1984 – George Orwell

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth. ‘Who controls the past’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.”

Winston’s job for the Party is to re-write articles from the past to coincide with the current events. One day his nation “Oceania” was at war with “Eurasia” and always had been, but only a few days later, they were suddenly at war with “Eastasia” and always had been, and so he must change the articles concerning past events to support this. He lives in a constant state of surveillance, everything he says and does is under watch. The only thing they can not watch or control is his mind. It is here that the seeds are planted, a discontent for the way his existence is being lived.  He begins his own personal rebellion against the Party by writing a diary and having a forbidden romance with a women named Julia. He eventually attempts to join a more widespread rebellion in hopes of bringing down the Party, as folly as it may seem.

1984 is a story about control, in this case the Party has absolute control over its citizens. Free speech is a thing of the past, and free thought is well on the way out. Events of the past are re-written and accepted as fact because there is no contradictory evidence as it is all destroyed. The people just accept what is told to them and continue living their lives, oblivious to everything. The people are under constant surveillance, not only by the Party, but by each other. Your own daughter will give you up if speak out against the Party, even if it was only talking in your sleep.

What is most unsettling about 1984 is the parallels it has today. The rise of “alternative facts” and the revelations regarding the surveillance abilities we now possess show how the world of 1984 is not some far off fairy-tale, but is something that could actually happen in the near future.

A must read book.

 

 

Animal Farm – George Orwell

It is odd to me I had never really heard of “Animal Farm” until recently (apparently I somehow avoided many of the classics, though I am currently rectifying that). I had heard the name but nothing of the content. In fact I just happened to acquire it as part of a combo hardcover book which also contained “1984″, which is the book I really wanted and figured why not get a 2 for 1. I did not expect to enjoy it this much, or for it to be based off a subject I had studied in depth at university.

It is a story based on the Russian revolution, the characters influenced heavily by all the big players: Lenin (old Major), Trotsky (Snowball), and Stalin (Napoleon).

A compelling tale about how the lust for power can corrupt even the most noble of intentions. What starts as a simple idea for a life free from the slavery of the farm owner and the promise of something more fulfilling, it takes a turn for the worst through the use of propaganda, fear and revisionist history which shows what can happen when the wrong animal takes control.

The story is short, the language is simple, but it is effective. “All animals are equal” was the initial slogan. No matter what the job they did on the farm, the animals felt they deserved to be treated equally, and for a time they achieved just that. However, just as it often happens in the real world, some of the animals decided that power was more important than equality, that one animal can in fact be better than another, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”.

And if it helps for anyone currently debating whether or not to pick up the book, I can tell you that you will not feel guilty about eating bacon once you are done (not that you should anyway).

 

Tolkien Collection, 1st edition

Reading has always been a joy of mine, but it never truly took off until I read Lord of the Rings. The story, world building, and characters just drew me in and I have never found anything in literature that I love as much, though not for lack of trying.

However as much as I enjoy Tolkien, for some reason I had only ever read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, so recently I decided to remedy that and look into everything else he had written. In doing so I discovered that Tolkien`s world was far bigger than I had known so I started my collection of his works since he has been such a big influence in my love of reading. It has only just begun and will hopefully continue to grow as I scour the used book stores in my area. So here is the lowly beginnings of what will one day be a vast and beautiful collection.

 

The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoyevsky

My first book of 2017 was “The Brothers Karamazov” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. I was browsing through a bookstore, gift card in hand, with no idea what I was looking for. Finally I gave up after an hour of perusing, pulled out my phone and searched up “books I should read,” and found a thread from reddit which had the most up-voted book being the “The Brothers Karamazov,” so up to the checkout counter I went.

I tried not to read much about this novel beforehand, and I had never ventured into Russian classics before so I had no idea who Dostoyevsky was or what to expect. I went in believing this was a mystery novel about a murder, with some romance sprinkled in based on the excerpt on the back. What I ended up getting was so much more.

Now I am normally a fairly quick reader, but this took me a long time to get through. Every word seemed to have meaning, and if my mind even drifted a little while my eyes were scanning the pages, I would have to go back because I felt like I missed something. The tale being woven by Dostoyevsky about Fyodor Karamazov and his three sons: Dmitri, Ivan and Alyosha was so gripping that even though it took me some time to read, I could not put it down. The three brothers are so expertly written that I felt myself in each one of them, and was so wound up in their story that it felt real.

As I mentioned earlier, I was expecting a classic murder-mystery, where a murder happens early on, the book spends the majority of the time following the investigation or trial, while eventually wrapping up nicely at the end. This was not the case, instead I got a philosophy book that had me often stopping to reflect on what I had just read. It had me thinking about life, about religion and human nature. One chapter in particular “The Grand Inquisitor,” was a critique of God made by Ivan to Aloysha. This chapter was beautifully written and even if you do not read the rest of this book, I would recommend at least reading this one chapter.  There was a murder-mystery in the book, and there was a trial, but none of that seemed to matter to me by the end. Instead I was left thinking about the fates of the characters and the lessons they had taught me along the way. This is a book I will be re-reading for a long time.

Kurt Vonnegut in “Slaughterhouse Five” states that “There is one other book, that can teach you everything you need to know about life….it’s the Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.”

Favorite quote: “The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.”