Monday 3 December 2012

BOOK REVIEW: 1984 by George Orwell

Title: 1984
Author: George Orwell
This edition: Anniversary Edition, Paperback, Penguin Books (2009)
Pages: 355
Tagline: 'War is peace, Freedom is slavery, Ignorance is strength'

 
 Summary...
"Written in 1948, 1984 was George Orwell's chilling prophecy about the future. And while 1984 has come and gone, Orwell's narrative is timelier than ever. 1984 presents a startling and haunting vision of the world, so powerful that it is completely convincing from start to finish. No one can deny the power of this novel, its hold on the imaginations of multiple generations of readers, or the resiliency of its admonitions a legacy that seems only to grow with the passage of time.(Goodreads)
My thoughts...
 
I read The Hunger Games about three years ago and fell in love with the dystopian genre; since then I have read many of the countless other dystopians that seem to have recently flooded the YA genre. Seriously. I have read A LOT of dystopians, and A LOT of them have been amazing, and I have loved A LOT of them. So, it was probably about time that I read a classic dystopian, I thought. 1984 was the obvious choice (and I intend to read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley sometime soon too.) 
I know that a lot of teenagers will be deterred by the idea of ‘classics’ – for some, they conjure up the image of musty, old-fashioned books – but I loved 1984. It was completely on a whole different level to all the ‘modern dystopians’ I have been reading recently. Not to discredit any of those at all, but 1984 honestly is in a league of its own.

The world created by Orwell is fascinating and so plausibly and realistically portrayed that I felt, not like I was reading a fictional novel, but a real, non-fiction account of what actually happened in 1984. That’s how believable Orwell’s writing was. I think what may have added to the depth of the dystopian world created in 1984, as opposed to other dystopians I have read, was that there was a political background and reasoning given for how things were the way they were.

I found it absolutely fascinating to contemplate some of the concepts of the 1984 world. Could it really be possible to keep a whole population docile by limiting their vocabulary, thus not giving them a means to express any disagreement or dissent? Could it really be possible to effectively wipe out everyone’s memory of the past by continually changing it to fit whatever version of events the government wished to tell? Would people actually accept this? Would they, or the majority at least, remain oblivious to what the government was doing?

This dystopian world that Orwell created is one of the most shocking I have read about, and it is made all the more terrifying by how realistically it is portrayed. I strongly recommend this to anyone who enjoys the dystopian genre, and, in fact, to anyone who wishes simply to read a truly praiseworthy novel.

Sunday 2 December 2012

Best Of The Bunch - November 2012


"Best of the Bunch is a monthly wrap-up and award ceremony hosted [at Always Lost in Stories] on the last day of each month, where we can look back over the books we have read and give a Best of the Bunch award to our favourite book of that month"

I just stumbled across this meme and thought it sounded fun so I'm going to give it a go! :)

This month I read...
  1. Pandemonium (Delirium #2) by Lauren Oliver
  2. Die For Me by Amy Plum
  3. 1984 by George Orwell
  4. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
  5. Rebel Heart (Blood Red Road #2) by Moira Young
  6. Losing Lila (Lila #2)  by Sarah Alderson

And the book I'm going to award the Best Of The Bunch Award for November is...

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green!!!!

"Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind."



This book has not just become my favourite book for November, but my favourite book of ALL TIME. It pains me somewhat to admit that, yes, it has in fact just pipped The Hunger Games as my favourite book...(although I do still love the Hunger Games!!!!) But The Fault In Our Stars seriously is a FANTABUMAZING book!!!! I don't know why I didn't pick it up sooner and I politely request demand that everyone who hasn't read it yet does so as soon as possible immediately.
 

 
 

Saturday 1 December 2012

The Dirt BLOG TOUR: Spotlight+Giveaway!


Hi there! Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for The Dirt by Lori Culwell, which is being hosted by AToMR Tours! For the full tour schedule, go here :)

Now, in case you're not really sure what The Dirt is about, here's a little bit of info...


Title: The Dirt
Author: Lori Culwell
Publisher: Booktrope Editions
Released: November 2011 

Book description:
Lucy Whitley cannot wait to get out of Palm Desert. It’s not a place for a frizzy-haired science nerd, particularly when her fashion-obsessed older sister Sloane is the head of a clique of pretty girls who rule the school—and practically the whole town.Fortunately, life is about to change forever. Lucy’s dad is getting re-married, and then she can transfer to a boarding school in Connecticut, escaping all the mean girls and the endless whispers about the Whitley family scandal. Everything is going to be perfect—as long as the wedding goes smoothly.

Links:

Amazon UK       Paperback         Kindle Edition
Amazon US       Paperback         Kindle Edition 
Barnes & Noble
Goodreads

Find the author on...

Facebook            Twitter                Her website

And now, for the bit you've all been waiting for...
The GIVEAWAYS!!!

There are two giveaway - one is open to US residents only and one is international. Here's what's up for grabs...
  1. 5 Paperback Copies of The Dirt (US only)
  2. 12 E-book Copies of The Dirt (Int.) 
Enter in the Rafflecopters below! :)

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

  a Rafflecopter giveaway