great Gatsby, one of my top 5 favorite books of all time. I can't tell you how excited I am to replace my current version, a paperback back from when I was required to read it in high-school, with this fancy new one, deserving of all the love and appreciation I have for the story.

And so, in honor of Darcey (and my newest favorite book on my shelf), my second Wordless Wednesday is dedicated to my absolute favorite quote from The Great Gatsby (and probably the reason I adore the book so much) ...

He smiled understandingly - much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced - or seemed to face - the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrate on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you like to believe in yourself and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.


I'm not sure I've ever come across another piece of writing that so beautifully captures a moment and a feeling the way that Mr. Fitzgerald does above.
It gives me chills (the good kind) every time I read it.

Oh, to be able to write like that...

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