Book Thirteen
So here it is, drum roll please.........Book Thirteen.
As Ini Kamoze once said “Cha, Cha, Ching, Ching!”.
What a mission that was I can tell you. It took me the best part of 3 weeks to finish and it was probably the biggest test to date. I’m pretty proud of myself for getting through this one. H had tried to get me to read another one of Orwell’s books whilst we were in South America. I think it was called “Down and Out in Paris and London”. I scoffed at the idea. After all I wasn’t into books way back then. She subsequently gave it away. Now I kind of wish it was around as I wouldn’t mind giving it a crack.
H had recently bought 1984 and after she’d finished with it it I thought I'd give it a go. It’s got one of those annoying Introductions at the beginning, which is written by someone else, which would be better placed at the end of the book. I thought something wasn’t quite right when I realised I was being told the plot before I’d even started the book proper. Why to they do that?
I have to admit that I did find it this book quite hard work but once I’d got through the first third of it I really began to enjoy it. It got quite heavy again a bit later on but I battled though it and came out the other side as the main character is captured and tortured by the Thought Police. It’s a pretty depressing story but Davina McCall and that comedy guy with Tourette’s aside (and no, I am not being nasty), I’m obviously glad Orwell’s vision of life as we know it hasn’t quite materialised. I’m a bit crap when it comes to trying to analyse the story. I just like to read books as they are and enjoy the stories. I do the same with movies. Once they are over I move on without really giving them much thought. Maybe I’m being naive. Maybe it just brings back bad memories of doing book reviews at school. I did read the Introduction after I had read the story though, and although I thought I would find it intensely annoying, I actually found the in-depth analysis quite interesting.
Also, in the same way that Book Nine made me realise how the Boo Radley’s got their name, I now know where the TV programmes “Room 101” and “Big Brother” got their names from.
Books are, indeed, great.
As Ini Kamoze once said “Cha, Cha, Ching, Ching!”.
What a mission that was I can tell you. It took me the best part of 3 weeks to finish and it was probably the biggest test to date. I’m pretty proud of myself for getting through this one. H had tried to get me to read another one of Orwell’s books whilst we were in South America. I think it was called “Down and Out in Paris and London”. I scoffed at the idea. After all I wasn’t into books way back then. She subsequently gave it away. Now I kind of wish it was around as I wouldn’t mind giving it a crack.
H had recently bought 1984 and after she’d finished with it it I thought I'd give it a go. It’s got one of those annoying Introductions at the beginning, which is written by someone else, which would be better placed at the end of the book. I thought something wasn’t quite right when I realised I was being told the plot before I’d even started the book proper. Why to they do that?
I have to admit that I did find it this book quite hard work but once I’d got through the first third of it I really began to enjoy it. It got quite heavy again a bit later on but I battled though it and came out the other side as the main character is captured and tortured by the Thought Police. It’s a pretty depressing story but Davina McCall and that comedy guy with Tourette’s aside (and no, I am not being nasty), I’m obviously glad Orwell’s vision of life as we know it hasn’t quite materialised. I’m a bit crap when it comes to trying to analyse the story. I just like to read books as they are and enjoy the stories. I do the same with movies. Once they are over I move on without really giving them much thought. Maybe I’m being naive. Maybe it just brings back bad memories of doing book reviews at school. I did read the Introduction after I had read the story though, and although I thought I would find it intensely annoying, I actually found the in-depth analysis quite interesting.
Also, in the same way that Book Nine made me realise how the Boo Radley’s got their name, I now know where the TV programmes “Room 101” and “Big Brother” got their names from.
Books are, indeed, great.
posted by Jonny @ 8:53 PM
7 Comments:
At 16/11/06 10:24 AM,
RJL said…
Jonny, that is probs one of the best books I have ever read. Down and Out is good as well.
I know what you mean though, the classics do always tend to start with some boring diatribe about the book that you are about to read and they all seem to be written by some oxbridge don who tries to use as many long words as possible!
At 16/11/06 10:59 AM,
Anonymous said…
I agree with Rich. The book is stunning. I first read it when I was 18 and doing my A level long essay. I compared it with Primo Levi's 'If This Is A Man'. Levi was a Jew in Auschwitz, so I did a comparison of Orwell's fictional vision of totalitarianism with Levi's real story. I read 1984 again last year and it was, once again, pretty mindblowing stuff.
The thing I like about Orwell is that you know that every word has been agonised over.
And always read those intros after you've read the book...
At 16/11/06 5:54 PM,
Anonymous said…
1984 is undoubtedly in my top three. Mind you I can probably count the number of novels i've read since school on two hands, so that isn't saying much.
I read the first half of 'Down and Out...' once and gave up on it - couldn't get into that one for some reason. Nothing much seemed to be happening.
Anyway, I think the main reason I loved 1984 was the whole concept of 'newspeak', the language which effectively limited people's consciousness so they would blindly follow the party and lose the ability to express any new ideas. It's years since I read it, but I still remember him translating the declaration of independence into one word: crimethink. Genius.
Bloody hell, there's an entire online dictionary to newspeak!
At 16/11/06 6:16 PM,
Anonymous said…
Read that one recently too Jonny. It's a goodun. I enjoyed it much more this time round than when I read it at school... Must be a pro-choice thing.
At 17/11/06 6:33 AM,
Jonny said…
Sam.....bloody hell mate, good to hear from you.
Well I am glad I chose such a classic, although the real praise should go to H as she was the one who bought it. I just picked it up when she'd finished it. I'm chuffed I read it though. Maybe I should watch the movie, although I suspect there are a few versions or re-makes out there (can anyone recommend one?).
I have to confess to not reading the entire bit about Newspeak at the end of the book (BUT I did finish the story so this book counts, ok!). By then my brain had gone into meltdown. I'll probably go back to it soon enough though.
Book Fourteen is well underway now as well.
At 17/11/06 8:14 AM,
swisslet said…
Do you know what? I've never read this book past the first page. I've never been able to face it!
good work!
ST
At 19/11/06 2:14 PM,
Anonymous said…
You ought to read the Newspeak bit, Jonny, even if you just kind of skim it.
1984 the movie, made in 1984, from which the Eurythmics song 'Sex Crime' came, starring Richard Burton in his last screen role as O'Brien and and John Hurt as Winston, is the only movie version I know of. It's pretty good, but, of course, not a patch on the book.
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