Rebooting Orwell

'The Ministry of Truth: A Biography of George Orwell's 1984' by Dorian Lynskey (Picador, 2019)

You know a book's big when it has its own biography.  I recently re-read 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' in preparation for 'The Ministry of Truth', Dorian Lynskey's story of the origins and afterlife of George Orwell's most famous novel.

Ctrl Alt Delete: Back to Nineteen Eighty-Four

'Nineteen Eighty-Four' by George Orwell (Penguin Modern Classic edition, 2000)

One of the few fun features of lockdown has been getting a look inside people's homes during video calls.  After a short while, it became obvious that people were curating the rooms they broadcast from.  "I'm a family man!" cried the wall of kids photos and crayon drawings.  "I've got incredible taste!" boasted a minimalist display of just one, large, abstract artwork.  "I'm an intellectual!" crowed bookcases of leather-bound classics.  The only problem is that bookshelves cannot be trusted.  As many well publicised surveys have proven over the past decade, not only are shelves littered with unread volumes, but people happily lie about reading some of the world's most prestigious works.  George Orwell's infamous novel 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' is often listed among them - ironic for a book themed around truth.

Sex, Guys and Audiotape

'Diary of a Drag Queen' by Crystal Rasmussen (Ebury Press, 2019)

Picture the scene.  It's a beautiful sunny day in spring 2020.  Outside, the birds are singing a delicate morning chorus while the flourishing plant life sways and nods languidly in the gentle breeze.  Inside, a nearly-but-not-quite middle-aged woman sits quietly, embroidering a picture of a cute puppy dog using the softest of threads.  It's a complex pattern requiring infinite patience.  All is relaxed and calm and excessively gentile.  So, what do you suppose the embroiderer might be listening to?  Surely nothing so filthy, fun and raucous as 'Diary of a Drag Queen' by Crystal Rasmussen!