1984

[Hairbautt]

George Orwell with an afterward by Erich Fromm.

I just got done reading it.

I think humanity is fucked, how 'bout you? Seriously, tho' this has got to be the most depressing book, ever.

I think I'll stick to my Trek philosophy

[MCHeshPants420]

Cheer yourself up and read In the Country of the Last Things by Paul Auster or Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

[Hairbautt]

Ok thanks.

[JPaul]

If you want to read Orwell read "Down and Out in Paris and London".

I was all like

[Hairbautt]

Living Down and Out in Paris and London, repudiating respectable imperialist society, and reinventing himself as George Orwell. His 1933 debut book (ostensibly a novel, but overwhelmingly autobiographical) was rejected by that elitist publisher T.S. Eliot, perhaps because its close-up portrait of lowlife was too pungent for comfort.

"The wackiest tale involves a miser who ate cats, wore newspapers for underwear, invested 6,000 francs in cocaine, and hid it in a face-powder tin when the cops raided."

/noted.

[JPaul]

It really is seriously powerful stuff.

Well it was when I read it back in the day. Sometimes things affect you differently at different stages in your life, I suppose.

Also "A Homage to Catalonia". That's another good read.

[Hairbautt]

"George Orwell--novelist, journalist, sometime socialist--actually traded his press pass for a uniform and fought against Franco's Fascists in the Spanish Civil War during 1936 and 1937."

I read Orwell's 1984 because I've heard it mentioned several times before and wondered what all the hoopla was 'bout. Brave New World is another, but I havn't read it yet.

1984 wasn't a fun read tho'. Well done, I'm sure, but I just don't like reading something so...negative. It's scary to think about man losing it's humanity, war as peace and totalitarianism.

[Snee]

Read Vonnegut's Player Piano and maybe Richard Morgan's Market Forces while you are at it.

And don't forget Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.

[Hairbautt]

Vonnegut's Player Piano:
Editorial Reviews

Book Description
"Vonnegut’s first novel spins the chilling tale of engineer Paul Proteus, who must find a way to live in a world dominated by a super computer and run completely by machines. Paul’s rebellion is vintage Vonnegut–wildly funny, deadly serious, and terrifyingly close to reality."

Sounds good actually. The world dominating super computer machine isn't symbolic for anything is it?

I already read Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, which I liked.

[JPaul]

Read Vonnegut's Player Piano

Or Harrison Bergeron (a short story). I think it was even made into a TV movie.

Did I tell you I have a signed Eastman Press copy of "Welcome to the Monkey House", Snee. Mrs JP got it me as an anniversary present.