I've never read 1984. Should I?

I was listening to a radio programme today where “double thinking” – I believe it was called – was drawn a parallel with today’s real world and ones presentation through the internet. It got me intrigued so…..?

YES

Yes, it’s an interesting thought provoking read, should be plenty of copies about, it used to be a common text for schools.

100%

Yes.

Personally I would say yes its a good read and stands up to its hype also Fahrenheit 451.

Worrying that a seemingly* well educated adult has NOT read it, to be honest!

So, yes, read it.

* 😉

I make a point of avoiding any book that’s on a school reading list. Way to kill a good read is make it obligatory.
And “good book” recommendations create their own inertia.

EDIT: I confess that I’m only seemingly educated.

I reckon Road to Wigan Pier and Down and out in Paris and London are better books, but they’re not on the curriculum.

Yep, absolute must read. Parallels to our modern world are incredible when you consider when it was written.
If it’s not still on the curriculum it should be!

Its never going to be the book but this was quite good when it was on the radio

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pyz0z/episodes/guide#b01pz054

Yes.
Cctv, d-notices, governments deleting e-petitions, political parties deleting their own speeches. Only bit he was a bit out on was airstrip one being run by rich people all over the world, rather than a particular nation/empire.

Yes. Absolute belter of a book.

One thing I find interesting is the way we’ve kind of willingly given up our privacy rather than it being taken away. Yes, there’s the ever-encroaching & expanding CCTV/police powers, New Labour trying it on with ID cards etc, but mostly we give it up gladly through social media/mobile phones/GPS etc etc.

I reckon Road to Wigan Pier and Down and out in Paris and London are better books, but they’re not on the curriculum.

That reminds me, I have yet to read Down and out in Paris and London 😳

There’s a line in in the Road to Wigan pier that I think about very often and its over 20 years since I read it.

Edit: I Think A Brave New world ( Aldous Huxley) is a good companion read to 1984 ( BNW was a School read for me 1984 was not)

Brave new world is better, although it sounds a little dated nowadays. But yes, 1984 is certainly worth reading.

Well, that’s unanimous then and only £4 in the Kindle store…

astonishingly prophetic book, and depressingly seems to be increasingly so with every passing year!

Although no-one could have predicted we would readily surrender so much personal information with such gleeful abandon. Nothing to hide, nothing to fear though, right? 😉

I read it but I cannot remember a lot of it as my English comprehension was so poor at that time I thought someone was trying to torture me. 😯

Re read 1984 and animal farm later in life after reading them for eng lit. Well worth the effort .

Just finished 1984 and thought it was superb- Must read!

After 1984 and the crucible my English teacher made us read, I am legend. Just to enjoy and talk about. About 2million times better than a Scots quaint, or whatever that farming dirge was called.

Phenomenal book – I read it relatively recently, as it goes, and I’m sort of glad I swerved it as a youth. It’s heavy shit.

Shame you can’t do spoiler boxes here as there’s parts of the second half that I’ve often wondered about – Orwell seemed to introduce a theme that seemed out of step with the rest of the novel.

Good grief. I’ve just got to the two,minute hate and particularly Goldstien and The Book. 😯

Just that is a prophetic parallel written in 1949 eh? Wow.

I’m glad someone has mentioned Road to Wigan Pier, the first half is an amazing piece of social commentary, though in some respects Priestleys ‘English Journey’ is a broader reflection on the lot of the working classes at the time. Second half of WP is a bit more confusing, you can make your own mind up.

Down and out is amazing as a piece of journalism

The whole lot, including the essays, are available to all free online

http://www.george-orwell.org/

for what its worth, I think that reading his work chronologically gives you a really good feel for the ‘journey’ and helps you appreciate how his ideas formed better.

I must have read 1984 and Down and Out at least 4-5 times each and I never get bored of them.

I must admit though to having never read road to Wigan pier. I have no idea why. Maybe that’s what I should be looking for after I’ve finished Dune.

Well worth reading. If you have a kindle you might want to think about getting the complete novels for £8.99

It is strange that Orwell no longer seems to be on the school syllabus. I am a fan of most of the American authors (Steinbeck etc.) that are taught nowadays but I kind of agree with the recent POV that British authors should be on the syllabus in British schools.

‘Road To Wigan Pier’ is the only one I’ve not read. Might just buy it now, be a nice surprise when it comes in the post.

Love it! Sign up to this forum, first thread I see is about one of my favourite books of all time! Yes, you should read this and read it for the cautionary tale Orwell intended. After, read Huxley’s Brave New World and conduct a mental comparison. I would be interested in which one you (or anyone else) prefer…

Happy reading!

Yes you should

you may have hit upon the root of my prejudice, ninfan. I prefer the power of the journalism in the two books I mentioned over the fantasy (no matter how prescient) of 1984.

I’m not familiar with Priestly’s English Journey. Will go and find a copy.

1000% yes.
Yes you would expect me to say that.

Have people read The Handmaid’s Tale also? Atwood seems to have a real ability in making the ordinary seem extraordinary and in introducing the uncanny into normal acts of every day life… It’s a bizarre read, but compelling.

You could always pick up a first edition on ebay 🙂

Any fans of the film here?

I love it personally, the weird washed-out film they use captures the griminess perfectly. And Hurt and Burton are awesome as Winston/O’Brien. I even like the Eurhythmics soundtrack.

I re-read it at Xmas with animal farm. I never read brave new work or 451, anyone got copies to send me? Then its Aesop’s fables!

Picked it off a shelf at some student lodgings age 17 first classic I ever read and it really shaped the way I thought ever since.

With much of it is so ingrained in popular culture, Orwellian, newspeak, proles, Big Brother, room 101 it would probably read as a Cliché now. Especially with technology having since led to much of the surveillance culture having actually become realised.

Stoner – yes, its the fact that they’re not fantasy but true reflections of the conditions endured at that time that makes them all the more powerful, for example I think his writing in Wigan Pier about the role of chips, sugar and white bread remains astonishingly pertinent today with the junk food debate

I’d really stress to all the importance of not overlooking the essays – ‘A hanging’ is just remarkable

http://www.george-orwell.org/A_Hanging/0.html

Thanks ninfan, that is a very powerful read. I’ll be exploring more of the essays,

Roy Harper had the right words.

haven’t read it yet.

plan on reading it now.

liked the film (with john hurt).