The Twenties by Edmund Wilson, one of Fitzgerald's friends at Princeton University and his entire life, is an interesting introduction to the decade and to the many cultural figures in America at that time. Another book by Wilson that chronicles the Twenties and Thirties is The Shores of Light, 1952. Personal impressions, sketches, letters, satires, and pieces on the classics of American literature are included in this book.

Heart of Darkness (1899) by Joseph Conrad was a literary favorite of Fitzgerald, who used the Polish author's narrative technique in The Great Gatsby. The short novel is the story of the civilized Mr. Kurtz, who travels to the savage heart of Africa, only to find his evil soul.

Citizen Kane, Orson Welles's legendary 1941 film, is about a mogul who acquires tremendous financial success but finds that the true source of his happiness is a childhood memory of “Rosebud.” Once again, the true values of gains and losses are examined in this well-known classic.

Six Tales of the Jazz Age and Other Stones F. Scott Fitzgerald 1922. This is the author's second collection of short stories, the most notable of which is “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz.” The recurrent theme of fantasy and winning the top girl and financial success is central to this and other stories.

Great Expectations (1861) by Charles Dickens tells of a grim childhood and an orphan's encounter with wealth and lost love in England during the Victorian era. In its realistic mode, one can find a number of differences between this story and Fitzgerald's, yet striking similarities as well, in regard to dreams and human relationships.