I used to love highlighting my favourite parts and sometimes adding notes. It was so much fun when I’d reread a book to see what younger me thought was so noteworthy. When I met my husband part of what drew us together was that we’re both book lovers. However, he hated that I did this. He likes to buy expensive editions and keep his books in perfect condition. I’ve learned to somewhat do the same. It took awhile for me to get used to not writing in my books but now it’s interestingly something I don’t consider doing at all.

I love that you have such an interest in Fitzgerald. He’s my favourite author. However, most of your comparisons you listed weren’t accurate. Fitzgerald and his wife met at a country club and wrote each other many love letters while he was away in the army. It was Zelda’s parents that had reservations about Fitzgerald not being rich and trying to become an author which they assumed he’d never be successful at. He had two successful novels before writing The Great Gatsby, which was not considered a success for its time. They drank away a lot of their money and Fitzgerald wrote many short stories to keep money coming in. He had a few well known affairs on his wife who later was institutionalized for schizophrenia and died when the hospital had a fire.

I’m also interested to hear OPs connections of Gatsby to Fitzgerald. All I can think of is how F. Scott Fitzgerald had a similar romantic obsession to a former born rich girlfriend (Ginevra King), similar to Jay Gatsby’s fixation with Daisy Buchanan. However, it’s fairly well known that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s inspiration for Jay Gatsby’s character was based on a neighbour (Max Von Gerlach) he and his wife Zelda had while living in Long Island. Apparently Max Avon Gerlach was mysterious and claimed many stories about himself, also had lavish parties, always wore brand new clothing, frequently used the phrase “old sport”, had severed in the military, became rich through bootlegging, and many other similarities to the character Jay Gatsby.