Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan are two of the most memorable characters in literature. F. Scott Fitzgerald weaves them tragically together in this perfectly plotted masterpiece.

Every scene is unforgettable--so distinct and unique--from the grandest party ever recorded, to the most tense fight ever written, to the most perfectly dark twisted love affair of all time, to the most pathetically sad funeral imaginable.

When people say this is the best book ever written, they're not kidding. It's so good that almost daily I wish I could experience this for the first time again.

What really makes The Great Gatsby unique is that EVERYONE at some point in life wants to be great in just the way that Jay does--for reasons more or less the same. We all have this implicit desire to get the validation from others that we're acceptable, and so at some point most of us turn to wanting to be "great"--but just for the sake of it. Combine that with the fact that all the characters are despicable--but so well written that you can't help but root for them and grow emotionally attached to them--and also how effortlessly the words transport you back in time, and The Great Gatsby truly becomes a one-of-a-kind story.

Then there's the love story in which someone as mystically personable as Jay Gatsby falls for someone as pathetically self-centered and stupid as Daisy Buchanan. It's equal parts realistic, depressing, twisted, and somehow reassuring. We've all fallen for that one person we know there's no reason. This is the greatest case of that ever devised.

How F. Scott Fitzgerald accomplishes all this in such few pages is truly astounding.