The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Stories

The poet of the booming Jazz Age resonates with eerie prescience today
There is no time like the present to rediscover the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald — and not just because the motion picture "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" — adapted from Fitzgerald's story of the same name — has generated Oscar buzz. The five stories collected in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Stories" wield potent emotional punch, particularly in this era of worldwide recession.

Fitzgerald is the voice of the Jazz Age, and now that our boom has once again gone bust, his stories evoke our current predicament with eerie prescience. Listeners will empathize with Charlie as he confronts his drunken, irresponsible history in "Babylon Revisited." A reunion with a childhood crush reveals that the past is irretrievable in "Three Hours Between Planes." Meanwhile, "The Lost Decade" braces listeners for the aftermath of loss; "The Bridal Party" braces them for accepting it. And because we need it, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" provides an antidote to childhood regression fantasies — no doubt endemic since the Dow plummeted.

All five narrators — one for each story — evoke heartbreak and hope, even humor. Ray Porter stands out on "Babylon Revisited," perhaps because the regret in his voice (spiked with a shot of hope) so perfectly captures our modern mood.