A Moveable Feast, by Ernest Hemingway

Stud.

I originally purchased this book immediately after watching Midnight in Paris in a theater by myself while my sister and my father were watching one of the Transformers movies a few blocks over. I was delighted to see it in this list, because I own a couple of Hemingway books that I have yet to read, and this is a good way to force me into it. AMF (no, not the drink adios motherfucker) is more of a memoir type book about Hemingway's time in France. It was published posthumously and this particular edition has a TON of background information in the foreward, as well as pictures of the handwritten/typed copies by Hemingway. It's also split into sections where the entries are done, as well as a fragments section. I feel a little wary about reading books posthumously by established authors, because it seems very undone and intrusive. However, going into this knowing Hemingway hated it and I agreed with him, gave me peace of mind. Let's get into it!

I didn't give a shit about shadows in the lighting, apparently.

I know a bit about Ernest Hemingway due to a research paper I did on him in my honors English class in high school. I think we had a list of authors and for some reason I was drawn to his name and, even though he had the tendency to be a bit misogynistic at times, I find myself still drawn to him. I think it's because we have such opposite writing styles - I like to throw in parenthetical phrases constantly and over-describe unimportant things - but he's also kind of fascinating. He has such a unique view on people and seems to get to the heart of their personalities. In this book he has set aside sections about Gertrude Stein, Scott Fitzgerald, and many others who spent time with him in Paris. He talks about his first trip with Fitzgerald, which was hysterically awful. He also talks about his first wife, Hadley, and all of the weird run-ins that he had at cafes while in Paris.

Fun fact: this cover has an almost nail file feel to it.

If all you know of Ernest Hemingway is that he once lived in Key West and had a bunch of cats, this is a really unique view into his 20s and overall younger self, while he was still struggling to make a name for himself as an author. Sure, he's full of himself and potentially drinks too much. (Well. He does.) But if you love the era, or the group of expatriate writers he surrounded himself with at the time, this is a great read and insight into the mind of a young Hemingway. I definitely recommend it.

NOTES IN THE MARGINZ FACTS

Book number: 6

Books left: 333

Amount of time taken to read: 2 weeks and 3 days (wtf)

Books by Ernest Hemingway for NiTM: 4 (or, 3 books, 1 short story)

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