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The Reading List
By Sara Nisha Adams
William Morrow & Company, 9780063025295, August 2022, 400pp.

The Short of It:

Sweet and charming. Wholesome, even.

The Rest of It:

This is another winner. A book about books and reading. I’ve been loving these this year.

Mukesh is a widow. He lost his dear Naina but his three adult daughters keep him on his toes, as well as his young granddaughter, Priya. They are all a bit chatty over him. “Get out more, Papa. Eat better, Papa. Make more friends, Papa.” They mean well.

Aleisha is a young teen, only seventeen and a librarian at the local library. She lives at home with her older brother Aiden, whom she adores, and her mother who is suffering from an unnamed mental break that causes her to have fits, remain inside a buttoned up house, and requires constant care. Between Aleisha and Aiden, they do the best they can for her, but what she needs is professional care and she refuses it.

To get Aleisha out of the house, Aiden encourages her to take a librarian job. Aleisha doesn’t read and really isn’t an example of customer service because what Aleisha wants is to be left alone.

In walks Mukesh. He asks Aleisha for a book recommendation. His wife used to read so much, he’d like to see what all the fuss is about. Aleisha is initially very rude to him. Sarcastic even. Mukesh is confused by this but goes on his way.

But then a list is left behind at the library. A list with books on it. She’s curious who left the list but thinks that maybe these can be the books she can recommend in the future. Books like To Kill a Mockingbird, Rebecca, Beloved, Little Women.

Aleisha uses this list and a friendship is born between Mr. P (Mukesh) and Aleisha. Down the line, this friendship becomes very important as they learn about themselves through books.

This was a wonderful read. Full of reading goodness but also dealing with some heavy topics. Love, loss, mental illness. Woven between these bookish interactions is a lot of pain and trial but in the end, there is hope.

Highly recommend. It’s an older title, came out in 2022 but I missed it when it first came out and it was readily available from the library! Lovers of libraries, grab a copy and enjoy.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

1984
By George Orwell
Written in 1948

Schedule (optional)

It’s in three parts, and I SWORE I would not make a schedule but some readers like to have a little structure so here is a brief, brief plan.

~~Read Part 1 by 12/13~~
Read Part 2 by 12/20
Read Part 3, finish by 12/31

Okay, so we should all be done with Part One today. I’ve spent a lot of time highlighting.

Here are some questions for week 1:

*Why does Winston keep a diary? Given the presence of the Thought Police, the constant surveillance, and the like, is it not dangerous?

It makes absolutely no sense that Winston does this. If it were me, maybe I’d do it for historical purposes to keep track of what was happening but only if I felt sure that I’d come out okay on the other side. Winston doesn’t have that confidence and yet he does it. There is a line in there about why he does it, but for O’Brien?

*What do you think of when you are first introduced to the ministries?

Ministry of Truth (news and entertainment, education)
Ministry of Peace (war)
Ministry of Love (law and order)
Ministry of Plenty (economic affairs)

The Ministries terrified me to be honest. There are a lot of similarities to what is happening right now with certain cabinet picks. The idea that a ministry could be called PLENTY when in fact it’s there to ensure that you are poor. Ministry of Peace? Nope, all about war and making sure it never ends. Ministry of Love? No love, just punishment and torture.

*What about this motto? How does it compare to what we are experiencing today?

War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.

The last one, Ignorance is Strength practically slapped me across the face. Keep people stupid so they don’t know what is actually happening around them, or to them.

*In 1984, the language spoken is Newspeak. It’s a language that is designed to limit the range of human thought. Also called Double Think. It’s a paring down of meaning, for example Uncold instead of warm. It also uses excessive abbreviations. Can you detect hints of this in today’s world? Provide an example.

Acronyms in texting come to mind. The LOLs, the TTFNs, and the LMAOs. Our vocabulary, especially amongst the younger generations is waning. They lapse into cuss words to explain what they want to say for lack of a better word. This makes me think of the “dumbing down” of society.

*The purpose of the Two Minutes Hate in George Orwell’s 1984 is to channel the citizens’ frustrations and emotions towards a common enemy, ultimately ensuring loyalty to the Party and preventing any rebellious thoughts or actions. In relation to our media sources today, is this something that is actually happening now?

Two Minutes of Hate. Would that be enough for us in today’s world? Two minutes to bash, and curse, and hate a particular person. In the book, that person is Goldstein. The idea is that if everyone directs their hate to this one person, then others will not be the target of their hatred.

Does this happen today? In a sense, the media controls what we see and what we feel. It picks and chooses and depending on the channel, your hate will be directed to individuals or parties that are not the same. I think most people can pull themselves away when it becomes too toxic, but what happens to the ones who can’t?

*Who is Big Brother?

Big Brother, the eye in the sky. In the book, Big Brother is always watching and listening and all for nefarious purposes. This is how the citizens are controlled. In our society today, we have a form of Big Brother. If you own a phone or an Alexa or Echo, someone is always listening. If you like a post on Instagram, someone is keeping track of that like and pushing content to you based on your clicks. Will they storm through the door and imprison us? No, but they could depending on what we choose to look at or post. Right?

Read Part 2 by 12/20. I will post questions on that date.

Chatting with friends about books and life…