h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just wondering! I've read 1984, Animal Farm, Down and Out in Paris and London, Keep the Aspidistra Flying and Coming Up for Air. I like them all a lot, but Animal Farm has to be my favourite.

I loved Animal Farm.
I read it when I was very young, too young to understand it's political parody but I have re-read it many times since. I studied the Russian Revolution and Stalinist Russia as part of my AS-Level course and every time I learned a little more I realised just how accurate the parody is. From the windmill to Boxer to the dogs if you know the Revolution you can see just how accurate Orwell was.

1984 was also a very good book. It is a true warning to us about the dangers of a totalitarian government and one that we should all heed. Perhaps it's just me being a cynic but I can see a little of Big Brother and the continous war of 1984 in Geoege Bush's "war on terror".

Oh yes, definitely. It's the certainty and the hatred that are so scary.

Keep the Aspidistra Flying... Would people classify it as a tragedy? I would, definitely -- Gordon loses everything he believes in. But in "technical" terms, it's kind of a happy ending...

I never read any of his books before, but at the moment i'm in the middle of 1984. It's the first one his i've read and it's totally differnt to what i expected. It's a lot more readable then i tought it would be, i'm really enjoying it!

How did you get on with 1984? Its certainly a book which changed my life and really got me into reading; for the first time possibly ever I felt that someone was actually telling me the truth about how things are. Not that I've ever lived in a totalitarian regieme (I can't spell that, or perhaps I can), or not too much of one, but Orwell's book, I think, is just as much about the human condition and how it isn't always possible to beat the system so perhaps you shouldn't feel too bad about being 'history's prisoner'. Cor, easy tiger!
I can only recommend everything else written by Orwell, particularly 'coming up for air' and 'down and out in paris and london' - he has a way of putting words together whcih produces a kind of pleasurable vibration somewhere in the back of your brain!!

1984 was brilliant! I keep thinking how about war is peace. How does he write books that are so easy to beleive?!

Ive been reading Orwell for a few weeks, have read animal farm, 1984, burmese days, im currently half way through keep the aspidistra flying and i can honestly say ive never come across such a tragic set of stories, God they make me realise how lucky i am in my own sad lonely and pathetic little existence, i thought i really had something to moan about until i started reading George, so if anyone is out there feeling suicidal or thoroughly depressed about life, just pick up a copy of orwell and i guarantee him to bring home as few truths about reality and brighten up your day...

I feel the same way.

In addition to 1984, Animal Farm, and Keep the Aspidistra Flying I have read A Clergyman's Daughter, and either I missed something or it has no point. Has any one else read that book?

Not read it because I was told it was pretty rubbish -- wasn't it his first novel or something? And has anyone read the Road to Wigan Pier?

I've read both Animal Farm and 1984, and really enjoyed them both. Animal Farm's definitely my favorite though: I'm a history buff, and I loved how perfectly he described the Russian Revolution and Stalin's rise. Orwell is so right about a lot of things: the one sort of theme from his books that I will always remember is how my English teacher once summarized Animal Farm: "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely". I've found it to be one of the most consistently true statements I've heard. By the way, I recently read H.G. Wells' "When the Sleeper Awakes", and found it quite similar to 1984 in a lot of ways. I heartily recommend it to anyone who liked 1984...

I've read 1984, Down and Out in London and Paris, Animal Farm but my absolute favourite has to be Homage to Catalonia. The futility and farcical nature of war is described so aptly and simply. The final chapter stands out too. It's far more poetic than the rest of the book. Amazing.