George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-four has been pulled out of the hat for this month’s Reading group. For our month commemorating the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, it may seem like a choice that is slightly from left-field. But as a book about totalitarianism that was published three years after Churchill made his famous iron curtain speech, it’s clearly relevant.
Harder to dispute is its status as a classic. It is tempting to label dissent in that regard a thoughtcrime – not least because of how this book has influenced the way we talk and think. Meanwhile, Nineteen Eighty-four is also a neat choice for this month’s Reading group because it follows so smoothly from our discussion of Kafka. Nineteen Eighty-four was clearly influenced by the Czech writer – and if any word is abused more often than Kafkaesque, it’s Orwellian.
We’ll get to that later on in the month. First, the thing to do is to read. To that end, we have 10 copies of Orwell’s novel to give away to the first 10 readers in the UK to post “I want a copy please” – along with a nice, constructive comment relevant to the book – in the comments section below. if you’re lucky enough to to be one of the first 10 to comment, don’t forget to email Laura Kemp (laura.kemp@theguardian.com), as we can’t track you down ourselves. Be nice to her, too.
In the meantime, all comments, suggestions for potential topics for discussion and opinions on George Orwell will be gratefully received. “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”
• Buy Nineteen Eighty-Four (Penguin Classics) for £7.64 with free UK p&p at the Guardian Bookshop, or call 0330-333 6846.
