I just read this blog and thought you might be interested... I know some of the books they talk about are on the Penguin Classics list!
http://readandlead.blogspot.com/2010/05/literary-monster-mashups.html
*"Monster Mashups" makes me think simultaneously of "the Monster Mash" and mashups from Glee!
Monday, May 17, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
1984
Added another to my favorites from this list. From the moment I started reading it, I was hooked. But of course, I love stories like this.
If you don't know, it is about a man living in the futuristic dystopian where the Party rules. The citizens are always being watched, and people are persecuted for crimes they didn't commit.. if the party was suspicious of you, you were erased from existence.. past, present, and future.
The over-arching theme I found in this book was the fact that humans, with enough force behind it, can ignore anything and be convinced of anything.. and how terrifying that fact is. Especially with everything that's going on with this Teaparty shit and Obama is a socialist nonsense, it's timely.
Orwell's vision was epic. The idea of Newspeak was brilliant. To systematically narrow language so there is no free thinking is so obvious, but something that is completely out of reach of most minds. I never would have thought of that, though I know very well that our language forms everything around us.
I felt, largely, that this was not about the story. Normally that's not something I would be thrilled about, but Orwell did it brilliantly. He was painting the future--his vision of hell--and not the life of this man. I think if he was trying to write a story and not a snapshot of the future, he would have had Winston overcome the Party's brainwashing. I wish he would have committed suicide when he was released from the Party, but he didn't. He eventually gave in and loved Big Brother. But it's not about Winston--it's about the weakness of the human race, the nightmare our nature holds.
This is why I started this list, to encounter brilliant minds like Orwell's.
If you don't know, it is about a man living in the futuristic dystopian where the Party rules. The citizens are always being watched, and people are persecuted for crimes they didn't commit.. if the party was suspicious of you, you were erased from existence.. past, present, and future.
The over-arching theme I found in this book was the fact that humans, with enough force behind it, can ignore anything and be convinced of anything.. and how terrifying that fact is. Especially with everything that's going on with this Teaparty shit and Obama is a socialist nonsense, it's timely.
Orwell's vision was epic. The idea of Newspeak was brilliant. To systematically narrow language so there is no free thinking is so obvious, but something that is completely out of reach of most minds. I never would have thought of that, though I know very well that our language forms everything around us.
I felt, largely, that this was not about the story. Normally that's not something I would be thrilled about, but Orwell did it brilliantly. He was painting the future--his vision of hell--and not the life of this man. I think if he was trying to write a story and not a snapshot of the future, he would have had Winston overcome the Party's brainwashing. I wish he would have committed suicide when he was released from the Party, but he didn't. He eventually gave in and loved Big Brother. But it's not about Winston--it's about the weakness of the human race, the nightmare our nature holds.
This is why I started this list, to encounter brilliant minds like Orwell's.
hitopadesa
[note: I finished this a couple weeks ago, just been busy]
Hitopadesa, by Narayana, was composed from multiple Sanskrit fables and maxims some time between 800 and 950. It is the story of a king who must find a way to teach his three sons the virtues of being a king and what it means to be a good person. They will not listen to the king when he tries to teach them, and a priest volunteers to use his methods to make them listen. He tells them a series of stories about animals, and using unique situations he applies the maxims of kingship and virtue through them. The stories are separated into four books, one on gaining friends, one on splitting partners, one on war, and one on peace.
It was interesting to see how basic qualities of human relationships were expressed through the Sanskrit maxims and personified in animals. And of course, the simple fact that texts like these prove no matter how complex society gets, relationships between people stay the same. The stories were quirky, the animals believable and likable.
The structure confused me at times, because the way it was set up it would have a story within a story within a story, and sometimes I would forget what the original story was about.
Overall, it was an interesting read. I enjoyed it, but I always enjoy a peak into an ancient culture!
Hitopadesa, by Narayana, was composed from multiple Sanskrit fables and maxims some time between 800 and 950. It is the story of a king who must find a way to teach his three sons the virtues of being a king and what it means to be a good person. They will not listen to the king when he tries to teach them, and a priest volunteers to use his methods to make them listen. He tells them a series of stories about animals, and using unique situations he applies the maxims of kingship and virtue through them. The stories are separated into four books, one on gaining friends, one on splitting partners, one on war, and one on peace.
It was interesting to see how basic qualities of human relationships were expressed through the Sanskrit maxims and personified in animals. And of course, the simple fact that texts like these prove no matter how complex society gets, relationships between people stay the same. The stories were quirky, the animals believable and likable.
The structure confused me at times, because the way it was set up it would have a story within a story within a story, and sometimes I would forget what the original story was about.
Overall, it was an interesting read. I enjoyed it, but I always enjoy a peak into an ancient culture!
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