I still love 1984

It has been a little over a decade since I read 1984. I am a huge Orwell fan and have read many if not most of his works. I read 1984 way after that year...it was in the mid 90s when I was assigned this reading. I remember a deep sense of dread and impending doom. I understand it more now than when I was in high school. I believe that it is something I should probably read every 10 years.

Personally, I find it very amusing how everyone uses the term 1984 these days but many people do not understand the full scope of the novel. They just say "Big Brother" as if 1984 is solely about loss of privacy and having government involved in your life. It is about so much more...it is about individualism and totalitarianism, information freedom and control, torture both psychological and physical, as well as the importance of language. I read this book and I think of North Korea. How the government controls information and you hear about North Koreans who escape are shocked that the rest of the world is not like NK and everything they ever learned was wrong.

In essence, I still love 1984 even though my heart hurts when I read it. So I will end my post with 3 words...Information IS power!

In the End

Last weekend I finished the book. In my old insomnia days, I used to fall asleep to tapes and one of my favorites (before I had all of the Prairie Home Companions) was a BBC Radio production of 1984. Reading the book after all of these years was interesting because I could hear the radio actors' voices speaking many of the lines in my head. I am also curious to see the film again, not having seen it since it was released in 1984. What's to say about this book? I like the term "negative utopia," I prefer Brave New World, and I was reminded how much I don't like gin. Anyone care to weigh in on anything?

Big Brother

Lori brings up "Big Brother" and that makes me think about the idea that there was a time when Big Brother wasn't a concept. Now, we all have an idea of it and there is even a reality show with that name for our amusement. A frightening symbol of totalitarianism is a pop cultural reference. What would Orwell make of that?

Arrival of Books

I know our books have arrived and some of us have begun reading. I just received a book to review from Library Journal so as soon as I get that review in I will start 1984. Perhaps to get in the swing of posting again and to get our discussion going, we could write some posts about the title. Our group is spread across a couple of age clusters. Some of us were aware of the book long before we read it and, at the same time, the actual year 1984 was far (or very far) in the future). For others, the year had passed by the time the book was read. I imagine that one's perspective is altered by that. I am in the far (but not very far) in the future group. Thoughts?

It's a Little Dusty!

This blog is a little dusty. Our group has not been on this blog for some time and time has a way of ticking along even when we pay attention to other things. Happily, however, we will be regrouping and making some additions for another session of online book discussing. While I was visiting the Mouse, members of our team tossed about some titles and settled on George Orwell's 1984. I'm sure one of the things we will discuss is how much in the future that title seemed when we first became aware of it, and now it is 25 years in the past. I look forward to seeing where this blog goes, especially as some of have more blogging experience now than when we first attempted it.