I have just started reading George Orwell's 1984, so yes, I am 60 years behind the rest of the world! I have only read 30 pages so far, but already I am entranced... perhaps the book should have been titled 2010. Someone was talking to be about 1984 the other day, and I thought 'I really must read it' so now I am. There are so many things already that anger me about present-day society that I have found explained, like the term prolefeed to describe 'rubbishy newspapers containing almost nothing except sport, crime and astrology' (I see they had The Sun even then!) and crappy entertainment designed to anaesthetise the masses (so they also had ITV4).
I just finished The Comedians by Graham Greene, which is set in 1950s Haiti and really brings to life a vision of living there at such a volatile time in the country's history - obviously fictionalised, but from the Introduction, it appears that Graham Greene spent a lot of time in Port-au-Prince, and made quite an enemy of 'Papa Doc' Duvalier, who tried to discredit Greene's reputation. The themes include love, commitment, status and goodwill. It's a great book, but if, like me, you aren't fluent in French, you might want to have a French-English dictionary by your side, just so that you can get the best from the text.
I borrowed both of these books from the library (yay to libraries) but will probably buy them both anyway as they are well worth another read. Away to zShops...
