Discussion Questions for The Great Gatsby

Posted by on January 6, 2013

The Big Reads aims to have the whole community reading and talking about The Great Gatsby. Read through discussion questions for your book club’s discussion, or ponder your own answers to these questions while you are reading along with fellow community members.

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About The Big Read

Posted by on January 3, 2013

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The community is invited to experience the Roaring Twenties by reading the “Great American Novel” The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald as part of The Big Read. Learn more about this community reading initiative.

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Wonderstruck: The Big Read Book for Kids

Posted by on January 3, 2013

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Acquaint yourselves with The Big Read book for kids. Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick is set in the 1920s – just like The Great Gatsby – and it’s a journey of two lost children whose stories collide as they search for a place to belong. See if your child will be struck by the story. Synopsis inside.

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The Great Gatsby Movie Review

Posted by on January 2, 2013

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Eric Melin, film critic for Kansas First News, is critical of the 1974 version of The Great Gatsby. Read and leave your comment about this or other adaptations of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel. Melin teases us with a few facts about the new Gatsby film coming out in May.

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Roaring into the ’20s Classic Car Show

Posted by on January 1, 2013

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Check out some fancy rides and judge for yourself whether Jay Gatsby would have driven them. (He was a Rolls-Royce kind of guy.) The Big Read presents The Great Gatsby Roaring in 1920s Classic Car Show Saturday, February 2 | 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM | Fairlawn Plaza Mall Browse through classic cars of the [...]

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The Rules of Civility brings New York to life

Posted by on December 12, 2012

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This debut novel from Amor Towles, a Manhattan investment banker, draws comparisons to The Great Gatsby and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The story begins on New Year’s Eve 1937 when Katey Kontent and her friend Eve Ross meet the wealthy Tinker Grey at a low-rent bar in New York City.

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The Stars Come Out In February for The Big Read

Posted by on December 4, 2012

This February, the library is celebrating the 1920s as we unite in reading The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald for The Big Read 2013, a community reading initiative. Choose from around 30 events that capture the essence of the book and are geared toward readers and nonreaders alike. Catch star performances by Angela Hagenbach [...]

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Knit or Crochet a 20s-style Cloche

Posted by on November 26, 2012

Try out a style of the 1920s. Learn how to knit or crochet a Cloche hat. Be fashionably dressed for The Big Read in February when we read and discuss The Great Gatsby. Knit or crochet one of these hats based on styles that have started showing up in stores. Why spend the money when [...]

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8 Reasons Why Reading Matters

Posted by on November 1, 2012

The Big Read is a big deal. It is an effort to encourage our community to be productive, civic-ly active and healthy. Good readers make that happen. Since 2003, your library has offered a community reading experience that helps combat the decline of civic, social, cultural and economic implications that occur when people spend less [...]

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Read and Celebrate The Great Gatsby during The Big Read

Posted by on July 10, 2012

The Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library today announced that it has received a grant of $12,800 to host The Big Read in Shawnee County. The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The Big Read is managed by [...]

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