Post by Tony NancePost by The Horny Goat(Hint: I first read Nineteen Eighty-Four in high schoo which I suspect
is before some of the younger people reading this were born. Let's
just say I was young enough to consider some of Winston's + Julia's
encounters "hot")
The one-and-only time I read it was also in high school. I'll never
re-read it, but it gets referenced so often that I'm positive my
knowledge and understanding of it has grown and will continue to do so.
I've read Nineteen Eighty-Four 2 or 3 times since high school (though
to be fair we had our 50th anniversary reunion last year so it has
been awhile) though finally read Homage to Catalonia (Orwell's Spanish
Civil War memoirs) within the last year.
(If you're remotely interested in the Spanish Civil War don't miss it
- my senior high math teacher was an ex-International Brigader who was
discharged from the IBs in Feb 1939 and he did odd jobs and played
tourist around Britain and France and was intending to stay another
year before returning to Canada but when Britain declared war on
Germany in Sept 1939, made his way to the Canadian consulate in London
to present his papers and volunteer for active service. They assigned
him to the British army as a rifle drill instructor until 1942 at
which point there were enough Canadian troops in Britain that he was
transferred back to the Canadian forces. Then served till 1945 and
became first an engineer then a high school teacher on the Canadian
version of the GI bill. Helluva math teacher and I owe him a ton. And
recommended Homage to Catalonia to me back then but I didn't get
around to finally reading it last year)