Lost Generation discussion

Hey Guys,

I'm new here so hopefully i'm putting this in maybe the right place. Basically, my band is going on tour and I want to amass a small library of 20-40 books to bring with me to read. As of late i've been very interested in The Roaring 20's/The Jazz Age/The Lost Generation. F. Scott Fitzgerald has become my favorite author. So, I'm looking for some suggestions as to what to purchase and bring with me.

These are the books I've read in this vein and loved:
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
This Side Of Paradise - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Tender Is The Night - F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
A Moveable Feast - Ernest Hemingway

Here are the books I've already started acquiring for my tour reading list:
The Green Hat - Michael Arlen
Vile Bodies - Evelyn Waugh
The Beautiful and Damned - F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Love of the Last Tycoon - F. Scott Fitzgerald
For Whom The Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway
A Farewell To Arms - Ernest Hemingway
Expatriate Paries - Arlen J. Hansen
Various Hemingway and Fitzgerald Short story collections

So what suggestions do you guys have? I'd like to bring more fiction with me than nonfiction, but still would appreciate a semi-even mix of the two. I'm fascinated with the high life cutler of the 20s. Also, I do like some romance in books. Not "mushy-gushy" romance novels. This Side Of Paradise and Tender Is The Night both had great (even if doomed) love stories in them. I think you guys know what I mean. Can't wait to hear your suggestions! Thanks!

Try Zelda by Nancy Milford-excellent biography. Green Hills of Africa by Hemingway and anything by Alice B. Toklas. You can't go wrong with any short stories by Fitzgerald, such as Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Bernice Bobs Her Hair or the Hemingway novel A Moveable Feast or The Old Man and the Sea or the short story Hills Like White Elephants.

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain is historical fiction about Hemingway and his first wife's first few years in 1920s Paris when he was just getting started in the literary game.

The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell is all jazz/crime/drinking in 1920s New York.

Some non-fiction suggestions that I've actually read are Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy: A Lost Generation Love Story which is about a fancy couple in the 20s that were friends with all the famous writers/poets/artists of the time.

Hemingway: The Paris Years - well the title is self-explanatory.

And finally Scott Fitzgerald: A Biography is a great read about Fitzgerald's life.

Here's a few other titles you should look into: Selected poems by William Carlos Williams (wonderful poetry) or Imaginations by him; Tender Buttons by Gertrude Stein; The Wasteland by T.S. Eliot (great poem, his poetry is amazing);Across the River and Through the Trees, To Have and Have Not, and Snows of Kilimanjaro by Hemingway; Babylon Revisited and other stories by Fitzgerald, along with Dearest Scott, Dearest Zelda: Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and Tales of the Jazz Age, by Fitzgerald as well; Ezra Pound Reads or the Cantos (excellent poetry) by Ezra Pound; and Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy, A Lost Generation Love Story by Amanda Vaill. Hope that keeps you busy.

Thanks guys! Gerald Murphy is one of my favorite artists but i didn't know anything about him personally so i'm going to have to read that one. The Fitzgerald love letters look interesting as well. I have pretty much everything Scott Fitzgerald ever wrote (fiction wise). And I have a lot of Hemingway. I've read A Moveable feast and was blown away by it. It's some of Hemingway's best writing in my opinion.

I'm slightly off-put by modern books trying to recreate the 20's. Is this a rational fear? Or, are those types of books still good? I also have the same fear about historical fiction based on real people. Why should I read a fictionalized version of Hadley or Zelda when I could just read bios on them and their respective husbands?

I get what you're saying about historical fiction. However, Zelda is a great traditional biography that you would really like. Also, another writer generally included in the "The Lost Generation," but who isn't part of the list of usual suspects, like Hemingway and Fitzgerald, is Ford Madox Ford. He was a brilliant British writer and is usually included in the Lost Generation genre. I suggest his novel, "The Good Soldier." It's definitely not a feel-good read, but it certainly isn't a sappy romance by any means. I read it in college and you'll probably enjoy it. Also, Joyce is sometimes categorized into Lost Generation writers, so how about Dubliners? By the way, I agree that A Moveable Feast is excellent- probably Hemingway's best work, other than The Sun Also Rises. Best of luck with your reading list!

Also, I previously mentioned that you might like some of the works of Alice B. Toklas and you might be inclined to check out Murder in the Kitchen or Staying on Alone: The Letters of Alice B. Toklas. Enjoy!

I am not sure if you are still looking for books, but I would suggest The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald: A New Collection

It is the best collection of his short stories that I have found.

How about Anais Nin's diaries? She lived in Paris and New York in the earlier part of the 20thC. Hung around with psychoanalysts and writers, had affair with Henry Miller etc.

I may be too late, but what about Memoirs of Montparnasse? John Glassco moved from Montreal, Canada, to Paris in the twenties and went to parties with Hemingway and Joyce and all of them. I don't know what people here think of it, but I enjoyed it.

Memoirs of Montparnasse is really an excellent choice. I read it a few years back and highly recommend it

How about Sylvia beach and the lost generation?

Right now I'm reading . This is a great introduction to all the Major players in the expat group in France during the 20's. The Murphy's knew everyone who was anyone and hosted all of them at their Villa America in Antibes, South of France. It's got it all and I highly recommend it