1984 - George Orwell

Imagine waking up in twenty years time to find that the history of the world has been changed. Truths you knew to be true, erased and replaced with a new, more convenient 'truth' - a false truth. 

Imagine not being able to imagine. To imagine is illegal. To discuss thoughts is to identify yourself to the ThoughtPolice as a commiter of thoughtcrime. Those that are punished are erased from historical records. Their birth records gone, all photographs deleted, newspaper articles revised to eliminate - so they never existed... Right?

Your every movement and word is spied on by Big Brother on the telescreens. Your every minute, public or private, is accounted for. Deviation from your schedule will have consequences. 

The world is divided into three: Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia. Oceania is in perpetual war with one and perpetual peace with the other. The only problem is it keeps changing. History is re-written on a regular basis. Those in the ministry are brainwashed. 

Proles are the normal people on the street, who are generally left alone to continue their lives, unwatched by Big Brother.

Oceania has three ministries: The Ministry of Plenty (rations food and necessities), The Ministry of Truth (re-writes history) and the Ministry of Love (tortures those who dissent).

The story follows Winston Smith as he enrols on a journey of quiet, secret discovery of the truth. He almost escapes, but is sent to the infamous Room 101 after being caught... His history, his beliefs, his truths get re-written as he succumbs to the all seeing Big Brother.

George Orwell wrote this view of the future '1984' in 1949. He foresaw FaceTime 'telescreens' in a world when the technology of today didn't even exist. He spawned the term Big Brother and Room 101. Let's hope he was wrong about the rest...

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

Dorian is a beautiful, but impressionable, young man. Society adores him - men and women alike. They envy his youth, his innocence, his beauty.

His portrait is painted by the artist, Dorian's friend, Basil Hallward. It captures Dorian at his best. Full in naïvety and purity. It is a snapshot in time, because Dorian is about to change. 

He is introduced to Lord Henry Wotton who is captivated by Dorian and jealously steals Dorian's friendship away from Basil Hallward. Time, Lord Henry and Dorian's increasingly dark desires corrupt his soul, but his face and body remains free of the marks of wrongdoing, of evil. 

Fresh faced and misleading, Dorian doesn't grow old or ugly. His morals desert him. His handle on right and wrong is lost. 

The portrait of Dorian is hidden away in the attic room, distorting and disfiguring bound to bare the worldly consequences of Dorian's dark deeds of deceit, lies, even murder.

Dorian the man is forever beautiful, his soul, trapped in the portrait, becomes devilish, horrifying and unbearable to the beholder. 

Oscar Wilde's poetry is woven throughout this dark tale of the consequences of living a bad life.

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë

Jane is an outcast in her own home. Family cast her out, so she learns to survive relying on no one. 

Fate brings her to be governess for the little Adèle at Thornfield Hall, where she meets the dark brooding Mr Rochester. Souls entwine and secrets and misunderstandings threaten to pull apart those that were intended.

Fires, madness, untold histories, society expectations, loyalties and a certain inevitability rounds this classic up into its quiet, dark and final conclusion.

Heroines in literature will rise and fade. Jane Eyre will survive them all.

The Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

Jungle. Whites mistreating the natives. Nothing uncommon there! What is wrong with the white man?! 

Feeling of smothering from the jungle, growing hatred for the company of the narrator, the captain of the steamer.

Kurtz - the mysterious voice of Kurtz.

Highlighted almost the whole of the last chapter - humanity, love, darkness.

Emma - Jane Austen

Emma is sweet, Emma is well meaning, Emma is kind. Emma is also emotionally blind, a meddler and generally wrong.

Emma's heart is in the right place. In her unwanted match-making she misunderstands intentions, hearts and glances. She makes and breaks the expectations of friends and un-does all that Cupid has set in motion. 

She is the anti-Cupid. 

Emma should not be allowed to matchmake. She is trying too hard to listen to the desires of the hearts of others to hear her own heart screaming out his name.

The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

The Boy, a shepherd, learns to speak the language of the world, to listen to his heart and in doing so meets a king, a caravan leader, an alchemist, talks to the desert, the wind, the sun and to the soul of god. In doing so he learns that he travelled the world to discover that his treasure lay beneath his feet all along, but without following the omens to fulfil his destiny he would never have found it, his heart would never have been heard, and he would never have found Fatima, his love, a desert woman whose scent he catches of the distant winds, and whom looks to the desert each day for his return.

Dracula - Bram Stoker

Ok, so it's beautifully written, and clever in form... A collection of diary entries and letters narrating from several different characters tell the story of Count Dracula.

But I think moowees have ruined what I wanted in this book and in it's time, with its uniqueness when written, it must have been super scary. However, truth be told - I was expecting ol Dracule to have built an empire in his hundreds of years, to have thousands of vampire armies at his disposal, many vamp wives. 

I think he might have been a little bit lazy, perhaps wasteful of his years as he had made just three... Yes, three vampires. It took six humans to bring down the whole vampire empire in one final night.

I loved it, loved my unique bed book, just thought moowees talked him up a little too much.. Think we need to talk about managing expectations...

The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

The great Gatsby - the great known unknown. Everybody knows Gatsby, but no-one does. 

Lavish parties held night after night at his (no expense spared) house. 

He is mysterious. He is powerful. He is rich. Everyone has a grand Gatsby story. Everybody loves him. He loves but one... Daisy. His love for years. All this is for Daisy.

Trouble is Daisy has all but forgotten about Gatsby and has married Tom.

The green light across the water torments Gatsby as he feels her closeness compounded by her absolute distance.

Impossibility becomes close to reality and Gatsby almost gets his girl back... If he had only controlled his tongue... and his yellow car.

Gatsby is buried watched only by one friend. All those who professed a love for him blindly ignore his passing, or that he ever was.. Noone really knew Gatsby... Except all us fine readers!!

Fantastic book - an even more amazing movie... Especially if you see it in Jakarta! 

The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde

One handbag. One pram. One baby. One moment of madness. Wilde's play of lost identity, silliness, engagements, mistaken (or rather mis-represented) identities... Earnest? Lies! Funny tale of friends up to mischief which winds up into the tightest tales then settles into a most satisfactory conclusion. V funny.

Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind

Wizards. Good. Evil. Barriers between magical worlds. Impending doom. Truths. Lies. Friendships. Disloyalties. Bravery. Foolishness. Endurance. Responsibility. Love. Love. Love. Courage. Belief. Destiny.

Eleven Minutes - Paulo Coelho

Maria is a prostitute. Maria is a woman. Maria is a human. Maria is living. 

This is a story about (believe it or not) love.

Maria flees home to look for adventure and the elusive and much yearned for success. It seems she is driven at first to appear successful to impress the folk back home.

The independence she gains in Switzerland makes her grow up and in the midst of a soulless life of three men a night, she meets her love.

Pain, freedom, love, necessity, ambition and sacrifice are all explored... Yet essentially it is about love. 

The caged bird is my favourite part. Freedom is the key - never try to change your love. He is who he is and that's why she loves him. 

Let him fly and watch him flourish and come back ❤❤❤ love this bit!!

The Life of Pi - Yann Martel

Pi (Piscine) Patel finds religion in multiple faiths and then finds himself stranded on the Pacific Ocean with only a Tiger (Richard Parker), a hyena, an orangutan and a worse for wear Zebra for company.... Or does he? 

Was the orangutang an orangutang or his mum? Did Richard Parker even exist on the boat? I hope so - the animal version of events is definitely my favourite.

Amazing story of faith and adventure. Defo buy the DVD when it comes out!!

Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë

Cathy and Heathcliff - greatest love story ever told? Amazing work Emily Brontë - so dark and atmospheric. You could actually feel the hatred between the characters. A destructive love, the effect of which ripples down through to the next generation and kills almost everyone in its path. Ghosts, evil, madness(?), illness, death and the moors. Don't forget those moors - they seem like sirens tempting people to their death. 

Loved it. Can't believe someone so young wrote it and that she died before having the chance to write a second book! Both her and Charlotte write beautifully - Emily is more dark. Anne I have yet to encounter!! She is sitting patiently on my bookshelf calling for me to pick her up and let her enchant me.

The Road - Cormac McCarthy

Just remember that the things you put into your head are there forever, he said. You might want to think about that.

You forget what you want to remember and remember what you want to forget

Amazing quote!

Man and boy (unnamed) trudging unseen across America heading south on dreams of a better life, a warm life, life without the bad-men.

I'm not sure what catastrophe had hit earth, but the human race is near oblivion and society has failed. Death and near death all around, no bird to sing birdsong, no light to see colours. Everything is grey, cold and barren.

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

     

Pip. Unsatisfied with his lot seeks adventure in London as a gentleman. His love interest is spiked by the mean spirited Estella at Miss Haversham's house. Whilst ignoring Biddy the pretty, mild mannered child friend/teacher of his youth. 

I'm at end of vol one at the moment and believe his mysterious benefactor to be Biddy. 

Pip is proud and his ashamedness has got in the way of his most valued friendship with Joesph. Silly. Billy. Pip. 

Watch what money and airs and graces can't bring you... I have a sneaky feeling you shall find out in vol 2 and spend vol 3 trying to repair whatever damage you do to those most valued to you. Ditch the posh girl and open your eyes!!! She's right THERE!! 

Ok, so, my 'Biddy is Pip's benefactor' theory is blown straight out of the water! The convict! Wow, didn't see that one coming!! But I was right that it wasn't Havisham - it couldn't have been what with her hatred for all things male! 

Pip has finally realised he has treated Joe and Biddy like poo. Well Pip, now is the time to lie in that bed that you've made for yourself.... 

On to the final volume of Pip's expectations....

Well, how wrong could I have been?! Biddy was Joe's, and Estella, following her step down from her high horse, was in fact Pip's all along! The old Miss Haversham's cold heart melted when she realised what she had inflicted on poor Pip's heart.

Alls well that ends well I guess :)