General Discussion/Questions

[May]

Have you started? Want to keep track of things you want to talk about? Post discussion related topics here!

[Lily]

I just bought it a couple of days ago! So excited. Is anyone else as meticulous as me about what edition the book is in on Goodreads? It haaaaas to be the edition that I have in my hands. It just has to.

[Sally]

I care about having the exact same cover as the one I have. For currently reading books I HAVE to have the exact edition if I'm reading it physically, since I want to update my page progress. lol But for the books I'm reading electronically, I don't really care except for the cover. I might choose one that looks better, or one that has the closest page number. But since my iPad page numbers don't match up anyways, it doesn't really matter. I just use a calculator to get a percent progress and multiply it to the page number on GoodReads to enter my progress.

tl;dr I am kind of obsessed....

[May]

I probably have the newest edition since its on my kindle. Did anyone else get the intro about all the different editions?

[Lily]

Sally wrote: "I just use a calculator to get a percent progress and multiply it to the page number on GoodReads to enter my progress."

...you are crazy. I like it.

[May]

The Proles

I think it was Lily who brought up the proles in our last meeting and I was afraid to talk about them because she hadn't met them yet. As I read on, I'm having a lot of questions about them.

Just so we're all on the same page, I thought I'd list some terms that might help the discussion.

Proles (Proletariat) - This is the lower social class, usually the working class.
Bourgeoisie - This is the "ruling class" of a capitalist society, usually referred to as the owners.

My questions are the same as Lily's from our meeting: Why is it that the proles seem to have more freedom and that the Party rules are lenient towards them? Obviously, they are poorer but enjoy life with Big Brother constantly watching them. How did such a separate come to be?

Since the Party is anti-capitalist, then it is safe to assume that the bourgeoisie do not exist. If that is true, why do the 'proles' exist? How does someone avoid becoming a Party member like Winston?

(Mind you, I'm only half way through the book so these questions might get answered as I read along. If you're ahead and have answers, don't spoil it!)

[Gwynneth]

can i get it for free on my kinle?

[May]

I don't think you can get it for free but you can get it for pretty cheap. I think I got mine for $0.99. Almost free. :)

[Sally]

Google Search "1984 .mobi" should give plenty of results. If you want it for your iPhone/iPod/iPad, search "1984 .epub" instead. That's how I get all my ebooks for free. :P

I have a .mobi copy of Animal Farm and 1984 together. I can e-mail it to you.