1984 by George Orwell **spoiler warning**

Painting found on Pinterest. Artist unknown.

1984 was always one of those novels that I heard a lot about, but somehow never read. Its not that it did not interest me, I think it is more that I was just waiting for when the time felt right. Granted, when I did decide to read it, I did not have that moment of saying: "Oh, now is definitely the time to read this book". But I think that somewhere in my subconscious I knew it would be prudent. It is a novel many today are referencing,  and in the current political climate I try to be informed and knowledgeable. Thus, when our March Audible came around, I decided to listen to 1984.

Listening to this book gave it even more of a horrific air, I felt. Although I do wish to someday reread this book and actually hold the novel and take notes and so on. But I am glad that I decided to listen to it because the narrator did an amazing job. The inflections and tones were all perfect and I think George Orwell would have been proud. It gave me the chance to work through the book more quickly, as well. I happened to have a lot of driving to do in the past couple of weeks so I would just connect my phone and listen to the book.

This novel is profound. It is part philosophy, part political theory, and part essay on the human condition and what it can handle. There is so much packed into it that I know I missed things. The general basis of the story is that all of Britain, which is now Oceania, is ruled by INGSOC or English Socialism. INGSOC is headed by Big Brother, who has a religious and cult like reverence about him, and has four main ministries. The Ministry of Love, which ironically focuses on hate and keeping up with "the two-minutes hate" and "hate week", moments where everyone is required to watch films of the "enemy" Goldstein and scream at the tele-screens and just get into a general state of mania. The Ministry of Truth, which focuses on changing the past via rewriting news articles and stories. The main character of Winston Smith works at this ministry. The Ministry of Peace, which deals with war and the military. And the Ministry of Plenty, which deals with economics, or rather, creating scarcity. There are also three main parties: Inner Party, those who are at the top of the top economically and politically, the Outer Party which contains those who work in the ministries, and the Proles who are the bottom 85% of the population. This is just a brief summary of the main political themes within the story. There is also the detail that everyone is always watched via the tele-screens that litter the streets and are in every office and every home. There is the fear of being arrested by the "thought-police" for something as small as a wrong facial expression. There is a language called "new-speak" the main goal of which is to do away eventually with all language and thought. Overall, it is a terrifying climate.

Winston begins the novel beginning a diary. He knows that just by buying the journal he could be arrested and by further writing in it he is sure to die, but something in him propels him to write down his thoughts. His thoughts are even worse for he hates Big Brother and wants to have sex and wants to think. However, he is able to get away with his secret diary for quite some time. The novel mainly follows him in his day to day life and through his thoughts about any and every thing. Eventually he begins an affair with someone he works with, Julia, and they are even able to keep this a secret. But of course, they are caught. There are moments where I thought they would not be, that maybe they would get away and they would be able to change the world, but it was not to be. The entire third part of the novel deals with Winston being arrested and tortured and essentially brainwashed. By the end, he loves Big Brother and his whole thought process has changed, and then he is shot.

I loved the end of the book. Well, not because Winston died, but because Orwell did not give the book a cheap finale. He stuck to his guns about the philosophy and the power of Oceania and Big Brother and so it was more believable of an end. The finality of it was perfection. There is no escaping or changing Big Brother.

I have a thousand thoughts about the philosophy and politics in the book, but this is a book blog and not a political blog so I don't want to take this post there. Just know that 1984 will make you think but it will also terrify you. I did not love any of the main characters but I don't think that as the point anyway. I think the characters served as vessels for the philosophy to be written out. The point of the novel was not Winston Smith, it was INGSOC. And that is why it remains such a poignant and relevant novel sixty-eight years later.

In conclusion, 1984 is quite the novel. My husband and I joked that it should be required reading before people are allowed to vote. (Of course we don't mean this.) But the meaning behind the joke is that there is a lot to process from the novel. It talks so much about the consequences of not thinking for oneself and what that can do. Or even the consequences of putting total trust in the government. Even if you don't care about all of the politics, it is still interesting because it keeps you on the edge of your seat. The whole book is filled with the threat of Big Brother and the thought-police. So if you just want a good thriller of sorts, 1984 would fill that criteria. Whatever the reason for you deciding to read this book, do so soon. It is a novel that speaks a lot about current times and serves as a warning to us all. 

Happy 1 Year Anniversary!

The actual 1 year anniversary was actually March 11, but since I try to post every Friday I decided to wait until today to write a small piece.

First of all, I want to say thank you so much to all of you who have stuck with me through this past year. Thank you for caring what I think about what I read. Thank you for sharing my posts with your friends. Thank you for being here!

Second, this is a huge achievement for me. I have tried in the past to keep blogs and write consistently but it always fails. Some of these include random personal blogs, music blogs, and more. I guess it makes sense that a book review blog would be the one I stick with, but it just astounds me since this past year was the hardest of my life. Yet I still was able to keep up with reading and reviewing.

Lastly, I wanted to share a few fun statistics! The most viewed review was Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds at 256 views. The least viewed review was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling at 21 views. (This made me a bit sad as my favorite reviews were all of my Harry Potter reviews). My facebook page has 63 likes, which makes sense since I get an average of 50-60 views per review. Overall, I have reviewed 31 books on this blog.

I intend to keep reading and reviewing as much as possible! This year I want to involve my readers more and hopefully see more engagement and sharing. If you have suggestions or requests for things you would like to see, please comment below! And if you have ever enjoyed any of my reviews, please share my blog with others, I would appreciate it so much.

 Look for my review of 1984 by George Orwell next Friday and have a lovely evening!!

A Certain Age by Beatriz Williams **Spoiler Alert**

Snapshot of one of my afternoons this week.

This book was one of two gifted to me for my twenty-third birthday this year. I had not heard of it before but was eager to dive in since A Certain Age is set in the 1920s, one of my favorite time periods. I had also not heard of Beatriz Williams, although after reading this book I am looking forward to reading her other novels. Thus, I went into this book knowing very little about it which is what made it such a delight to read. And I did read it very quickly.

A Certain Age begins as a story about love and adultery but turns into a story about secrets and murder. The easy way with which it picks up the pace was admirable. I loved that one minute I was engrossed in the love affair between Theresa and Octavian, and the next minute I was dying to know all of the details of the murder of Mrs. Faninal. The novel reminded me very much of The Great Gatsby for this reason, although TGG starts out with a touch of mystery.

There were other similarities as well between A Certain Age and The Great Gatsby such as the tension between old and new money and the struggles of love in that type of society. Both of these novels ended with gunshots as well. Although the end of A Certain Age was less of a relief because I was left heartbroken for Theresa and her baby, which Octavian never finds out about. At least at the end of TGG I know that Gatsby is out of his misery.

I deeply appreciated that the author did not tie up the ending and left much to be thought about and considered. It proved to me just how much I cared about Theresa and what happened to her in the end. I never cared much about Sophie and I think part of it had to do with the fact that Sophie's sections are told in third person, whereas Theresa's sections are told in first person. The book just felt more about Theresa overall.

In conclusion, I enjoyed A Certain Age. I am not sure if it is a book I will reread, but it is one I know I will think about often. It was a nice book to have with me through this past week and I was constantly waiting to get back to the story when I was away from it. I would recommend this book, especially if you love mystery or the 1920s or love affairs or all of the above.

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

I am not going to go on my Neil Gaiman spiel for the umpteenth time. If you are a new reader please feel free to click on the "NeilGaiman" tag and that will take you to previous posts! What I will say is that when I found out he was coming out with his own retelling of his favorite myths, I was very excited and also unsure of what to expect.

I know very little about Norse mythology. There are bits of it in other Gaiman books and bits of it in the Marvel universe and so on, but that is where the knowledge stops. I have spent more of my life interested in Greek mythology and thus have more knowledge of its tales. So after finishing Norse Mythology, while I enjoyed it, I felt that I would have enjoyed it that much more if I actually knew about the tales he was retelling. Because to me this book just read like any other mythology book, including my favorite Mythology by Edith Hamilton; which is to the book and Neil's credit of course. Sometimes telling a tale simply can be harder than telling it on a grander scale. So I enjoyed seeing Neil work wit this kind of storytelling and excel at it. I am sure his passion for these myths is what helped him do that.

Even though I did not feel a deep connection with this book, I did read it very quickly. And I particularly loved the myth "The Mead of Poets". Each myth had some deep wisdom within it, as well as a touch of Neil Gaiman. So devouring this book came from ease and enjoyment and not from a need to finish it so it could be over.

Norse Mythology is not a book I would recommend as an introduction to Neil Gaiman The Author. Rather, it is a book I would recommend if you love Norse mythology or myths in general, or if you have read other Gaiman books. It is a book I would recommend for you to take on a short trip or read when you need to forget about other things going on in your life. Overall, this book will make you smile and think and want to learn more if you don't already have that knowledge. This book is a beautiful reminder of simpler times and simpler tales and why those tales are so important.