chaos.

I must say, I have tried to get into novels in the past and unfortunatly, most of them bore me to death, recently however, I discoved an old compilation of Orwell books in the attic .. (animal farm, Keep the Aspidistra flying, A clergymans daghter, Coming up for air, and most inportantly of all .. NINETEEN EIGHTY FOUR!!!! ) And OMF **** me I am *TOTALLY* in love with his work. I have read 1984 four times now and it gets better and BETTER! I am totally in owe on him, he is my idol and I love him soo much.

Everybody I urge you to read his beautiful books and appriciate a the genious that he was, god and everyone else rest his sole, I will meet him one day.

Also give animal farm a read, it's good but not my favirite, I'm reading coming up for air ATM and I love his discriptive writing and the way after a full novel he never contradicts himself and the complexity of the lovely words he uses.. OMFG!!

chaos.

I will keep *bumping* this thread till somone agrees with me.

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.

Spring Heeled Jack

Orwell is a genius.

There you go..

sti-04!!

chaos.

Hey scottie! You wouldn't understand his coplex way of writing, I suggest you stick to your own idol, 'the beano'.

Hoppy

Orwell was good at spelling, too

SVVG

iTrader: (1)

Had Orwell "forced upon me" at school - so whilst I can see what you're saying, I can't genuinely say I love his work (a shame really - SImilar to how I had the Lake District forced upon me as a holiday destination every year for 16 years as a kid and that nearly ruined it for me - until I started working in London where I can see no trees - and now own a decent car!!).

My G.friend is a proper book worm, so I've been trying to do some catch-up and start reading "things I really should have read by now" in a desperate attempt to "better myself" .

Have read quite a few of the "classics" recently, (along with my monthly "Japanese Performance" obviously...), but someone recommended (don't laugh - I am going to back this up - seriously!) "Batman - The Dark Knight Returns" the graphic novel/comic!!!!

This is absolutely awsome - the artwork is superb and the story lines/one liners are really dark and reveal the inner turmoil of "The Dark Knight".

Favourite all time book at the moment however is To Kill a Mockingbird and quite enjoyed A Clockwork Orange...

(Nice - Vain attempt to be all high-brow but have ended up raving about a comic book ...)

sti-04!!

Complex

The Beano is also not an idol as such but a comic book with various characters scattered throughout its many pages

Deal in fact son, its usually a bit easier

SJ_Skyline

What's wrong with reading "The Beano"?

dpb

Good to see those drugs are giving you the chance to actually do some reading.

mad_dr

Another classic that is often forced upon the younger generation, but that should probably be saved until adulthood, in order to enjoy it's full wonder is JD Salinger's A Catcher in The Rye.

This is a superb book and the writing style (casual first-person) is excellent. It's written as if it were directly dictated from the character's (Holden's) mouth, complete with slang, word repetition etc.

A fairly easygoing read but a great book none-the-less. I saw a copy in the window of a local "Cancer Research UK" shop yesterday for only £1.25!

Highly recommended - give it a go, Chaos.

SVVG

iTrader: (1)

NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Catcher in the Rye is the all-time worst book I have ever read - (I will conceed that my credability post "Batman - The Dark Knight Returns" comments may be somewhat tarnished.... )

But seriously, I struggled to find ANY literary merit in that book. I'm quite a fan of American literature (Steinbeck is a favourite author of mine) but I really did think this book was crp!!!

I guess I totally missed the crux of the book as it is "recognised" as a classic.... soguess there must be something in it - But what do you reckon's so good about it as I hated it! (obvious theme of "disillusioned youth/no direction - but so what?).

SVVG

iTrader: (1)

OK Read your thread again (you can see why I like the books with pictures...) and accept that the book adopts a certain narrative voice, but it doesn't have a "story" and I don't think it has a message either!

Vegescoob

Pah, what do writers know?
Merely comment on the Human condition and speculate, based on their observations and imaginations, on the future possibilities for Mankind and the forms of social organisation.
Now what use is that?

douglasb

Chaos - Try "The Road to Wigan Pier" and "Down and Out in Paris and London". You'll probably also enjoy "The Decline of the English Murder and Other Essays".

However, for an example of great use of the English language aimed to challenge ten-year olds, re-read the "William" books by Richmal Crompton.

Leslie

You are beginning to get the message at last Chaos.

Orwell was an extremely clever man with great foresight.

Les

Brendan Hughes

Just thinking about these yesterday! Can't remember why, some train of thought triggered off something - might have been "Girls - huh!" or "An' such like"...

Great fun, but I can't imagine today's teenagers understanding them.

Catcher - read it when I was 14-16, didn't understand. Read it again 20 yrs later, still didn't understand (what the fuss is about). My son liked it, started calling everything phoney.

chaos.

Bump!

We must spread the word, the hope lies in the proles.

CLSII

Everyone in this country should read 1984

If have even the vaguest notion of what is happening politically at the moment in this country this book will give you a lot to think about.

Thought crime....we've already got it

CCTV....yup

ID cards.....this is getting spooky

douglasb

Stands to reason that you'd've thought that.

I don't know how well the books would go down with teenagers nowadays as the 1920's settings would be unfamiliar, but today's teenagers also don't tend to go to boarding schools where they teach wizardry

unclebuck

That's what you think.


Have you met Mr T. Blair yet??

hedgehog

Saw a quote recently along the lines of "under the current government the future is certain, it is the past that keeps changing."

I think this is wonderful and fits so well with 1984 the book and 2006 the reality.