classics.....

i am an avid reader. have been my whole life. books have been a means of entertainment, friends, and at times an escape from the real world. books are amazing things. they have so many secret powers that many know about and others who know nothing. i am shocked when people say they aren't "readers". how can they not be? there are books on every subject known to man. things as complex as quantum physics and beyond to the simplicity and humor filled books on farts. and i'm proud to say, i've got two books on farts. they keep things from becoming too serious and provide many laughs.

i can't say that i have a specific love of any particular genre. i will read just about anything. from the "heaving bosoms and throbbing manhood" novels to classics such as austen, bronte', dickens, and more. but now that i'm helping at my daughter's school in a reading program, i've noticed quite a many book that scholars have noted as being "classics" and are on numerous "X number of books to read before you die" lists that i have not read. some of the books i've passed over in my years due to uncertainty of interest. but now with this time on my hands i thought i'd give them a go now. i says to myself "let's give these bitches a try" (i frequently find myself saying such things like this due in part to a wondrous website www.bluntcard.com that bitch says so much i wish i could just bluntly say an not get so many glares).

so, if anyone is actually reading this (which in my head, hundreds are, but i know really no one) i'm starting tonight with the classic: 1984 by george orwell. i know it's on reading list in high schools across america, it was on mine, but my english teacher passed it up for others classics by steinbeck and others. amazon has the description as the following:

Novel by George Orwell, published in 1949 as a warning about the menaces of totalitarianism. The novel is set in an imaginary future world that is dominated by three perpetually warring totalitarian police states. The book's hero, Winston Smith, is a minor party functionary in one of these states. His longing for truth and decency leads him to secretly rebel against the government. Smith has a love affair with a like-minded woman, but they are both arrested by the Thought Police. The ensuing imprisonment, torture, and reeducation of Smith are intended not merely to break him physically or make him submit but to root out his independent mental existence and his spiritual dignity. Orwell's warning of the dangers of totalitarianism made a deep impression on his contemporaries and upon subsequent readers, and the book's title and many of its coinages, such as NEWSPEAK, became bywords for modern political abuses. -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature

i don't really have any thoughts yet regarding this book. only passive interest right now. the first few paragraphs i've read so far have caught my eye, so we'll see how it holds me throughout the entire novel. when i'm done, i'll share my thoughts and views. if anyone IS reading this, please share your thoughts and views. i'm interested in knowing.