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1984–is 2021 moving us into this future?
1984
by George Orwell
When I finished the first chapter of 1984, which introduces the very intrusive society of Oceania dominated by Big Brother and the Party, I was disquieted by what was happening in that society and the easy comparison to current events in the U.S. and around the world in 2020-2021. I knew I would return to the book, but immersed in the intensity of the total lack of personal freedom in this totalitarian regime, I allowed myself a few hours respite. I was only reading about it; what if I had to live it? George Orwell had my complete attention within the well-crafted words of the first few pages.
Winston Smith works in the Records Department at the Ministry of Truth where he rewrites the past to align it with current events. This process involves multiple revisions over time with all documentary evidence of a different previous reality immediately destroyed. He has a shabby existence—never enough food, a cold, dingy apartment, and most importantly the monitoring of every movement, facial expression, and utterance 24/7 by Big Brother through a telescreen. Even Big Brother’s eyes on giant posters seem to follow him. In this society, sex is allowed occasionally, but only for the sole purpose of procreation. Children belong to groups called “Spies;” and as they mature, they advance to the “Youth League.” Both organizations encourage their members to denounce their parents and other adults to the Thought Police for crimes of unorthodoxy. Party members engage in Two Minutes Hate daily to keep their loathing at a high level and focused on the internal threat, The Enemy of the People, and on the external threat, whatever group of countries is supposedly currently at war with Oceania.
Winston internally rebels, and 1984 charts the expression of his rebellion as well as the consequences. His parents were disappeared when he was ten or eleven. Using doublethink to convince the population that what is, isn’t and Newspeak to provide a minimal language in which it is impossible to express certain ideas, Big Brother (the Party) gains control of minds subtly, but effectively. We are, sadly, seeing a version of that today with censorship and mind control by main stream media as they tell us what to think and say and try to shame those who disagree. It is echoed in our educational system that stresses rote learning, eliminates creativity, and insists on social, political, and religious “correctness.” We are in a season that calls us to read or reread 1984 before this work of fiction becomes reality and is banned.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Fiction
Notes: 1. In the Signet Classic version, there is an afterword by Erich Fromm, a psychoanalyst who moved from Nazi Germany to the U.S. in 1934. This essay is about several books, including 1984 that warn us of the future unless we change our direction.
2. I strongly recommend reading Orwell’s Animal Farm first (and especially for younger readers) as an introduction to the ideas found in both books. As an allegory, Animal Farm is more gentle and less descriptive of the violence that is part of the control of the populace.
3. A reader’s guide is available at penguinrandomhouse.com
Publication: Originally it was published in 1949. I read one of the many reprints. My copy is a Signet Classic published January 1, 1961 by Penguin Random House.
Memorable Lines:
And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth. “Who controls the past,” ran the Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.”
Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them…The process has to be conscious, or it would not be carried out with sufficient precision, but it also has to be unconscious or it would bring with it a feeling of falsity and hence of guilt…Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink.
…no change of doctrine or in political alignment can ever be admitted…And if the facts say otherwise, then the facts must be altered.
On the Internet: Our First Talk About Online Safety
On the Internet: Our First Talk About Online Safety
by Dr. Jillian Roberts
illustrated by Jane Heinrichs
When we put technology in the hands of children, we need to do it with the awareness that social media involves a lot of concepts that children are not prepared to handle. Many parents did not participate in social media themselves as youngsters, and so they are not always prepared for the difficulties that may arise. With that in mind, Dr. Jillian Roberts, a former schoolteacher and practicing psychologist has written a book to help guide the needed discussions. The book is illustrated with both photographs and child friendly drawings. It includes questions children might ask, answers that an adult can help to interpret, and explanations for terms like “boundaries,” “inappropriate,” and “online bullying.” It also includes positive examples of using social media for good. It is a book intended to initiate discussion between parent and child.
On the Internet: Our First Talk about Online Safety is well written and illustrated, and I recommend it. My personal opinion, however, is that children in grades one through three, the suggested audience for this book, are too young to use social media independently. I suggest that it is not too early to begin the discussion as social media and its accompanying problems are pervasive in our society. Young children hear others talking about this technology and may see older siblings using it. Discussion of online issues not only prepares children for future exposure, but also opens up opportunities to discuss the basics of friendship and bullying as they occur outside of social media.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Orca Book Publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Children Nonfiction, Computer and Internet
Notes: Age Range suggested by publisher: 6-9 years
Grade Level suggested by publisher: 1-3
Publication: February 19, 2019—Orca Book Publishers
Memorable Lines:
THINK before you post:
T: Is it True?
H: Is it Helpful?
I: Is it Inspiring?
N: Is it Necessary?
K: Is it Kind?
Pruning the Dead–cozy mystery with a gardening theme
Pruning the Dead
by Julia Henry
A new cozy mystery series. A different sort of mystery. In what way different? Don’t they all follow a general formula? Yes and no. There are common expectations for cozies such as the absence of graphic violence, sex, or language, and the presence of a likable main character who finds herself (or occasionally himself) drawn into solving a mystery, often in a small town. Pruning the Dead fits the bill. The manner of deviation is the amount of time the author spends setting up the backdrop, the small town of Goosebush, on the south shore of Massachusetts, the gardening theme, and the characters, some of whom take on the role of Garden Squad with the goal of replacing “weeds with plants” and restoring “order from chaos.”
Lilly Jayne is starting to emerge from a cloud of grieving and depression following her husband’s death. She is rich and considered somewhat of a matriarch in Goosebush. Having neglected her civic duties for years during her husband’s illness, she suddenly begins seeing the negative changes that have crept into her hometown.
Although the murder doesn’t occur until a quarter of the way into the book, don’t be lulled into thinking it is less than an interesting mystery. The time the author, Julia Henry, spends developing the characters and setting is time well-spent. Although I deduced the murderer as I approached the end of the book, I enjoyed reading how it played out, and there were many detours and suspects along the way that kept the journey interesting.
Even though the second book in the series has not been published yet, I anticipate that readers will benefit by starting the series by reading Pruning the Dead, the first book. I look forward to reading the next book to see how the Garden Squad develops and what happens next in Goosebush, Massachusetts.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Kensington Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: #1 in the Garden Club Mystery Series
Gardening tips are included at the end of the book.
Publication: January 29, 2019—Kensington Books
Memorable Lines:
“Facts are facts, but the truth depends on the teller.”
“Choosing a kinder path is important. It makes the journey easier.”
“I made a decision a long time ago that hate is more exhausting for me than it is for the object on which I would bestow that energy.”
False Pride–follow the money
False Pride
by Veronica Heley
Do you like mysteries with very complicated plots? If so, then you’ll want to read Veronica Heley’s False Pride. Bad things happen faster than the police can keep up with them, and Bea Abbot, owner of the Abbot Agency, an employment service, finds herself in the middle of events surrounding the mysterious and secretive Rycroft family. Is this a power play or could the motive be greed or maybe revenge? Is one person behind all the crimes? Bea is forced to unite forces with her ex-husband Piers as he too is unintentionally pulled into a slew of deadly happenings.
While Bea is trying to survive threats, violence, and home invasions, she also has to deal from afar with the willfulness of her precocious ward Bernice. Romance is in the air for some of the characters, but these personal affairs take a back seat to a series of crimes so involved that the main characters unite to create a timeline to try to piece together the information they have acquired in order to discover who is behind these robberies and deaths.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Severn House for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: #12 in the Bea Abbot Agency Mystery Series, but works well as a standalone
Publication: April 1, 2018—Severn House
Memorable Lines:
Magda reacted to difficult situations like cardboard in a downpour.
Piers managed to lever off the damaged hinges. They came away with a screech of tortured wood. It was a big, heavy door. The early Victorians had built to last. She wasn’t so sure that she would.
Bea reflected that there was no use getting at Piers for flirting. He didn’t mean it. It was something in the water. Charisma. Call it what you like. He didn’t do it on purpose.
education pathways 