Whelp, folks, I just finished the most depressing book I’ve ever read. It’s called 1984. I kind of want to trap myself in a cage of rats. Thanks, George Orwell.
Most normal people read this thing in high school, but my AP class read Animal Farm instead. I’m sure plenty of teachers are currently slamming their foreheads on blackboards and desks, trying to get their students to understand that Big Brother isn’t just a reality show where people vote each other out of a house.
I wonder what Orwell would think of his lasting effect on pop culture? Political analysts, including my husband, love to bring up Big Brother and DoubleSpeak when debating current events. Usually my eyes glaze over during these conversations. And my ears glazed over as I listened to certain chapters of the audiobook of 1984. When the action stops and Winston starts reading a book about the history of the world and Oceania and political parties and so on, I got really bored. But the rest of the story is completely frightening and dark and bleak. I found myself hoping that Winston and Julia would fight the forces of evil like some dystopian version of Batman and Robin. But, alas, nope. There is no shred of hope at the end of this book.
Considering I spend a lot of time whining in this blog that the so-called classics don’t live up to their reputation, it’s always refreshing to read one that does. This book is masterfully written. It scared the bejesus out of me, imagining a world where people wouldn’t be allowed any creativity or sexuality or freedom of thought. So Orwell succeeded in putting the fear of Big Brother in me.
And now that the weekend is upon us and I need something a bit lighter to read, I can’t wait to read Coreyography: A Memoir. When I spotted this book at the library earlier this week, it reminded me that when I was in the hospital in 2002, the only thing that cheered me up was watching the E! True Hollywood Story of The Coreys. Pop Culture Saves!
A Modern Librarian Reads the Classics 