Book #121: 1984 by George Orwell

I can't believe I hadn't ever read this. It has been on my bookshelf for years and I think it's just been there long enough that I assumed I had read it--it falls into the category of books like Brave New World and Lord of the Flies that I feel like I've read because I've heard a lot about it and know what the main premise is. Like, who doesn't know the Big Brother Is Watching thing? But I didn't really know much more, so I'm glad I finally got around to this. It was super interesting to me, as well as pretty terrifying to imagine as being the future. The principle of doublespeak and the ability of The Party to change the past by constantly revising public records and having control over people's memories is pretty terrifying. I was super enthralled in the beginning while reading about Winston's job at the Department of Truth and how controlled everything was. But I think the most depressing part was the end, how they eventually did get in to Winston's head and fully changed him over to one of them. Obviously the warning to be careful in 1984 is pretty explicit. I thought this was a super worthwhile read, and I had a lot more thoughts about it but I don't have the time or energy to write them out right now.