George Orwell's birthday

Something I remembered today, thanks to my many Facebook likes: George Orwell was born today, the 25th of June, 1903. The great George Orwell, who, as Christopher Hitchens said, "spoke the truth". I recently read Down and Out in Paris and London, which made me rediscover his genius. Yesterday I was in London, which I saw with new eyes. Of course, when I see London, a part of me sees it through the eyes of Winston Smith, from his most famous novel. Modern day London is very different than the nightmarish one of Orwell's cautionary take, still, you can indulge in a bit of projection. His name and his words have sadly been used in vain numerously and are still used now gratuitously. Many speak of Orwell, not many really read him, or understood him. Christopher Hitchens did and so did Anthony Burgess in the essay part of 1985. I would strongly recommend that people would come back to Orwell's writing, not only 1984 and Animal Farm, but also his other works. I have only recently discovered them, but I intend to preach by example.

I got more books

This is something that cheered me up yesterday: I managed to get my hands on some novels of Anthony Burgess, the ones that have been reedited recently and which I was desperate to find. To be more precise, I bought One Hand Clapping (which I never read but always wanted to) and 1985 (which I read in French but wanted to re-read). So I missed their launch in Manchester, but I have at least some of them and am now hopeful to find the others.