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I have a favourite book.
Yes 30%  30%  [ 9 ]
Nope. 13%  13%  [ 4 ]
I have more than one favourite book. 57%  57%  [ 17 ]
Total votes : 30

Quatermass
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23 Jul 2009, 4:53 am

I loved Nineteen Eighty-Four, as well as the 1984 movie adaptation with John Hurt as Winston Smith. It is probably the only adaptation that has brought me to tears again and again.

This, the last scene, is what moves me to tears in the movie, and makes the book a depressing read. It's copied from the Project Gutenberg version, which, I think, is public domain in Australia and Canada.

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Under the table Winston's feet made convulsive movements. He had not stirred from his seat, but in his mind he was running, swiftly running, he was with the crowds outside, cheering himself deaf. He looked up again at the portrait of Big Brother. The colossus that bestrode the world! The rock against which the hordes of Asia dashed themselves in vain! He thought how ten minutes ago--yes, only ten minutes--there had still been equivocation in his heart as he wondered whether the news from the front would be of victory or defeat. Ah, it was more than a Eurasian army that had perished! Much had changed in him since that first day in the Ministry
of Love, but the final, indispensable, healing change had never happened, until this moment.

The voice from the telescreen was still pouring forth its tale of prisoners and booty and slaughter, but the shouting outside had died down a little. The waiters were turning back to their work. One of them approached with the gin bottle. Winston, sitting in a blissful dream, paid no attention as his glass was filled up. He was not running or cheering any longer. He was back in the Ministry of Love, with everything forgiven, his soul white as snow. He was in the public dock, confessing everything, implicating everybody. He was walking down the white-tiled corridor, with the feeling of walking in sunlight, and an armed guard at his back. The long-hoped-for bullet was entering his brain.

He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.


It's a pity Eric Blair (the real name of George Orwell) isn't here today. He would have had much to comment on.


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oppositedirection
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23 Jul 2009, 11:35 am

My favorite book, read it ten times now.

No other book brings across such notions of intellectual alienation with such power, the sheer level of distance Orwell felt from his fellow humans is just palpable. I mean, how genius is the concept of thoughtcrime, that society considers it criminal to think certain thoughts than actually act upon them? That's how Orwell felt about 1930's and 1940's intellectual debate about Communism, Orwell seeing the dangers and no one would listen.



Prof_Pretorius
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23 Jul 2009, 11:40 pm

Quatermass, that quotation send chills through me.

Although I must admit I think of our Yank friends bowing down before their President ! !


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JPanzer
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28 Jul 2009, 8:09 pm

One thing that i love about the book is the theory's you can come up with and the different ways in which you can interpret things in a different way each time.

How do we even know any other location apart from Airstrip One exists?

How do we know that the own government isn't dropping those rockets to give the illusion of war?

So many theories, so little time. :roll:


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zen_mistress
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30 Jul 2009, 6:34 pm

I tried to read it, I thought that definitely it is a literary masterpiece. It was written quite a while back, 1950's I think, but the ideas definitely still apply today, more than ever.

However I found it so depressing and morbid I had a great amount of difficulty with it. Perhaps it is just me, I tend to like comedies and romances and historicals and some scientific novels but I am sensitive to gore and nihilism. I ended up just skimming through it.


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Prof_Pretorius
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30 Jul 2009, 11:52 pm

zen_mistress wrote:
I tried to read it, I thought that definitely it is a literary masterpiece. It was written quite a while back, 1950's I think, but the ideas definitely still apply today, more than ever.

However I found it so depressing and morbid I had a great amount of difficulty with it. Perhaps it is just me, I tend to like comedies and romances and historicals and some scientific novels but I am sensitive to gore and nihilism. I ended up just skimming through it.


Too bad ..
There's a lifetime's worth of political truth in this book ....


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31 Jul 2009, 12:47 am

yes, i loved that book :) !

also check out books by kurt vonnegut jr.
maybe start with Sirens of Titan :o


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zen_mistress
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31 Jul 2009, 3:09 am

Prof_Pretorius wrote:
zen_mistress wrote:
I tried to read it, I thought that definitely it is a literary masterpiece. It was written quite a while back, 1950's I think, but the ideas definitely still apply today, more than ever.

However I found it so depressing and morbid I had a great amount of difficulty with it. Perhaps it is just me, I tend to like comedies and romances and historicals and some scientific novels but I am sensitive to gore and nihilism. I ended up just skimming through it.


Too bad ..
There's a lifetime's worth of political truth in this book ....


My father is obsessed with politics and has bombarded me with political truths all my life.. so I dont feel as if I have missed out.... :)


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zen_mistress
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31 Jul 2009, 3:12 am

Seanmw wrote:
yes, i loved that book :) !

also check out books by kurt vonnegut jr.
maybe start with Sirens of Titan :o


I tried reading Kurt Vonnegut Junior but again had the same problem with gore.. I am very sensitive and visually my imagination is good.. I would love it if someone rewrote those novels without the gross, scary stuff.


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Prof_Pretorius
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31 Jul 2009, 11:18 pm

zen_mistress wrote:
Seanmw wrote:
yes, i loved that book :) !

also check out books by kurt vonnegut jr.
maybe start with Sirens of Titan :o


I tried reading Kurt Vonnegut Junior but again had the same problem with gore.. I am very sensitive and visually my imagination is good.. I would love it if someone rewrote those novels without the gross, scary stuff.


Might I recommend "Slaughterhouse Five"?? It's actually more of an autobiography of Vonnegut's experiences during WWII.


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zen_mistress
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01 Aug 2009, 12:02 am

^ Sounds interesting, but the word Slaughterhouse... I cant help thinking that it will just be a killing fest, especially when that is pretty much what wars are.

I sometimes see horrible images (early dreams) when I am going off to sleep at night. I dont wish to pursue them in my waking hours too.


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01 Aug 2009, 7:06 am

Prof_Pretorius wrote:
A true classic ! !!

It's so well known that people still use the term "Orwellian" to describe something the bloody government is doing.
Much more realistic then "Brave New World", which is bit of a laugh these days ....


I just finished reading "Brave New World" yesterday. I don't see why its "a bit of a laugh these days" though. It seems more realistic than 1984.



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01 Aug 2009, 7:47 am

Prof_Pretorius wrote:
Might I recommend "Slaughterhouse Five"?? It's actually more of an autobiography of Vonnegut's experiences during WWII.

Fantastic book. So funny yet makes me cry also. As he says, he spent years trying to write about his experience of Dresden and just simply couldn't do it justice, put a story and characterisation down that conveyed what he felt. So instead, he ditches story and characterisation completely. Genius.



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12 Aug 2009, 3:21 pm

I have read 1984 in the original form some years ago while on holiday, I think it is great but animal farm is better. I have read Animal farm several times and I have seen two film versions of it. One was a cartoon version shot in a 1:1 aspect ratio (very rare) while the other was with fluffy animals (much like babe the pig). The latter was better.

In the second version the animals get rid of the pigs at the end of the film.


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ryan93
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12 Aug 2009, 3:40 pm

Quote:
In the second version the animals get rid of the pigs at the end of the film.


That's a pity, because I love the original ending. I guess they changed it because people hate sad endings :?


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Prof_Pretorius
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18 Aug 2009, 11:59 am

Seems to be an almost daily thing, that I hear the term 'Orwellian' on the radio. Is there any other writer whose name is used so often?
Perhaps Kafka, but only among intellectuals. I imagine that if I said something is 'Kafkaesque' the person I was speaking would have no idea.

Orwell summed up so many ideas so expertly, he was the Tolkien of politics.


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