Friday Reads is a new weekly feature here on

Cityline.ca, where we give you a behind-the-scenes look at what

Cityline guest experts and staff members are reading. Each week we’ll

put the spotlight on the “Friday Reads” of two of our crew. This week,

we’re taking a peek at the bookshelves of Tracy Moore and Suzanne Gardner.

Tracy Moore, host:

I’m pretty sure I read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald in high school. It wasn’t my intention to ever read it again but Lio (my hubs) who is going through a classics phase right now, wanted to chat about it. I’m one of those annoying people who can read a book in a couple of days – especially when it’s only 180 pages, so I dove in.

Here’s what I missed the first time around…EVERYTHING. Well that’s not exactly true because the title always brought back feelings of sadness and that’s still true but I had no recollection of Fitzgerald’s side-splittingly droll sarcasm. Nor did I remember the stunning imagery or the feeling that the 20’s were really just the playing out of a gansta rap song – drinking, parties, violence, classism and patriarchy. Roaring indeed. How I could forget Fitzgerald’s literary brilliance I just don’t know.

If you have a free weekend re-visit this book. It’ll remind you that people have been running away from their pasts and trying to keep up with the Joneses for ages. It’ll also make you hate the Kardashians less. Seriously, if you think their conspicuous consumption is disgusting in a time when the average young North American can’t afford a house, Jay Gatsby’s over-the-top parties at a time when many North Americans couldn’t afford shoes may force you to let Kim, Kourtney, Kris and Khloe off the hook.

Finally, Gatsby reminds us of the sad fact that the rich can walk away from any mess they’ve created, from broken hearts to broken noses to murder. Even more sad, not much has changed.

Suzanne Gardner, web content coordinator:

Although my reading preferences are greatly varied, from serious literature to girly YA romances, sometimes when I need a break from both extremes, I seek out books that are simply well-written stories. Books that will make me stay up late flipping pages when I meant to go to bed at the end of the chapter. Novels that make me laugh awkwardly on the subway. Stories that make me truly care about their crazy cast of characters. Currently, Terry Fallis’ Up and Down (McClelland & Stewart) is that book for me. I previously read and loved Fallis’ first two books, The Best Laid Plans and its sequel The High Road, and his latest work is just as an entertaining a read.

Told from the point of view of David Stewart, a newbie in the PR world, the novel follows David’s experience working on his first campaign – with none other than NASA as his firm’s client. David and his team need to create a plan to revitalize North America’s interest in the space program, and the idea he comes up with is, well, out of this world: a lottery contest that would send one Canadian winner and one American winner on a mission to the International Space Station.

While this novel is completely filled with laugh-out-loud moments, Fallis also tries his hand at writing some more emotional scenes, and proves that he’s just as adept at writing tragedy as he is comedy. Definitely one of the most entertaining books I’ve read so far this year.

What are you reading this Friday? Tell us in the comments what books are currently residing on your bedside table!