#5: 1984 by George Orwell (15th - 23rd January)

It's terrifying how 1984 was written in 1949, but could have just as easily been written yesterday! 

I'm not really sure how to review this without spoiling the plot of the book because it is definitely a lot more than "Big Brother is watching you", but let's just say that it was mind boggling to read along with the psychological decimation of someone who starts off hating the establishment to the point where he vows to throw acid in a child's face if it means that the establishment will fall.

rating: 9/10 (would have been a 10, but there are certain parts that drag on for a while; there was a chapter that was almost 50 pages long! 😱)

final thoughts

Why is 1984 not required reading??? I am of the belief that if more people read 1984, then we would probably not be experiencing the extreme polarisation ergo vulnerability that we are in 2021.

words I picked up from 1984:

• acrid: "unpleasantly bitter or pungent" (is there such thing as pleasantly bitter? wait no, I forgot about coffee!)
• anodyne: dull, unlikely to be offensive
• countenance: a person's face/facial expressions
• demur: raise objections or show resistance
• fatuous: silly, pointless
• febrile: showing symptoms of a fever
• impudence: not showing respect for another person
• incredulity: the state of being unable or unwilling to believe something
• ossify: to turn into bone
• palimpset: a piece of writing that has new writing on top of it
• persiflage: light yet slightly contemptuous mocking
• sinecure: a position that requires little to no work, but still gives the person status and financial benefit
• timorous: suffering from nervousness and/or lack of confidence
• torpid: lethargic, mentally or physically