La Nausée by Jean-Paul Sartre
Walter said:1984 is something that took me a few years to appreciate. I remember finishing the book the first time, when I was still in high school, and after reading the last line, RIPPED THE BOOK into several portions. It was an infuriating experience. But now, two re-reads later, it's one of my favorite novels.
To fully appreciate it you have to take it in context with what Orwell was writing against - the spreading communist threat of Russia and the dying freedoms of Great Britain after World War II. The world he made in his novel was what he saw Britain becoming by 1984. Just before publishing it, he'd changed the title to 1948 since he'd recently become so incensed by the British government. But 1984 stuck.
The novel still holds up over time, and the radical in me can even see many of Orwell's dystopian ideas in our own society. Particularly Goldsteinism and the shifting enemy whom we're perpetually at war with (Afghanistan is evil! Kill Osama! No! Iraq is the enemy. Kill Saddam!).
The Wanting Seed.pippin22 said:I just read A Clockwork Orange and loved it. Can anyone recommend anything? I might get Crime & Punishment which I found in this thread.
I read this a couple years back. It definitely helps if you get a great annotated edition. Well, I'd even say it's impossible to read it without them, unless you're well versed in medieval italian history. Though, it gets old having to refer so often to researched information.fuxberg said:And I've been trying to read Dante's Divine Comedy, but it sure is difficult.
SaiyajinNoOuji said:Finished reading the 4th Vampire Hunter novel and I must say that its the best of the 4 that I have read so far. I guess since I already knew what was going to happen for the most part for the 1st and 3rd book so wasn't really surprised but the 4th left some loose ends that could change the entire world in there... which gets me really excited.
Another thing that I like about the books is that it goes into far more detail on what happened to the world and how it ended up to its present point. I am a huge sucker for a well developed story world. More info on the world and its history the better!