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| I listened to it on audiobook while doing scrapbooking. Ralph Cosham is a brilliant narrator! |
This is my third foray into Orwellian brilliance (1984 and The Road to Wigan Pier being the first two). A couple of weeks after finishing it, my boys were discussing the stupidity of communism, and I said, "You have got to read Animal Farm!"
In the spirit of Aesop's Fables, Orwell uses satire to teach a moral lesson with animals as the characters. Communism will always fail because of the animal in all of us. The animals were oppressed, but their system of governance was not a solution to Jones not feeding them.
It was interesting to read this on the heals of The Gulag Archipelago by Solzhenitsyn. Napoleon's control reminded me of totalitarian Stalinism. That is a book everyone needs to read (I read the abridged version in the picture below).
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| The version of The Gulag Archipelago is closest to my face. |
Animal Farm is so accessible. I am not sure why the woman who set the curriculum for the British Literature class I facilitated did not include this on her list. I'm hoping my kids can listen to the excellently narrated version during their Spring Break!
6 comments:
I love this book. I agree, it is a must-read for anybody. I never read The Gulag Archipelago though. I might need to check that out.
Have you ever read Brave New World? Another great book about dystopian culture. I read it in the 2010 challenge, so I have a review here if you are interested: http://the52booksin52weekspersonalchallenge.blogspot.com/2010/02/week-5-brave-new-world-aldous-huxley.html
Feel free to stop by and comment on any of my reviews.
Thanks Keith. I just finished The Well-Educated Mind List in November. It was a goal that preoccupied me for 8 year (see post here: http://carolhomeschool2.blogspot.com/2011/11/well-educated-mind-bhag-complete-100.html
I can't believe Brave New World was not on the list. Now I am working through this list: http://carolhomeschool2.blogspot.com/2012/01/100-great-books-50.html
and Brave New World is on that one. I think I have Brave New World loaded on my Kindle for my vacation next week!
Thanks.
What a great list! I must say, I'm quite deficient in the "Ancient" and "Medieval" categories, but I just loaded the Odyssey on my Kindle last week. It gave me some good ideas for future books, especially ones that are in the public domain. Thanks.
The Odyssey is tough. I taught a class on Homeric Literature two years ago, and I have the kids listen to this: http://www.thelmaslibrary.com/classical/index.html
She goes on tangents quite a bit. Consequently, it makes for longer "listening" time, but she knows her Greek literature and tells the stories within the story that Homer assumes that you know. She also mispronounces many words, but I love her for this labor of love! She has so much in her brain that it was nice for me (and the kids) to be able to tap it and understand the story that much better.
Also, I heartily recommend The Teaching Company lectures on The Odyssey:
http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=302
She ROCKS! My kids were 7-10th grade, and they totally tracked with her and loved her college level lecture. I wish I could send you my DVD's!
Also, 60Second Recap is GREAT!
http://www.60secondrecap.com/library/odyssey/
Helps you understand the Odyssey in a way that makes you laugh.
After it is all over, the class watched this:
http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Adventures-Collection-Gullivers-Travels/dp/B0041SI78O
It is only 10 bucks and includes Gulliver's Travels too!
Sorry if this overwhelms you!
No, don't worry about that...this is great stuff! I appreciate you sharing it!
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