CL ~ Reading the Classics #4: George Orwell

Everyone's read 1984 and Animal Farm, haven't they? Have they? Really? I will admit, I only read 1984 last year and I haven't actually read Animal Farm, so this month's author is George Orwell

Orwell was a prolific writer - his works included novels, essays, poems, non-fiction and letters. I know the question was asked last time about short stories, so I am going to say that if you don't want to read one of his novels, you can read a collection of Orwell's short stories, poetry or even a collection of his writings and essays if you like.

For those of you who are new to the Classics swaps, each swap will ask you to read one book which you haven't read from a specific author. If you have read everything that author has written, then you can go back and re-read your favourite, but the idea is to read those classics which you might not have read before. Once you have read the book, you need to write a letter to your partner about it. In line with all of the other Carpe Librum swaps, I am going to give you a series of questions to guide you in what to write, but it isn't essential. But please write at least one A4 page.

• What was the story about? Did you know the story before you read it?
• Did you like the book? What did you like about it?
• What, if anything, did you dislike or find difficult about it?
• Why do you think this author/book is a classic?
• Would you read any more by this author?
• Have you seen any films/TV series/other adaptations of this book? If so, how did they compare?
• How is this book relevant today, if at all?
  So choose a book by George Orwell. You can see his bibliography here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeorgeOrwellbibliography

As usual, you will have 4 weeks from end of sign up to get this swap out, but of course, you can start reading straight away.

In terms of authors to come, in case you want to get ahead a little, I am planning on Dostoyevsky, D.H. Lawrence and Edith Wharton in the coming months, but these are all subject to change. This is just to whet your appetite!