Nice people thread part 6 - thrice by twice as nice :)

silvercar

I'd push for as many people as possible to read Nineteen Eighty-Four. A world of cameras everywhere and everyone distracted by tv that you can't turn off. Big Brother and Room 101. I expect a lot of people would regard it as worthy but even the movie's a belter.

I read that in 1984.

AFAIK, Room 101 was named from the book and BB idea came from the book.

lostinrates

chewmylegoff wrote: »

An awful evening. Within 30 minutes of each other my former secretary told me that her daughter has had to move back in with her after being attacked by her boyfriend, and then my current secretary told me she had split up with her husband after he hit her. I am thoroughly disgusted by life.

Disgusted with your life? You are not the bfs, i hope!

Domestic violence. There is no positive spin on that is there. None at all.

vivatifosi

Morning all. It's a beautiful day out and I have to go to work...

Favourite books. I tend to read non-fiction rather than fiction. My favourite fiction... Don't have a top 10 books but I really like:

* George Orwell - 1984 and Animal Farm - have re-read both in the past year or so and totally enjoyed. I think that even if they've been read as a kid, or as part of exams, they need to be re-read as an adult as we understand the nuances better. There's also something very current about both.

* John Steinbeck - Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. Same thing really. Old books that are really current. I need to read East of Eden but haven't got round to it yet.

* Bonjour Tristesse/Francoise Sagan and Unbearable Lightness of Being/Milan Kundera. I don't really like sexy fiction very much as it is formulaic, but these are both wonderful books. They are also very evocative of time and place: Tristesse of the beautiful people of southern France in the 60s and Lightness of a changing Czechoslovakia.

My favourite non-fiction includes:

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
The Snow Leopard - Peter Matthiessen and a lot of other travel writing
Flat Earth News - Nick Davies
Whoops! - John Lanchester
Any of Max Pemberton's autobiographies on working in the NHS as they are both funny and scary.
And a whole lot of other stuff that I can't mention or I'll be late.

Nikkster

vivatifosi wrote: »

Tried to watch it but it has now been made private so I have missed the boat. What on earth did it show?

Oh, you missed a treat! It was some EU infomercial to encourage women into science. By showing lipsticks, and shoes and other nonsense. All the 'scientists' were clearly models and it was as true to life as those tampon adverts where everyone is rollerblading/ windsurfing etc as opposed to lying on the sofa under a blanket with a big bar of chocolate. Needless to say, the comments were not very positive which is prob why it is now hidden!

Edit: here it is...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g032MPrSjFA

Nikkster

chewmylegoff wrote: »

An awful evening. Within 30 minutes of each other my former secretary told me that her daughter has had to move back in with her after being attacked by her boyfriend, and then my current secretary told me she had split up with her husband after he hit her. I am thoroughly disgusted by life.

That is horrible. The only positive I can find is at least they have both removed themselves from the relationships.

zagubov

silvercar wrote: »

I read that in 1984.

AFAIK, Room 101 was named from the book and BB idea came from the book.

I gather that it was written at a time when police had guns and we all had to carry ID cards, there was mass conscription, everything was still rationed, travel was controlled (or rather what you could ake with you abroad was controlled) and everybody was working to produce goods we couldn't buy. A grim warning from a grim time that we never see on film or telly but maybe we should be reminded of more.:cool:

silvercar

zagubov wrote: »

I gather that it was written at a time when police had guns and we all had to carry ID cards, there was mass conscrtiption, everything was still rationed, travel was controlled (or rather what you could ake with you abroad was controlled) and everybody was working to produce goods we couldn't buy. A grim warning from a grim time that we never see on film or telly but maybe we should be reminded of more.:cool:

Published in 1949, so just after WW2. I'm not sure that police had guns then, ID cards and conscription were still in force.

zagubov

silvercar wrote: »

Published in 1949, so just after WW2. I'm not sure that police had guns then, ID cards and conscription were still in force.

I think the police were disarmed soon after the war (the book was written a year earlier in 1948 I believe with the title a reversal of the last digits). Grandad was conscripted into the police for a time durig WWII.
We're one of only two countries left in the world whose police aren't routinely armed I gather ( for that matter I mean mainland GB police as the NI police carry guns).

misskool

vivatifosi wrote: »

Tried to watch it but it has now been made private so I have missed the boat. What on earth did it show?

That was quick! It was only released yesterday. The following news stories probably explains why quite well.....

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/06/sciencegirlthing-wrong/
(mirror of video available here)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9349923/Science-girl-thing-video-branded-offensive.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/06/22/is-science-its-a-girl-thing-sexist_n_1618343.html

I don't think the european commission science arm meant for the news to be *this* big

Nikkster

zagubov wrote: »

Having read this and the previous thread, am I to take it that The Hunger Games is a good choice?

Can't remember whether you are an e-reader, but I bought the Hunger Games from here:
http://www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/qs_product_tbp?storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&langId=100&productId=252934&searchTerm=hunger+games

Bargain

I've also just noticed that I have (an unread copy of) 1984 already. I shall read that next - thanks for the recommendation!