The Lusciously Lovely Literary Thread

[sem34090]

Good Evening All.

 

In the line of duty a polic... 

 

Ahem! This isn't Dock Green.

 

Having started a musical thread with some apparent success, I thought I'd do the same for books and other literary works. The music thread was inspired by listening to something, and the literary thread here has been inspired by my currently reading Eric Ar... I mean, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, again. It's been an interval of about two years, but I'm enjoying it even more now (as a student studying the novel) than I did then.

Now, one question that I've asked myself is this: What is to stop a party member from becoming a prole? Would it even be possible to vanish into the great mass of the proles? The latter is doubtful, but could it be done?

And I know it's been discussed on here before, and a forum literary thread isn't exactly the place to ask it, but any ideas on the railways of Nineteen Eighty-Four? Actually, I think I'll just try and find the original thread for that one...

 

So, here is the thread! I have kept the title intentionally vague so as to allow not only the discussion of reading and books, but also the inclusion of forum members' own work.

 

Goodnight All.

[Ozexpatriate]

Now, one question that I've asked myself is this: What is to stop a party member from becoming a prole? Would it even be possible to vanish into the great mass of the proles? The latter is doubtful, but could it be done?

Well,

1. It is THOUGHTCRIME
2. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING
3. The party member would have to become an unvapourized unperson. (Only someone inside MINILUV could put all the party member's records in the memory hole and do so without vapourizing them.) That is THOUGHTCRIME for the MINILUV accomplice. (see 1).

Why would you want to? Doesn't everyone love BIG BROTHER?

 

WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AT WAR WITH WESTASIA

[sem34090]

Fair comment, comrade.

[dvdlcs]

For the last 5 years or so, I've been tracking what I have read via the Goodreads site.

 

In the main the usual selection of contemporary fiction, biographies etc. but there are some books that may be of interest to others :-)

 

This year I re-read a couple of chemistry books: Excuse Me Sir, Would You Like to Buy a Kilo of Isopropyl Bromide? by Max Gergel about his experiences with organic chemistry in the 1950s and Ignition! by John D. Clark on the development of liquid rocket fuels in the late 1940s through to the early 1960s. Both fairly entertaining, you don't need a huge chemistry background to appreciate some of the (hair-raising) things that they did although some knowledge in the area would be useful.

 

A book that may be of interest for the Driving Standards thread - Roadcraft: The Essential Police Driver's Handbook.

 

And one for the music thread - Do Not Sell at Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World's Rarest 78rpm Records.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Eric was guessing (reasonably well). Read Eugenia Semyonovna Ginzburg's '(Journey) Into the Whirlwind' to doubleplus bad bellyfeel the reality.

[BoD]

I've just read 1984 and I don't remember it being that bad back then.

[peach james]

I've just read 1984 and I don't remember it being that bad back then.

 

That's because _in_ 1984, it didn't read like a training manual for the current lot of governments... (and I was 8 in 1984...)

[RedGemAlchemist]

That's because _in_ 1984, it didn't read like a training manual for the current lot of governments... (and I was 8 in 1984...)

Sadly yes that does seem to be the case.

 

On a more positive note I've myself been reading through Terry Pratchett's hilarious Discworld series of books. I'm currently on number 11, Reaper Man, but I actually own all of 1 to 16 also with numbers 21, 24 and 25.

 

"Yeah, I know what it's like. Tell someone you're dead and they look at you as if they've seen a ghost." That line in particular really makes me crack up.

Edited December 16, 2018 by RedGemAlchemist