Nineteen Eighty-Four (George Orwell) - Page 2

Shawnee123 · 03-14-2010, 10:31 AM

And now, you're BRILLIANT!

Sundae · 03-15-2010, 01:16 PM

I read 1984 when I was 12. My sister was 14 and studying it at school. She came home and said, "We're reading this really amazing book..." and my sister was never an enthusiastic reader. So I pinched her copy one weekend and couldn't put it down. I simply couldn't relate to some of it, but "You are the dead" gave me a physical fear reaction.

The one I feel I read far too young was The Lord of the Flies. I've said before that it shocked me deeply. A kind of internal shudder akin to an ice cube down the back of the neck. Like some people's first (too-early) experience of pron. The horror of that book stayed with me for years.

Pete Zicato · 03-15-2010, 02:35 PM

Mrs. Z teaches it in her 7th grade lit. class.

Pie · 03-15-2010, 04:05 PM

Start her with: 1984, Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World.

Don't let her read William Burroughs' The Naked Lunch when she's 14, please. Wait till she's... say, 50.

However, I recommend William Gibson's Neuromancer to anyone with a pulse. And Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Dick. The Lathe of Heaven, Ursula Le Guin. The Diamond Age, also Stephenson.

monster · 03-15-2010, 11:55 PM

She HATES Ursula Le Guin after Wrinkle. Brave New World I think is a bit meh if you haven't experienced workplace type politics. Have you read Hunger Games, Pie? I'd be interested to hear your take on it. (Yes, it's a teen book)

Crimson Ghost · 03-16-2010, 12:08 AM

I read '1984' in 1984 for a book report.
If memory serves, I got an A.
Something about a 13 year old submitting book reports on '1984', 'Clockwork Orange', and 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' REALLY unnerved the teacher.

DanaC · 03-16-2010, 06:05 AM

Clockwork Orange was another book that our English teacher turned us onto. He was a brilliant English teacher. He gave us really cool stuff to read outside of the syllabus. Catch 22 was one he got me into as well. I still remember the passage he used with us for a language exercise; it was the bit in the plane when Yossarian realises the other guy's been hit by shrapnel, and his guts are hanging out.

Trilby · 03-16-2010, 07:09 AM

never read 1984 OR Animal Farm OR Clockwork Orange.

Did read Naked Lunch and Fear of Flying as a tween. Liked Erica Jong - felt Burroughs was a tard but just prolly coz I couldn't figure out wtf was going on.

Bart and Milhouse come out of a theatre with the marquis NAKED LUNCH. Bart says, "I can think of two things wrong with that title."

Pie · 03-16-2010, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by monster

She HATES Ursula Le Guin after Wrinkle. Brave New World I think is a bit meh if you haven't experienced workplace type politics. Have you read Hunger Games, Pie? I'd be interested to hear your take on it. (Yes, it's a teen book)

Wrong author -- Madeleine L'Engle wrote A Wrinkle in Time. Ursula K. Le Guin wrote the Earthsea series (highly recommended).

I found the religious themes of L'Engle's works to be utterly heavy-handed. Le Guin, on the other hand, explicitly turns Christian themes on their heads.

Quote:

This is a writer who – in the 1960's, decades before Harry Potter and all that – simply seized the patriarchal-Christian fantasy tradition laid down by Lewis and Tolkien by the scruff of its neck and reimagined it from a feminist, post-Judaeo-Christian point of view.

Le Guin rocks.

No, I haven't read Hunger Games. I will look it up!

monster · 03-16-2010, 10:22 AM

Gawd I must've been tired

We read wrinkle and earthsea back to back as bedtime stories. That's my defence and I'm sticking to it. I'm not a huge fan either. Hebe was kind of ambivalent about Earthsea, but it was a while ago -it may be time for a revisit.

Pie · 03-16-2010, 10:32 AM

The fourth book in the Earthsea series (Tehanu) is much more feminist and a little less D&D-ish.

jinx · 03-16-2010, 10:36 AM

The boy, 11, read Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies this year. I don't know if I would even recommend 1984 to him... I was pretty meh about it myself.

wolf · 03-16-2010, 11:22 AM

I love 1984, read it in early high school, IIRC, although I have memories of seeing the original black and white movie version prior to that. The events in room 101 are a bit heavy for a preteen or tween, but contextually a lot better than that Twilight crap, so I'd say let the kid loose on it, and be available for any questions.

toranokaze · 03-24-2010, 10:25 AM

1984, Brave New World. Is the day to day life. We are kept we are monitored, I see no hope.

Urbane Guerrilla · 03-25-2010, 10:42 PM

I gave Earthsea a try recently. Got through two and a half of the books before losing interest. Nothing seems to happen in those tales, and they move at the pace of a Swedish film. Frankly, give me LotR for satisfaction of the mature reader -- and HP, all seven books, for the less mature. Also for the slightly better love scenes.

1984 and Lord of the Flies were teenage fare for me. Fear Of Flying was not an erotic novel. It was a neurotic novel. For erotic, give me Phil Foglio any day.

03-14-2010, 10:31 AM	#16
Shawnee123 Why, you're a regular Alfred E Einstein, ain't ya? Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 21,206	And now, you're BRILLIANT! __________________ A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones who need the advice. --Bill Cosby

03-15-2010, 01:16 PM	#17
Sundae polaroid of perfection Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 24,185	I read 1984 when I was 12. My sister was 14 and studying it at school. She came home and said, "We're reading this really amazing book..." and my sister was never an enthusiastic reader. So I pinched her copy one weekend and couldn't put it down. I simply couldn't relate to some of it, but "You are the dead" gave me a physical fear reaction. The one I feel I read far too young was The Lord of the Flies. I've said before that it shocked me deeply. A kind of internal shudder akin to an ice cube down the back of the neck. Like some people's first (too-early) experience of pron. The horror of that book stayed with me for years. __________________ Life's hard you know, so strike a pose on a Cadillac

03-15-2010, 02:35 PM	#18
Pete Zicato Turns out my CRS is a symptom of TMB. Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Chicago suburbs Posts: 2,916	Mrs. Z teaches it in her 7th grade lit. class. __________________ Talk nerdy to me.

03-15-2010, 04:05 PM	#19
Pie Gone and done Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 4,808	Start her with: 1984, Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World. *Don't* let her read William Burroughs' The Naked Lunch when she's 14, please. Wait till she's... say, 50. However, I recommend William Gibson's Neuromancer to anyone with a pulse. And Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Dick. The Lathe of Heaven, Ursula Le Guin. The Diamond Age, also Stephenson. __________________ per·son \ˈpər-sən\ (noun) - an ephemeral collection of small, irrational decisions The fun thing about evolution (and science in general) is that it happens whether you believe in it or not.

03-15-2010, 11:55 PM	#20
monster I hear them call the tide Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Perpetual Chaos Posts: 30,852	She HATES Ursula Le Guin after Wrinkle. Brave New World I think is a bit meh if you haven't experienced workplace type politics. Have you read Hunger Games, Pie? I'd be interested to hear your take on it. (Yes, it's a teen book) __________________ The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity Amelia Earhart

03-16-2010, 12:08 AM	#21
Crimson Ghost Larger than life and twice as ugly. Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 5,264	I read '1984' in 1984 for a book report. If memory serves, I got an A. Something about a 13 year old submitting book reports on '1984', 'Clockwork Orange', and 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' REALLY unnerved the teacher. __________________ We must all go through a rite of passage. It must be physical, it must be painful, and it must leave a mark. I have no knowledge of the events which you are describing, and if I did have knowledge of them, I would be unable to discuss them with you now or at any future period. Don't waste your time always searching for those wasted years

03-16-2010, 07:09 AM	#23
Trilby Slattern of the Swail Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 15,654	never read 1984 OR Animal Farm OR Clockwork Orange. Did read Naked Lunch and Fear of Flying as a tween. Liked Erica Jong - felt Burroughs was a tard but just prolly coz I couldn't figure out wtf was going on. Bart and Milhouse come out of a theatre with the marquis NAKED LUNCH. Bart says, "I can think of two things wrong with that title." __________________ In Barrie's play and novel, the roles of fairies are brief: they are allies to the Lost Boys, the source of fairy dust and ...They are portrayed as dangerous, whimsical and extremely clever but quite hedonistic. "Shall I give you a kiss?" Peter asked and, jerking an acorn button off his coat, solemnly presented it to her. —James Barrie Wimminfolk they be tricksy. - ZenGum

03-16-2010, 10:22 AM	#25
monster I hear them call the tide Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Perpetual Chaos Posts: 30,852	Gawd I must've been tired We read wrinkle and earthsea back to back as bedtime stories. That's my defence and I'm sticking to it. I'm not a huge fan either. Hebe was kind of ambivalent about Earthsea, but it was a while ago -it may be time for a revisit. __________________ The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity Amelia Earhart

03-16-2010, 10:32 AM	#26
Pie Gone and done Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 4,808	The fourth book in the Earthsea series (Tehanu) is much more feminist and a little less D&D-ish. __________________ per·son \ˈpər-sən\ (noun) - an ephemeral collection of small, irrational decisions The fun thing about evolution (and science in general) is that it happens whether you believe in it or not.

03-16-2010, 10:36 AM	#27
jinx Come on, cat. Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: general vicinity of Philadelphia area Posts: 7,013	The boy, 11, read Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies this year. I don't know if I would even recommend 1984 to him... I was pretty meh about it myself. __________________ Crying won't help you, praying won't do you no good.

03-16-2010, 11:22 AM	#28
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	I love 1984, read it in early high school, IIRC, although I have memories of seeing the original black and white movie version prior to that. The events in room 101 are a bit heavy for a preteen or tween, but contextually a lot better than that Twilight crap, so I'd say let the kid loose on it, and be available for any questions. __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

03-24-2010, 10:25 AM	#29
toranokaze I'm still a jerk Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Little Mexico Posts: 1,817	1984, Brave New World. Is the day to day life. We are kept we are monitored, I see no hope. __________________ "Without deviation from the norm progress is not possible." - Frank Zappa It is the ignorance of ignorance that lead to the death of knowledge The Virgin Mary does not weep for her son, for he is in paradise. She weeps for the world , for we are in suffering.

03-25-2010, 10:42 PM	#30
Urbane Guerrilla Person who doesn't update the user title Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Southern California Posts: 6,674	I gave Earthsea a try recently. Got through two and a half of the books before losing interest. Nothing seems to happen in those tales, and they move at the pace of a Swedish film. Frankly, give me LotR for satisfaction of the mature reader -- and HP, all seven books, for the less mature. Also for the slightly better love scenes. 1984 and Lord of the Flies were teenage fare for me. Fear Of Flying was not an erotic novel. It was a neurotic novel. For erotic, give me Phil Foglio any day. __________________ Wanna stop school shootings? End Gun-Free Zones, of course.

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