EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club discussion

Hello all - starting up discussions for the March 2017 BOTMs. This discussion is for the group's poll selection for the CLASSICS category: 1984 by George Orwell.

This discussion will be SPOILER-FREE. If you have read the book and want to discuss, hop on over to the spoiler-filled discussion HERE .

Happy reading!
Kasey

One of the best books I've ever read!
I'll be rereading 1984, this time in English. The one I read before was a Portuguese translation.
I read it first in... uh... 1976! :-) 40 years! :-O
I definitely shouldn't be telling everybody about that! :-)

This is the "classic" I've been working on for a little while now (classics always take me awhile to read). I am finding it pretty interesting so far.

Sigh. I try to borrow the majority of my books through the library ebook system and I am still waiting on this book. I may run to the library and see if they have an actual copy.

Mary wrote: "Sigh. I try to borrow the majority of my books through the library ebook system and I am still waiting on this book. I may run to the library and see if they have an actual copy."

Do you have Amazon Prime? It's free on Kindle for members.

No way! Thanks Abby! I thought I had to have Kindle Unlimited in addition to Prime. But just looked and you are right :-) :-)

Mary wrote: "No way! Thanks Abby! I thought I had to have Kindle Unlimited in addition to Prime. But just looked and you are right :-) :-)"

Yeah, it's a new thing they just started. Lots of great free books!

I read this in high school, and I remember quite a bit of it although a lot of years have gone by! Such a dreadful society! However, I am re-reading it, beginning today. : )

I'm falling behind! I read The Circle and now I'm reading The Shack for my local book club, I will start reading this after I finish The Shack. April reads will be 1984, Neverwhere, Little Women, and The Shining! Quite the challenge! But what an awesome selection :)

Don't you worry, Sarah! I'm way behind you! :-)

I'm stuck with my oversized Alice project, was willing to read The Circle and reread 1984 in March, but haven't even started either! :-)

That's why I settled a smaller, 9 books a year goal here, there are always other reading projects as well as everything else in a competition for our free time!

I hear ya, Marcos! Also, I didn't even know about The Circle until you mentioned it in suggestion! I told my local book club about it and we are going to see the movie when it comes out. :) It kinda goes along with the Big Brother theme of 1984, actually!

I'm very behind also, maybe ten pages in! Good challenge for April Sarah!

So glad I'm not alone! I still am reading Neverwhere and just starting 1984! But I probably won't re-read The Shining in April, so that makes it easier.

I read this book one summer when I was in middle or high school because it seemed to be on all of the Lists of Books To Read the teachers would give us. I did not understand a thing, I'm pretty sure, and do not remember a whole lot.

I have been meaning to revisit it to see if I get more out of it and this will be a great push :) I have a few other books to read first, but they should be quick and then I will jump right in! Can't wait to see everyone's discussion!

I am still working my way through IQ84. IQ*4 is a loosely based homage to 1984. IQ84 sold out on it first day in j Japan. I am looking forward to comparing the two

True! I just finished 1Q84 as well so it will be interesting to see the similarities and differences.

I tried reading this when i was 15 but i didn't finish it. I had just started reading books in english and my language skills weren't that good, so i think that's why i had trouble getting into it.
Six years later i feel confident enough to try again :D So i'm starting in the next few days.

I just read Fahrenheit 451 last month and all of this ragged oppressive futuristic landscape has got me feeling pretty worried about about our future. Especially when the authors write about situations/ inventions/ect. and they end up being real things in 2018.

My sister bought this for me when i was 14. I have not read it in a while but I'm excited to dust it off and refresh my memory!

I'm.looking forward to reading this book, a book that colleagues have been bragging about for years. I hope to come away slightly more enlightened and even more critical of governments..

**also first time in this reading group, will be interesting to see periodically Al updates

I've been meaning to read this book for forever. I've had a copy of it on my Kindle for years. Commenting here to maybe make it known I plan to read, so maybe I will be more likely to actually read it! Looking forward to discussing in the spoiler thread once I get into it.

I've read this a few times and it never gets old. I saw saw the play in New York which was phenomenal, if a bit... gory. It's sadly relevant, just like The Handmaid's Tale.

Great great novel!

I read this when I was at school in the late 70s. We also read Z for Zachariah, Brave New World and Animal Farm that year. As well as Logans Run and a few other dystopian novels. They made Logan’s Run into a movie a few years before as well. The exam that year had a “nuclear holocaust” vibe about it. Well we were in the Cold War and always worried about idiots dropping the bomb. And here we are again in 2018 worrying about the same thing. Same countries, different idiots.

I’ve reread 1984 and Animal Farm again a few times over the years. I still love them.

I remember the movie Logan's Run. I think I may watch it again. I wonder if it stood the test of time.

We were talking about old people and looking after the old the other day (my FIL is 90 and lives by himself and I spend a lot of time away from my home keeping an eye on him) and my daughter (24) mentioned that one day we might only be let live until a certain age and then killed. This from a child who has never read, seen or even heard about Logan’s Run. She sees it as the way the world is heading what with droughts and famine and the population exceeding what the world can handle and the increasing number of homeless due to unemployment etc. Slowly yes but surely. I hope not. I’m 54. I’d be getting to the top of the list pretty soon.

I believe the idea holds up quite well but whether or not the mid 70s sets and acting does is a different matter lol

Beg pardon, moderator, but I will continue the hijack of the thread! For just a minute...

I know personally of two elderly people in my senior park who intentionally are starving or starved to die because tired of the medical and financial drama. My mother-in-law told her son in her hospital bed she wished her daughter would stop saving her. We hear all of the time save save save money for retirement, but 1. One or two major illnesseses take all the savings; 2. Doctors can't fix everything by pill or surgery; 3. some old people hate being a weak invalid for the rest of their years - semi-blind, can't hear, can't taste, falls, bed-wetting, shuffle to walk, do not understand TV, books, conversations.

I would not want a 1984 Big Brother, but the general philosophy of live/let live social independence is failing the elderly.

Some people definitely can’t afford to be old or don’t want to be due to illness or whatever. Hence the argument for euthanasia BUT there are others who take life as it comes and enjoy every minute like my 90 year old father in law. He’s still fit and healthy thanks to a number of operations for new knees and eyes and a heart bypass. We live in Australia and he has excellent private health insurance as well as the National scheme so we don’t get big bills like America does. Thankfully. In fact pensioners get discounted medications and are usually bulk billed at the doctors so don’t have to pay anything to see a doctor.

He looks after himself and cooks for himself and cleans a bit (he’s just got a subsidised cleaner in which is good because he has never had great cleaning skills being a man who had all that done for him until his wife died 26 years ago). And he lives quite comfortably on the pension (Australia pays a pension from when you hit 65) and his superannuation that he has left. By the time we retire we will have to self fund though but there will be a backup of the pension if need be.

Whereas some people are ready to pop off at 70 (or even younger) others are still spry and full of life into their 90s.

There was an episode of Star Trek Voyager where people who were sick or who had become a burden or who were just sick of living would get into a device that actually killed them and they would disappear like in a transporter and go on to the Next Emination which was in fact a lot of rocks in a belt around a planet. Their conscious seemed to go off somewhere though.

Anyhoo....

Renee wrote: "I remember the movie Logan's Run. I think I may watch it again. I wonder if it stood the test of time."

I recently read Logan's Run and was impressed at how close the movie toed the line.

Hi Readers!

This is the Pre-Read thread for the March 2021 Catch-Up selection. This month we will be reading 1984 by George Orwell. Please note that this is a SPOILER FREE discussion.

Who's planning to join in on this read? What are your expectations in picking this book up? Why are you interested in this topic?

This was never a Required Read for me and has been on my To Read shelf for years... It's definitely time for me to give it a go.

hey! I love love to read 1984 this month. I have never read it before and I have a fair idea of what to except. I was looking for a buddy or a read along. I'm so glad I found it. when are we planning to start?

I've read 1984 before but will be rereading it in March. I've recently been reading more of Orwell's work so I'm excited to revisit arguably his most famous novel, and see if/how my opinion has changed.

I've never finished 1984. I read the first chapter, but then life got super busy. Really excited to read it though. Especially as every seems to be referencing it constantly in our COVID times.

Ananya wrote: "hey! I love love to read 1984 this month. I have never read it before and I have a fair idea of what to except. I was looking for a buddy or a read along. I'm so glad I found it. when are we planni..."

1984 is our March selection, when we will unlock the spoiler thread for discussion. But you can start reading whenever you wish. Enjoy!

great! thankyou for informing me.

I've read this one before, but I'll be joining in anyway! I think I read it when I was in high school. So my memory is pretty fuzzy.

I got halfway through this before and DNF. Idk just....wasn't really feeling it. I'm not sure why because I liked the concept but there was something not working for me

hi i read this a long time ago. I actually read it in 1984. How do the discussions work? I am lookingm forward them

It’s been on my shelf forever- hoping this will trigger me to actually read and finish it

I remember my English teacher assigning this book and saying that this was life changing for her. Sometimes I feel like we are getting more and more towards a 1984 universe than away from it.

The book was never discussed during school and I always kept putting it off - till now

I love this book and have read it many times. The 1st time, I was a bit too young to really enjoy it properly, esp. as I skipped the 'dictionary' type section about language in the middle of the book- MUST READ this section, ppl! I have read it 2 more times since then, but it has been awhile and I am ALwAYS up for re-reading Orwell! Cheers. --Jen from Quebec :0)

I just started this, today, and am really liking it. I haven't read this since I was required to for school.

I'll be joining in this classic read. I'm interested in how Orwell's 1949 vision matches current political trends. Should be a thought-provoking topic.

I'll be joining in this classic read. I'm interested in Orwell's because Internet freedom is declined in India and India moving into the Orwellian era where every movement is being monitored - not only bodily movements, but the likes and dislikes of an individual.

I have read Animal Farm but my high school read Brave New World instead of 1984, so I'm looking forward to finally reading this!

Renata wrote: "I'll be joining in this classic read. I'm interested in how Orwell's 1949 vision matches current political trends. Should be a thought-provoking topic."

Yes, an interesting comparison. I read the book some time ago but want to read it again. For those of us usually fortunate enough to live in relative freedom, the restrictions of the past year have probably made us rethink.

So I actually read this back im high school but I don’t really remember what happens so Im going to reread it with the group :)