This Side of Paradise

I come back to this seminal book by F. Scott Fitzgerald every few years and am always shocked at how relevant it feels at various stages of my life, despite it chronicling the life of a young Princeton graduate in the 1920s.

Delectably written but tight in scope, This Side of Paradise captures the anxieties and glamour of 20s New York in classic Fitzgerald style: come for the tortured protagonist Amory Blaine, stay for some of the best Fitzgeraldian female characters you won't be able to stop thinking about.