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Books vs Cigarettes
Beginning with a dilemma about whether he spends more money on reading or smoking, George Orwell's entertaining and uncompromising essays go on to explore everything from the perils of second-hand bookshops to the dubious profession of being a critic, from freedom of the press to what patriotism really means.
7 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1946
585 people are currently reading
13547 people want to read
About the author
George Orwell
1,280 books50.9k followersEric Arthur Blair was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to all totalitarianism (both fascism and stalinism), and support of democratic socialism.
Orwell is best known for his allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), although his works also encompass literary criticism, poetry, fiction and polemical journalism. His non-fiction works, including The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), documenting his experience of working-class life in the industrial north of England, and Homage to Catalonia (1938), an account of his experiences soldiering for the Republican faction of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), are as critically respected as his essays on politics, literature, language and culture.
Orwell's work remains influential in popular culture and in political culture, and the adjective "Orwellian"—describing totalitarian and authoritarian social practices—is part of the English language, like many of his neologisms, such as "Big Brother", "Thought Police", "Room 101", "Newspeak", "memory hole", "doublethink", and "thoughtcrime". In 2008, The Times named Orwell the second-greatest British writer since 1945.
Orwell is best known for his allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), although his works also encompass literary criticism, poetry, fiction and polemical journalism. His non-fiction works, including The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), documenting his experience of working-class life in the industrial north of England, and Homage to Catalonia (1938), an account of his experiences soldiering for the Republican faction of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), are as critically respected as his essays on politics, literature, language and culture.
Orwell's work remains influential in popular culture and in political culture, and the adjective "Orwellian"—describing totalitarian and authoritarian social practices—is part of the English language, like many of his neologisms, such as "Big Brother", "Thought Police", "Room 101", "Newspeak", "memory hole", "doublethink", and "thoughtcrime". In 2008, The Times named Orwell the second-greatest British writer since 1945.
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April 26, 2025
Jonathan Swift had his indecent Modest Proposal, and Orwell here similarly had his tongue firmly in his cheek when he stated that many civilized people nowadays spend about as much on cigarettes and booze as they do on books.
But cigarettes and booze can lead you to an early death, and thus are counterproductive, while books - to quote Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick, “feed your head” like a friendly drug.
My problem, though, was that until I was in my fifties I did both.
And we could never balance the household budget, though affluent, because I smoked and drank like a sailor, and read like there was no tomorrow! My credit card debt surged.
Good thing I was smart enough, when I retired, to pay off all our debts with my severance pay!
You see, by keeping my book habit, but curtailing my cigarette and booze habits by quitting both, I got smart.
MUCH smarter than I was as a dumb bipolar kid!
Books did it.
And so Orwell - like Swift - has got a good point: when we don’t think right, we screw up big time (monstrously, in fact for Swift, but hey, he never gilded too many lilies - and we all know Yahoos really ARE cretins)!
So, to sum all this up, there are just two tricks to learn in order to live a long and healthy life:
Quit smoking -
And FEED YOUR HEAD:
With lots and lotsa books!
But cigarettes and booze can lead you to an early death, and thus are counterproductive, while books - to quote Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick, “feed your head” like a friendly drug.
My problem, though, was that until I was in my fifties I did both.
And we could never balance the household budget, though affluent, because I smoked and drank like a sailor, and read like there was no tomorrow! My credit card debt surged.
Good thing I was smart enough, when I retired, to pay off all our debts with my severance pay!
You see, by keeping my book habit, but curtailing my cigarette and booze habits by quitting both, I got smart.
MUCH smarter than I was as a dumb bipolar kid!
Books did it.
And so Orwell - like Swift - has got a good point: when we don’t think right, we screw up big time (monstrously, in fact for Swift, but hey, he never gilded too many lilies - and we all know Yahoos really ARE cretins)!
So, to sum all this up, there are just two tricks to learn in order to live a long and healthy life:
Quit smoking -
And FEED YOUR HEAD:
With lots and lotsa books!
November 11, 2024
Do members of your family read? How about your friends? Have you ever suddenly felt in a small group, that you are the only one there who reads? Many on Goodreads might recognise this scenario, and I know that for some this is their normal life. They are the only one in their social group, family, or among their work acquaintances, who reads in their leisure time. Yet nowadays, when it is so much easier to access a huge variety of reading material whatever the circumstances, why should that be?
George Orwell too wondered this, and in 1946 he set out to discover the possible reason why. He tells how one evening in 1944, a friend of his who was a newspaper editor, was fire-watching with some factory workers. His friend asked the workers how they liked his newspaper. Most said they liked it, but that the literary section did not interest them, as it dealt with books which cost a lot of money.
It seemed to be the accepted idea that reading was a luxury for rich people, and the less well-off could not afford it. However, George Orwell’s friend commented that these men would think nothing of spending several pounds going to the seaside on a day trip. So George Orwell decided to examine how much reading actually cost him personally. In this essay, he presents an account of his own inventory of books and their total cost. Breaking the collection down into categories, and including other related expenses such as library subscriptions and newspapers, George Orwell calculated as accurately as he could, his best estimate of how much reading had cost him over the last fifteen years.
The total figure Orwell arrived at was £25 a year. (This is equivalent to around £1,181 today). He says it might sound a large sum but compared with other expenses it isn’t much:
“With prices as they now are, I am spending far more on tobacco than I do on books.”
For instance the money that he now spent on reading matter could only buy someone 83 cigarettes a week. He then calculates his expenditure on alcohol and cigarettes over the year, and makes it around £40 (about £1,890 today), and works out in detail that the national average spending on alcohol and cigarette is about the same. George Orwell reminds us that a few years earlier, before the war, people could buy 200 cigarettes for the same price, but:
“all prices are now inflated, including the price of books: still, it looks as though the cost of reading, even if you buy books instead of borrowing them and take in a fairly large number of periodicals, does not amount to more than the combined cost of smoking and drinking.”
I neither smoke nor drink, but found George Orwell’s choice of comparison significant. He quite deliberately selected what most factory workers would choose to spend their money on, to avoid the irrelevance of social class to reading as a pursuit. Thus he chose working class leisure choices such as beer and cigarettes, rather than middle class fine wines and chocolates. Still though, the idea of reading being more expensive than other hobbies did not hold up.
This idea still seems to prevail. People still say they cannot afford to buy books. Another reason often given for not reading is that they “haven’t the time”. This seems even more extraordinary, when we consider how many more labour-saving gadgets we have in the home than in 1946, the sharp rise of car ownership and better transport systems, plus the instant availability of a huge range of products. We need to spend far less time on the mechanics of daily life, no longer even walking to where we need to go. However there are far more leisure pursuits as well, and they beckon people.
Nevertheless, basic reading skills are needed for many of these leisure pursuits such as most sorts of social media, or anything on a computer. We need to read to read rules, or instructions on how to construct something, and daily life in general. But books and even magazines seem to pose some sort of “duty” issue. Otherwise, people would not feel they have to give “excuses” such as cost, or time. They would simply say “I don’t want to”. But have you ever heard anyone say that?
The truth of it is, as I see it, that people who do not read for their own pleasure hold two separate ideas in their minds:
1. I think I should read.
2. I don’t want to read.
Allied to this, we have more reading matter available than ever before. The first point does not help anyone; in fact it is more likely to reinforce the second one, as nobody likes to feel they “ought” to, or are being expected to do something.
George Orwell may not have our modern lives, but he makes an excellent case for reading, which is still relevant even now. I am constantly surprised by the variety of groups of people who choose not to read. For instance 3 or 4 years ago I broke my leg, “spectacularly” as the paramedics said. It was the femur (thigh bone) and I was upstairs in a very small room, full of books. To get me downstairs on a stretcher, navigating sharp corners was challenging, and they had to call out an extra pair of paramedics. In the meantime the ones waiting gazed at all my bookshelves. (Admittedly they are full to overflowing but no, I didn’t trip over a book; I actually tripped over a coat hanger.) Apparently stunned, one asked: “Have you read all these?”
I can see you now, sagely nodding. You’ve probably had it said to you; this is the sort of question a non-reader might ask. But these were highly skilled professionals, with several year of study and training under their belts. How could they not be readers? I cannot understand this.
Of course there are going to be times or stages of our lives when it is difficult to snatch a moment for ourselves; when we have no time whatsoever for leisure. But we do not live in the 19th century, working from 4am to 10pm, and even the most time-challenged person will find that one day, one year, things will ease up. Yet how many then will reach for a book?
George Orwell moves on to to consider the many benefits of reading. His final three paragraphs begin:
“It is difficult to establish any relationship between the price of books and the value one gets out of them.”
Sometimes the cost can be far cheaper in the end than you had expected. For example, a dictionary you bought for “just sixpence” might be useful for no less than 20 years and you can consult it any time you like. A reference book, or a book of poetry might have a similar cost ratio. If you like buying books new, you can keep them after reading them and then sell them on at one third their original price (we could use e-bay). If you buy them second hand the cost is far cheaper, or if you borrow them from a library, then it costs you next to nothing.
The type of book feeds into this cost factor too. Perhaps our “reluctant readers” might go shifty-eyed at this point. Is there a difference in what we “ought” to read. Again, we are opening a can of worms. Parents sometimes castigate their children for reading books that are too easy, or formulaic, or disparage their teenagers for reading “trash”. Other, non-reading parents may be equally dismissive of academic, or more serious literary books, feeling that they are a “waste of time” and not relevant to the here and now.
There are an infinite variety of books:
“There are books that one reads over and over again, books that become part of the furniture of one’s mind and alter one’s whole attitude to life, books that one dips into but never reads through, books that one reads at a single sitting and forgets a week later: and the cost, in terms of money, may be the same in each case.”
George Orwell decides to make his comparison by restricting the choice to popular novels, and works out that if you spend about four hours reading a light novel, this is:
“about what it costs to sit in one of the more expensive seats in the cinema. If you concentrated on more serious books, and still bought everything that you read, your expenses would be about the same. The books would cost more but they would take longer to read. In either case you would still possess the books after you had read them.”
With our plethora of alternative entertainments, we can do our own comparisons with the latest gadgets. I cannot make the detailed comparisons George Orwell does for his own time, as I personally have very few leisure gadgets, and can only access the internet on a laptop. However, it is clear how expensive they all are, and how they have to be updated or replaced frighteningly often. He concludes:
“I have said enough to show that reading is one of the cheaper recreations: after listening to the radio probably THE cheapest.”
We can add in the television to this, but there are financial drawbacks such as built-in obsolescence to the other latest technological marvels.
George Orwell’s essay Book v. Cigarettes was first published in the “Tribune” newspaper, on 8th February 1946. He had no satisfactory explanation for why people were not reading, and estimated from the publishing and sales figures that he knew, that the average person was only buying about three books a year, in various ways. This, he said:
“is not a proud record for a country which is nearly 100 per cent literate and where the ordinary man spends more on cigarettes than an Indian peasant has for his whole livelihood. And if our book consumption remains as low as it has been, at least let us admit that it is because reading is a less exciting pastime than going to the dogs, the pictures or the pub, and not because books, whether bought or borrowed, are too expensive.”
I wonder if this is still true. Books now, compared with 1946, are beautifully produced, and a pleasure to hold in your hands. Factual books may have illustrations which can make you gasp. We have access to millions of e-books as well. Reading is a solitary activity of course, and people need the human companionship that going to some sort of sports club, or meeting, or eating out provides. But even allowing for this, activities using technology seem to have taken over.
When Book v. Cigarettes was published, doctors were encouraging people to smoke. Incredibly enough, from 1930 to 1950s, the health benefits of cigarettes were stressed. They even used to be advertised by doctors. It was only in the mid-1960s that it was reported that smoking causes lung cancer, laryngeal cancer and chronic bronchitis. Cigarettes are therefore no longer as popular as they once were, and more often frowned on socially. But we can think of many other comparisons, of what our friends and family might spend their leisure time and money on, and for many of us, books sadly still seem to come off worst.
This is a straightforward, witty essay, but George Orwell’s analysis is also a thought-provoking dilemma. Many people still seem hesitant about reading, over 75 years later. But for some it is a passion, giving many hour of enjoyment every week, entertaining us, expanding our horizons and enlarging our world view. I find it very sad that for so many, they cannot seem to get past the idea that reading is something they “ought” to do, rather than such a pleasure.
George Orwell too wondered this, and in 1946 he set out to discover the possible reason why. He tells how one evening in 1944, a friend of his who was a newspaper editor, was fire-watching with some factory workers. His friend asked the workers how they liked his newspaper. Most said they liked it, but that the literary section did not interest them, as it dealt with books which cost a lot of money.
It seemed to be the accepted idea that reading was a luxury for rich people, and the less well-off could not afford it. However, George Orwell’s friend commented that these men would think nothing of spending several pounds going to the seaside on a day trip. So George Orwell decided to examine how much reading actually cost him personally. In this essay, he presents an account of his own inventory of books and their total cost. Breaking the collection down into categories, and including other related expenses such as library subscriptions and newspapers, George Orwell calculated as accurately as he could, his best estimate of how much reading had cost him over the last fifteen years.
The total figure Orwell arrived at was £25 a year. (This is equivalent to around £1,181 today). He says it might sound a large sum but compared with other expenses it isn’t much:
“With prices as they now are, I am spending far more on tobacco than I do on books.”
For instance the money that he now spent on reading matter could only buy someone 83 cigarettes a week. He then calculates his expenditure on alcohol and cigarettes over the year, and makes it around £40 (about £1,890 today), and works out in detail that the national average spending on alcohol and cigarette is about the same. George Orwell reminds us that a few years earlier, before the war, people could buy 200 cigarettes for the same price, but:
“all prices are now inflated, including the price of books: still, it looks as though the cost of reading, even if you buy books instead of borrowing them and take in a fairly large number of periodicals, does not amount to more than the combined cost of smoking and drinking.”
I neither smoke nor drink, but found George Orwell’s choice of comparison significant. He quite deliberately selected what most factory workers would choose to spend their money on, to avoid the irrelevance of social class to reading as a pursuit. Thus he chose working class leisure choices such as beer and cigarettes, rather than middle class fine wines and chocolates. Still though, the idea of reading being more expensive than other hobbies did not hold up.
This idea still seems to prevail. People still say they cannot afford to buy books. Another reason often given for not reading is that they “haven’t the time”. This seems even more extraordinary, when we consider how many more labour-saving gadgets we have in the home than in 1946, the sharp rise of car ownership and better transport systems, plus the instant availability of a huge range of products. We need to spend far less time on the mechanics of daily life, no longer even walking to where we need to go. However there are far more leisure pursuits as well, and they beckon people.
Nevertheless, basic reading skills are needed for many of these leisure pursuits such as most sorts of social media, or anything on a computer. We need to read to read rules, or instructions on how to construct something, and daily life in general. But books and even magazines seem to pose some sort of “duty” issue. Otherwise, people would not feel they have to give “excuses” such as cost, or time. They would simply say “I don’t want to”. But have you ever heard anyone say that?
The truth of it is, as I see it, that people who do not read for their own pleasure hold two separate ideas in their minds:
1. I think I should read.
2. I don’t want to read.
Allied to this, we have more reading matter available than ever before. The first point does not help anyone; in fact it is more likely to reinforce the second one, as nobody likes to feel they “ought” to, or are being expected to do something.
George Orwell may not have our modern lives, but he makes an excellent case for reading, which is still relevant even now. I am constantly surprised by the variety of groups of people who choose not to read. For instance 3 or 4 years ago I broke my leg, “spectacularly” as the paramedics said. It was the femur (thigh bone) and I was upstairs in a very small room, full of books. To get me downstairs on a stretcher, navigating sharp corners was challenging, and they had to call out an extra pair of paramedics. In the meantime the ones waiting gazed at all my bookshelves. (Admittedly they are full to overflowing but no, I didn’t trip over a book; I actually tripped over a coat hanger.) Apparently stunned, one asked: “Have you read all these?”
I can see you now, sagely nodding. You’ve probably had it said to you; this is the sort of question a non-reader might ask. But these were highly skilled professionals, with several year of study and training under their belts. How could they not be readers? I cannot understand this.
Of course there are going to be times or stages of our lives when it is difficult to snatch a moment for ourselves; when we have no time whatsoever for leisure. But we do not live in the 19th century, working from 4am to 10pm, and even the most time-challenged person will find that one day, one year, things will ease up. Yet how many then will reach for a book?
George Orwell moves on to to consider the many benefits of reading. His final three paragraphs begin:
“It is difficult to establish any relationship between the price of books and the value one gets out of them.”
Sometimes the cost can be far cheaper in the end than you had expected. For example, a dictionary you bought for “just sixpence” might be useful for no less than 20 years and you can consult it any time you like. A reference book, or a book of poetry might have a similar cost ratio. If you like buying books new, you can keep them after reading them and then sell them on at one third their original price (we could use e-bay). If you buy them second hand the cost is far cheaper, or if you borrow them from a library, then it costs you next to nothing.
The type of book feeds into this cost factor too. Perhaps our “reluctant readers” might go shifty-eyed at this point. Is there a difference in what we “ought” to read. Again, we are opening a can of worms. Parents sometimes castigate their children for reading books that are too easy, or formulaic, or disparage their teenagers for reading “trash”. Other, non-reading parents may be equally dismissive of academic, or more serious literary books, feeling that they are a “waste of time” and not relevant to the here and now.
There are an infinite variety of books:
“There are books that one reads over and over again, books that become part of the furniture of one’s mind and alter one’s whole attitude to life, books that one dips into but never reads through, books that one reads at a single sitting and forgets a week later: and the cost, in terms of money, may be the same in each case.”
George Orwell decides to make his comparison by restricting the choice to popular novels, and works out that if you spend about four hours reading a light novel, this is:
“about what it costs to sit in one of the more expensive seats in the cinema. If you concentrated on more serious books, and still bought everything that you read, your expenses would be about the same. The books would cost more but they would take longer to read. In either case you would still possess the books after you had read them.”
With our plethora of alternative entertainments, we can do our own comparisons with the latest gadgets. I cannot make the detailed comparisons George Orwell does for his own time, as I personally have very few leisure gadgets, and can only access the internet on a laptop. However, it is clear how expensive they all are, and how they have to be updated or replaced frighteningly often. He concludes:
“I have said enough to show that reading is one of the cheaper recreations: after listening to the radio probably THE cheapest.”
We can add in the television to this, but there are financial drawbacks such as built-in obsolescence to the other latest technological marvels.
George Orwell’s essay Book v. Cigarettes was first published in the “Tribune” newspaper, on 8th February 1946. He had no satisfactory explanation for why people were not reading, and estimated from the publishing and sales figures that he knew, that the average person was only buying about three books a year, in various ways. This, he said:
“is not a proud record for a country which is nearly 100 per cent literate and where the ordinary man spends more on cigarettes than an Indian peasant has for his whole livelihood. And if our book consumption remains as low as it has been, at least let us admit that it is because reading is a less exciting pastime than going to the dogs, the pictures or the pub, and not because books, whether bought or borrowed, are too expensive.”
I wonder if this is still true. Books now, compared with 1946, are beautifully produced, and a pleasure to hold in your hands. Factual books may have illustrations which can make you gasp. We have access to millions of e-books as well. Reading is a solitary activity of course, and people need the human companionship that going to some sort of sports club, or meeting, or eating out provides. But even allowing for this, activities using technology seem to have taken over.
When Book v. Cigarettes was published, doctors were encouraging people to smoke. Incredibly enough, from 1930 to 1950s, the health benefits of cigarettes were stressed. They even used to be advertised by doctors. It was only in the mid-1960s that it was reported that smoking causes lung cancer, laryngeal cancer and chronic bronchitis. Cigarettes are therefore no longer as popular as they once were, and more often frowned on socially. But we can think of many other comparisons, of what our friends and family might spend their leisure time and money on, and for many of us, books sadly still seem to come off worst.
This is a straightforward, witty essay, but George Orwell’s analysis is also a thought-provoking dilemma. Many people still seem hesitant about reading, over 75 years later. But for some it is a passion, giving many hour of enjoyment every week, entertaining us, expanding our horizons and enlarging our world view. I find it very sad that for so many, they cannot seem to get past the idea that reading is something they “ought” to do, rather than such a pleasure.
December 18, 2014
This slim volume contains six essays which may make you smile, possibly make you sad and will certainly make you think. Orwell muses on how much he spends on books, recollects his time working in a bookshop and on being seriously ill in a Paris hospital, considers the merits of book reviewing, the censorship of literature, patriotism and his joyless time spent as a scholarship boy at prep school.
Most of these articles were published in the late 1930’s to mid 1940’s, but they still have amazing relevance today. Is reading an expensive hobby? How does it measure up to other forms of entertainment? Is there still, as Orwell said, a rarity of ‘bookish’ people? Certainly many book reviews or book prizes can be said to be judged by those who care little for what they are reading and censorship is still in place – a disturbing amount of books are banned worldwide each year. The longest essay concerns Orwell’s school days and much that he found oppressive – bullying and cramming for exams, are still issues that concern many. These are refreshing to read, full of opinions and enthusiasm and are certain to provoke discussion if chosen by any reading group.
Most of these articles were published in the late 1930’s to mid 1940’s, but they still have amazing relevance today. Is reading an expensive hobby? How does it measure up to other forms of entertainment? Is there still, as Orwell said, a rarity of ‘bookish’ people? Certainly many book reviews or book prizes can be said to be judged by those who care little for what they are reading and censorship is still in place – a disturbing amount of books are banned worldwide each year. The longest essay concerns Orwell’s school days and much that he found oppressive – bullying and cramming for exams, are still issues that concern many. These are refreshing to read, full of opinions and enthusiasm and are certain to provoke discussion if chosen by any reading group.
February 1, 2025
اورول را با کتابهای مزرعه حیوانات و ۱۹۸۴میشناسیم این بار اما با کتابی شامل هفت مقاله از تجربیات ،دغدغه هاو عقاید اورول رو به رو هستیم. در مقاله اول با عنوان «کتاب یا سیگار »با مقایسه هزینه های خرید کتاب و سیگار به این نتیجه میرسد که علت پایین بودن ��رانه مطالعه کتاب این است که کتاب خواندن به اندازه رفتن به سینما و بار و…جذاب نیست و علتش این نیست که کتابها چه خریده شوند و چه قرض گرفته شوند،زیادی گران اند!!
در «خاطرات کتابفروشی» از این میگوید که چگونه کار کردن در یک کتابفروشی کتابهای دست دوم باعث شد عشقش به کتابها را از دست بدهد. «اعترافات یک منتقد کتاب» به این موضوع میپردازد که چرا برخی منتقدان نقدهایی را مینویسند که حتی خودشان هم آنها را باور ندارند؟
در«ممانعت از ادبیات» درباره دفاع از آزادی بیان و انتقاد از سانسور و دروغ رایج در حکومتهای توتالیتاریسم و به ویژه حکومتهای کمونیستی می خوانیم. «کشور من چپ یا راست» می گوید که علت اینکه گذشته را پرحادثه میبینیم ایناست که وقتی به عقب نگاه میکنیم حوادثی که با اختلاف زمانی زیاد رخ داده اند از دور نزدیکِ هم دیده میشوند.
«فقرا چگونه می میرند» تجربه دردناک اورول از رفتن به بک بیمارستان عمومی میباشد که بیماران را به عنوان نمونه آزمایشگاهی و یا حتی بدتر از آن میدیدند! و در «شادی ایام خردی یاد باد» اورول ما را با خود به مدرسه شبانه روزی سنت سیپرین میبرد تا با سختی ها ،تبعیض ها و گاهی شادی های کوچکش همراه شویم.
در «خاطرات کتابفروشی» از این میگوید که چگونه کار کردن در یک کتابفروشی کتابهای دست دوم باعث شد عشقش به کتابها را از دست بدهد. «اعترافات یک منتقد کتاب» به این موضوع میپردازد که چرا برخی منتقدان نقدهایی را مینویسند که حتی خودشان هم آنها را باور ندارند؟
در«ممانعت از ادبیات» درباره دفاع از آزادی بیان و انتقاد از سانسور و دروغ رایج در حکومتهای توتالیتاریسم و به ویژه حکومتهای کمونیستی می خوانیم. «کشور من چپ یا راست» می گوید که علت اینکه گذشته را پرحادثه میبینیم ایناست که وقتی به عقب نگاه میکنیم حوادثی که با اختلاف زمانی زیاد رخ داده اند از دور نزدیکِ هم دیده میشوند.
«فقرا چگونه می میرند» تجربه دردناک اورول از رفتن به بک بیمارستان عمومی میباشد که بیماران را به عنوان نمونه آزمایشگاهی و یا حتی بدتر از آن میدیدند! و در «شادی ایام خردی یاد باد» اورول ما را با خود به مدرسه شبانه روزی سنت سیپرین میبرد تا با سختی ها ،تبعیض ها و گاهی شادی های کوچکش همراه شویم.
March 15, 2024
Published as a part of Penguin Books Great Ideas series, this book is a collection of essays from George Orwell. They vary in topic and enjoyment (for me), and i have made a few notes about each before rating.
Books V. Cigarettes - As the name suggests, here Orwell considers the amount of money he spends on books against the amount spent of cigarettes (and alcohol). It is an interesting concept - one which wouldn't yield much of a result for me - I suppose I spend plenty of books (not much but volume, but I do buy quite a number) but I don't spend a great deal on alcohol now days and never spent money on cigarettes. Previously published in Tribune, 1943. ****/5
Bookshop Memories - Orwell discusses his time working in a bookshop - explaining it is not as romantic as it sounds, dealing with annoying customers, making books less interesting to a person who must deal in them all day. Previously published in Fortnightly, 1936. ****/5
Confessions of a Book Reviewer - Orwell describes a professional book reviewer - with absolutely no glamour and no acclaim. Deadlines that mean the reviewer can never read the book, only pick up on vague concepts and roll out cliches. Previously published in Tribune, 1946. ****/5
The Prevention of Literature - More philosophical, more intellectual, less interesting to me this on. Previously published in Polemic, 1946. **.5/5
My Country Left or Right - We move off the topic of books now, this one being political, and too highbrow for a simple fellow like me. Previously published in Folios of New Writing, 1940. **.5/5
How the Poor Die - Orwell shares his experience the horrors of a few weeks in hospital in Paris. This one was very good. At the end it even comes back to the theme of books. Previously published in Now, 1946. *****/5
Such, Such Were the Joys - This is a longer story, taking up half the book, and recounts Orwell's school days as St Cyprian's prep school in Eastbourne. He speaks of bed wetting, discipline, unjust treatment, bullying and the learning itself focused on the pupils gaining scholarships to the benefit of the school. Previously published in Partisan Review, 1952. *****/5
So by my mathematics that equates to just under 4 stars. Well worth seeking out this little collection.
Books V. Cigarettes - As the name suggests, here Orwell considers the amount of money he spends on books against the amount spent of cigarettes (and alcohol). It is an interesting concept - one which wouldn't yield much of a result for me - I suppose I spend plenty of books (not much but volume, but I do buy quite a number) but I don't spend a great deal on alcohol now days and never spent money on cigarettes. Previously published in Tribune, 1943. ****/5
Bookshop Memories - Orwell discusses his time working in a bookshop - explaining it is not as romantic as it sounds, dealing with annoying customers, making books less interesting to a person who must deal in them all day. Previously published in Fortnightly, 1936. ****/5
Confessions of a Book Reviewer - Orwell describes a professional book reviewer - with absolutely no glamour and no acclaim. Deadlines that mean the reviewer can never read the book, only pick up on vague concepts and roll out cliches. Previously published in Tribune, 1946. ****/5
The Prevention of Literature - More philosophical, more intellectual, less interesting to me this on. Previously published in Polemic, 1946. **.5/5
My Country Left or Right - We move off the topic of books now, this one being political, and too highbrow for a simple fellow like me. Previously published in Folios of New Writing, 1940. **.5/5
How the Poor Die - Orwell shares his experience the horrors of a few weeks in hospital in Paris. This one was very good. At the end it even comes back to the theme of books. Previously published in Now, 1946. *****/5
Such, Such Were the Joys - This is a longer story, taking up half the book, and recounts Orwell's school days as St Cyprian's prep school in Eastbourne. He speaks of bed wetting, discipline, unjust treatment, bullying and the learning itself focused on the pupils gaining scholarships to the benefit of the school. Previously published in Partisan Review, 1952. *****/5
So by my mathematics that equates to just under 4 stars. Well worth seeking out this little collection.
March 18, 2024
George Orwell, author of the fundamental "1984" and the lucid "The Triumph of the Pigs," in these chronicles shows us his humble origins and the time of adolescence in England, different from what it would become after the 1945 World War. It is another image from the author, who has always resorted to easy images and intelligent analogism.
July 20, 2022
کتاب مجموعهای از شش مقاله است که با دیدی طنز از دید یک کتابخوان، یک کتابفروش و یک منتقد در زمینهی کتابخوانی و کتابفروشی و مسائل آموزشی نوشته شده است. به طور کلی کتاب جالبی بود و واقعا از اورول نگارش همچین کتابی دور از انتظار نبود. فصل آخر برای من خیلی جالب و مفید بود. در مورد مدارس انگلستان و خاطرات مدرسه و اینکه چرا گاهی مدارس به بدترین مکان برای بچهها تبدیل میشوند، پرداخته بود.
May 13, 2018
Reading these seven essays in “Books v. Cigarettes” by George Orwell was like a revisit to a familiar, entertaining and inspiring author whose fame has long been admired by his readers having read his “Animal Farm”, “Nineteen Eighty-Four”, “Down and Out in Paris and London”, etc., to name but a few. The stories in this book are the following:
Taken from his Essays (Everyman's Library 2002) in the same title published in Fortnightly in November 1936 (p. 50), I think, this seven-essay selection published in 2008 might aim at increasing Orwell readership in a new generation in the early 2010’s. Some readers might think his essays written more than half a century would be outdated but his ideas should be read and studied for his originality. For instance, from the opening paragraph in the second essay, this extract from 'Bookshop Memories' may more or less remind any booklover of a casual visit to any good second-hand bookshops in Thailand, England, Australia, Japan, etc.
As for Orwell newcomers who have never read him, I would like to recommend this cute paperback as a sort of literary hors d'oeuvre or something delightfully manageable due to his readable and witty stories in which each one you can blissfully read in one's sitting before trying reading the real thing, that is, the hardcover Essays mentioned above and eventually cannot help admiring him as one of the great writers in the 20th century.
Books v. Cigarettes
Bookshop Memories
Confessions of a Book Reviewer
The Prevention of Literature
My Country Right or Left
How the Poor Die
Such, Such Were the Joys
Taken from his Essays (Everyman's Library 2002) in the same title published in Fortnightly in November 1936 (p. 50), I think, this seven-essay selection published in 2008 might aim at increasing Orwell readership in a new generation in the early 2010’s. Some readers might think his essays written more than half a century would be outdated but his ideas should be read and studied for his originality. For instance, from the opening paragraph in the second essay, this extract from 'Bookshop Memories' may more or less remind any booklover of a casual visit to any good second-hand bookshops in Thailand, England, Australia, Japan, etc.
When I worked in a second-hand bookshop – so easily pictured, if you don’t work in one, as a kind of paradise where charming old gentlemen browse eternally among calf-bound folios – the thing that chiefly struck me was the rarity of really bookish people. … First edition snobs were much commoner than lovers of literature, but oriental students haggling over cheap textbooks were commoner still, and vague-minded women looking for birthday presents for their nephews were commonest of all. (p. 8)
As for Orwell newcomers who have never read him, I would like to recommend this cute paperback as a sort of literary hors d'oeuvre or something delightfully manageable due to his readable and witty stories in which each one you can blissfully read in one's sitting before trying reading the real thing, that is, the hardcover Essays mentioned above and eventually cannot help admiring him as one of the great writers in the 20th century.
June 2, 2018
7 essays by the pen of George Orwell, 4 of these about literature, one way or the other.
“I possess books that do not strictly speaking belong to me, but many other people also have books of mine: so that the books I have not paid for can be taken as balancing others which I have paid for but no longer possess.”
This is most likely the case for many of us …
Sharp and witty “Uncle George” takes us through the different aspects of the UK book life mid-20th century.
That is seen through the eyes of a book collector, a reviewer, a book seller and a critic/writer.
The 5th and 6th essays in this collection are of the sociopolitical kind, the observations from a Paris hospital in “How the Poor Die” by far being the strongest statements on social injustice. At time of writing, there were certainly places in France where “the poor” could not even afford to die.
Compared to the UK at that time, you may easily say there were room for improvement.
The last essay, and the longest, is a memoir of the early schooldays. While it is interesting as a biographical entry and sheds some light on UK prep schools and what can best be described as natural selection, I don´t think it stands time – or it should have been put into another collection than the Penguin “Great Ideas” series.
However, it does prove that your early school day experiences do not necessarily determine your life career.
Even the collection from my point of view capitalizes on Orwell´s many left-over essays and is a bit inconsistent, I never tire of Orwell´s writing style and wit and grant it 4 stars.
“I possess books that do not strictly speaking belong to me, but many other people also have books of mine: so that the books I have not paid for can be taken as balancing others which I have paid for but no longer possess.”
This is most likely the case for many of us …
Sharp and witty “Uncle George” takes us through the different aspects of the UK book life mid-20th century.
That is seen through the eyes of a book collector, a reviewer, a book seller and a critic/writer.
The 5th and 6th essays in this collection are of the sociopolitical kind, the observations from a Paris hospital in “How the Poor Die” by far being the strongest statements on social injustice. At time of writing, there were certainly places in France where “the poor” could not even afford to die.
Compared to the UK at that time, you may easily say there were room for improvement.
The last essay, and the longest, is a memoir of the early schooldays. While it is interesting as a biographical entry and sheds some light on UK prep schools and what can best be described as natural selection, I don´t think it stands time – or it should have been put into another collection than the Penguin “Great Ideas” series.
However, it does prove that your early school day experiences do not necessarily determine your life career.
Even the collection from my point of view capitalizes on Orwell´s many left-over essays and is a bit inconsistent, I never tire of Orwell´s writing style and wit and grant it 4 stars.
April 1, 2022
My thoughts on the title essay only, "Books v. Cigarettes."
Do people avoid buying or reading books because books are too expensive for the average person? George Orwell, an avid reader, estimated how much he spent on books yearly in this 1946 essay. He stated that it's not costly to read, especially if you buy used books, read light inexpensive literature, or visit the library. Orwell spent more on cigarettes than books. He concluded:
"If our book consumption remains as low as it has been, at least let us admit that it is because reading is a less exciting pastime than going to the dogs, the pictures or the pub, and not because books, whether bought or borrowed, are too expensive."
Today there are even more distractions and types of entertainment to compete for a person's money--TV, the Internet, video games, cell phones, social media, casinos, online betting, the theater, travel, dance clubs, museums, coffee shops, restaurants, alcohol, recreational drugs, sports, fitness centers, and cigarettes were some that came to mind. Others have hobbies like gardening, quilting, woodworking, painting, playing a musical instrument, or spending time with a pet.
Most books now can be obtained fairly inexpensively if you take the time to borrow them at the library, buy used books, or find e-book bargains. I think that time and interest, rather than money, influences people's decision to read books. I enjoy reading, and read a couple of books weekly now. But when I was busy balancing work and raising my children, it was time that was lacking and I mostly read newspapers, magazines, and an occasional light book. With excellent public libraries near me, the price of books was not even considered.
Do people avoid buying or reading books because books are too expensive for the average person? George Orwell, an avid reader, estimated how much he spent on books yearly in this 1946 essay. He stated that it's not costly to read, especially if you buy used books, read light inexpensive literature, or visit the library. Orwell spent more on cigarettes than books. He concluded:
"If our book consumption remains as low as it has been, at least let us admit that it is because reading is a less exciting pastime than going to the dogs, the pictures or the pub, and not because books, whether bought or borrowed, are too expensive."
Today there are even more distractions and types of entertainment to compete for a person's money--TV, the Internet, video games, cell phones, social media, casinos, online betting, the theater, travel, dance clubs, museums, coffee shops, restaurants, alcohol, recreational drugs, sports, fitness centers, and cigarettes were some that came to mind. Others have hobbies like gardening, quilting, woodworking, painting, playing a musical instrument, or spending time with a pet.
Most books now can be obtained fairly inexpensively if you take the time to borrow them at the library, buy used books, or find e-book bargains. I think that time and interest, rather than money, influences people's decision to read books. I enjoy reading, and read a couple of books weekly now. But when I was busy balancing work and raising my children, it was time that was lacking and I mostly read newspapers, magazines, and an occasional light book. With excellent public libraries near me, the price of books was not even considered.
March 7, 2018
Slim book containing six essays by George Orwell. His writing is clear and concise and can certainly make you think.
For example, in spending time in a Paris hospital for poor people:
"I think it's better to die violently and not too old. People talk about the horrors of war, but what weapon has a man invented that even approaches in cruelty some of the commoner diseases? 'Natural death', almost by definition, means something, slow, smelly, and painful".
Like I said, he makes you think.
For example, in spending time in a Paris hospital for poor people:
"I think it's better to die violently and not too old. People talk about the horrors of war, but what weapon has a man invented that even approaches in cruelty some of the commoner diseases? 'Natural death', almost by definition, means something, slow, smelly, and painful".
Like I said, he makes you think.
February 2, 2021
Η καλαίσθητη αυτή συλλογή, μία ακόμη από τις αρκετές, εξίσου ωραίες, επανεκδόσεις των έργων του George Orwell (αλήθεια, πέρασαν κιόλας εβδομήντα χρόνια από τον θάνατό του;), περιέχει έξι ολιγοσέλιδα δοκίμια με κύριους άξονες προβληματισμού τη φιλαναγνωσία, τον πατριωτισμό, την ελευθερία έκφρασης και την κοινωνική πρόνοια, κι ένα ακόμη κείμενο, κατά τι εκτενέστερο, στο οποίο, μέσα από τη βιωμένη εμπειρία των μαθητικών του χρόνων, ο συγγραφέας εξετάζει – χωρίς καθόλου να αναπολεί - την παιδική ηλικία. Άλλοτε με σκωπτικό κι άλλοτε με στοχαστικό ύφος, πάντοτε όμως με αφειδώλευτη ειλικρίνεια, ο Orwell εκφράζει και δημοσιεύει ελεύθερα τις απόψεις του για πολιτικοκοινωνικά θέματα του ευρύτερου κοινωνικού ενδιαφέροντος που απασχολούν και τον ίδιο, κατορθώνοντας τελικά αφενός να προβληματίσει τον αναγνώστη (του τότε και του σήμερα), αφετέρου να εξερευνήσει και τα τρία πεδία αναφοράς που, κατά τον σπουδαίο Aldous Huxley, πρέπει να χαρακτηρίζουν ένα (απολαυστικό) δοκίμιο: το προσωπικό/αυτοβιογραφικό (ο δοκιμιογράφος μιλά ανοιχτά για τον εαυτό του), το πραγματικό/αντικειμενικό (ο δοκιμιογράφος καταγράφει ό,τι συμβαίνει γύρω του) και το καθολικό, την μεγάλη εικόνα.
Ασφαλώς αγόρασα ξανά και τη Φάρμα των Ζώων και το 1984, μετά από μια γόνιμη διαδικασία αμφιβολίας ως προς το ποια από τις νεότερες εκδόσεις είναι περισσότερο γουστόζικη και ποιος μεταφραστής «καλύτερος».
Ασφαλώς αγόρασα ξανά και τη Φάρμα των Ζώων και το 1984, μετά από μια γόνιμη διαδικασία αμφιβολίας ως προς το ποια από τις νεότερες εκδόσεις είναι περισσότερο γουστόζικη και ποιος μεταφραστής «καλύτερος».
September 30, 2008
A small collection of essays by the wonderful master of the sentence, George Orwell. I think he's one of the great craftmen of the written word. I can see why he's idolized by hack journalists (some of you know who I am thinking of), yet never mastered.
Since i work at a bookstore I totally tuned in to his essay about working at a bookstore. The dust is still a problem, but unlike him I stayed at the job. Smelling the dust and still loving the sexual beast that are books.
The last piece is about his school years and he captures the tone of sadistic behavior that was part of every British kids school years. And the first essay is both unimportant and super interesting:
Reading this at night before I sleep -and it's interesting that Orwell for this essay counted all his books and compares the money spent for the books against cigarettes and alcohol. I loathe to know what I spend on such decadent items (meaning books).
Since i work at a bookstore I totally tuned in to his essay about working at a bookstore. The dust is still a problem, but unlike him I stayed at the job. Smelling the dust and still loving the sexual beast that are books.
The last piece is about his school years and he captures the tone of sadistic behavior that was part of every British kids school years. And the first essay is both unimportant and super interesting:
Reading this at night before I sleep -and it's interesting that Orwell for this essay counted all his books and compares the money spent for the books against cigarettes and alcohol. I loathe to know what I spend on such decadent items (meaning books).
October 9, 2024
"Uma livraria é um dos poucos lugares onde se pode permanecer imenso tempo sem se gastar dinheiro." 📚
"Livros e cigarros" reúne 7 ensaios de George Orwell, sendo os livros e a literatura o mote de partida. Para mim, é um privilégio podermos ler um pensador como Orwell.
George Orwell para além de escritor, jornalista, ensaísta e crítico literário, chegou também a ser livreiro. É verdade, imaginem a alegria que seria ir a uma livraria e serem atendidos por ninguém menos que George Orwell, de seu nome Eric Arthur Blair. Um dos meus ensaios preferidos foi precisamente o ensaio entitulado "Memórias de um livreiro" 🥺❤️
Corria o ano de 1946 e Orwell já discutia o tema dos preços dos livros, fazendo uma comparação do dinheiro que a sociedade inglesa da época gastava em livros vs em cigarros e álcool. No primeiro ensaio, o autor desmistifica a ideia de que comprar livros é um hobby demasiado caro, afirma apenas que a leitura não é um passatempo tão estimulante como ir ao pub ou ao cinema.
Nesta coletânea, encontramos também ensaios relacionados, pois claro, com a política, estados totalitários, o papel dos escritores e jornalistas na defesa da liberdade de expressão, o período da guerra e do pós-guerra.
Os últimos dois ensaios têm um carácter mais pessoal, em que Orwell conta dois episódios muito marcantes da sua vida. Um retrata as várias semanas que Orwell passou num hospital de Paris, rodeado de pobreza e de miséria. O outro, e último ensaio desta coletânea, foi o texto mais pessoal que li até hoje do Orwell. Orwell recorda a sua infância e adolescência passadas num colégio e aproveita para dissecar sobre o tipo de educação que era dado na altura.
Como textos próprios da década 40/50, há alguns comentários machistas e eu, mesmo colocando em perspectiva a época em que foram escritos, não posso deixar de comentar. Ainda por cima, são comentários que não acrescentam nada à genialidade do texto...
Contudo, com uma escrita simples e cativante, na minha opinião, vale sempre a pena ler textos de George Orwell. Há poucos escritores que nos deixem a reflectir tanto como Orwell.
"Livros e cigarros" reúne 7 ensaios de George Orwell, sendo os livros e a literatura o mote de partida. Para mim, é um privilégio podermos ler um pensador como Orwell.
George Orwell para além de escritor, jornalista, ensaísta e crítico literário, chegou também a ser livreiro. É verdade, imaginem a alegria que seria ir a uma livraria e serem atendidos por ninguém menos que George Orwell, de seu nome Eric Arthur Blair. Um dos meus ensaios preferidos foi precisamente o ensaio entitulado "Memórias de um livreiro" 🥺❤️
Corria o ano de 1946 e Orwell já discutia o tema dos preços dos livros, fazendo uma comparação do dinheiro que a sociedade inglesa da época gastava em livros vs em cigarros e álcool. No primeiro ensaio, o autor desmistifica a ideia de que comprar livros é um hobby demasiado caro, afirma apenas que a leitura não é um passatempo tão estimulante como ir ao pub ou ao cinema.
Nesta coletânea, encontramos também ensaios relacionados, pois claro, com a política, estados totalitários, o papel dos escritores e jornalistas na defesa da liberdade de expressão, o período da guerra e do pós-guerra.
Os últimos dois ensaios têm um carácter mais pessoal, em que Orwell conta dois episódios muito marcantes da sua vida. Um retrata as várias semanas que Orwell passou num hospital de Paris, rodeado de pobreza e de miséria. O outro, e último ensaio desta coletânea, foi o texto mais pessoal que li até hoje do Orwell. Orwell recorda a sua infância e adolescência passadas num colégio e aproveita para dissecar sobre o tipo de educação que era dado na altura.
Como textos próprios da década 40/50, há alguns comentários machistas e eu, mesmo colocando em perspectiva a época em que foram escritos, não posso deixar de comentar. Ainda por cima, são comentários que não acrescentam nada à genialidade do texto...
Contudo, com uma escrita simples e cativante, na minha opinião, vale sempre a pena ler textos de George Orwell. Há poucos escritores que nos deixem a reflectir tanto como Orwell.
November 29, 2020
I was drawn to this volume because of the title essay—both books and cigarettes are disproportionately more expensive today than in the late 1940s, and to choose between the two just as impossible. Although I wasn't all too satisfied with this particular article having expected something entirely different; what kept me reading with awe and enthusiasm was, as with anything else by Orwell, the relevance of his words and worldview to a present he did not live to see.
On my most recent visit, a friend and I discussed how she, a dedicated bibliophile, stopped reading altogether amidst the frenzy of running a suddenly-famous bookstore during a pandemic. Her recollection of her experiences and observations as a bookseller reminded me of those recorded by Orwell in his "Bookshop Memories," despite the vast differences in the time and context within which the two take place. Similarly, my reading of "The Prevention of Literature" and "My Country Right or Left" was coloured profoundly by the way we approach history, patriotism, and the freedom of speech in the present, which isn't much different from the future that the author characteristically seems to be warning us against.
In the seven essays included in Books v. Cigarettes, Orwell touches on a variety of topics and issues: from exploring the habit of reading and the merits of book reviewing to examining the ill-treatment of poor bodies in a Paris hospital; from contemplating the totalitarianism that censorship portends to remembering the oppressiveness of childhoods spent between the black-and-white values of boarding schools. These essays abound with all the the sharp wit, keen observation, and cogent writing expected of Orwell, and serve as amusing appetisers for those unfamiliar with his broader non-fiction works.
On my most recent visit, a friend and I discussed how she, a dedicated bibliophile, stopped reading altogether amidst the frenzy of running a suddenly-famous bookstore during a pandemic. Her recollection of her experiences and observations as a bookseller reminded me of those recorded by Orwell in his "Bookshop Memories," despite the vast differences in the time and context within which the two take place. Similarly, my reading of "The Prevention of Literature" and "My Country Right or Left" was coloured profoundly by the way we approach history, patriotism, and the freedom of speech in the present, which isn't much different from the future that the author characteristically seems to be warning us against.
In the seven essays included in Books v. Cigarettes, Orwell touches on a variety of topics and issues: from exploring the habit of reading and the merits of book reviewing to examining the ill-treatment of poor bodies in a Paris hospital; from contemplating the totalitarianism that censorship portends to remembering the oppressiveness of childhoods spent between the black-and-white values of boarding schools. These essays abound with all the the sharp wit, keen observation, and cogent writing expected of Orwell, and serve as amusing appetisers for those unfamiliar with his broader non-fiction works.
April 28, 2021
http://ancazaharia.ro/2021/04/ordine-...
Apariția de noi și noi ediții ale acestei cărți este cum nu se poate mai potrivită, de vreme ce totul este încă relatable, este scris într-un limbaj accesibil, însă cu o mulțime de informații de context variate și necesare pentru a înțelege ceva în plus despre viața în afara bulei: viața de iubitor de cărți (fie de cititor, de librar sau cronicar), cea de bolnav sau elev, de scriitor și jurnalist. Văd „Cărți sau țigări” drept cartea care are potențialul de a-ți mai pune ceva ordine în gânduri. În orice caz, știu sigur că este un titlu la care mă voi întoarce și pe viitor.
Apariția de noi și noi ediții ale acestei cărți este cum nu se poate mai potrivită, de vreme ce totul este încă relatable, este scris într-un limbaj accesibil, însă cu o mulțime de informații de context variate și necesare pentru a înțelege ceva în plus despre viața în afara bulei: viața de iubitor de cărți (fie de cititor, de librar sau cronicar), cea de bolnav sau elev, de scriitor și jurnalist. Văd „Cărți sau țigări” drept cartea care are potențialul de a-ți mai pune ceva ordine în gânduri. În orice caz, știu sigur că este un titlu la care mă voi întoarce și pe viitor.
May 17, 2019
Lately, stronger than before, I have realized and felt how much an exciting pastime is the ability and the possibility to read. Not necessarily that, as per Orwell's challenging business analysis, reading proves to be one of the cheaper recreations- just in case I can’t afford other luxuries- but mostly because it keeps me, more than ever, on the surviving limit of the overall mental sanity. Without books some things would be extremely tedious, hollow, devastatingly boring and uninteresting.
This collection of essays 'Books v. cigarettes' is very entertaining, exploring various themes, more or less of actual significance, too.
‘Such, such were the Joys’ was the most emotional one, describing some of the early memories of Orwell’s childhood, during the years spent at the St Cyprian boarding school, which it turned out to have had a very strong impact on his future individual development. The style of storytelling is so amazing that I felt connected and immersed into his inner universe as I have been his double, someone that joined him, on his child's adventures, as an external observer but of an intimate quality.
≪ Regarding boarding schools […] The real question is whether it is still normal for a schoolchild to live for years amid irrational terrors and lunatic misunderstandings. And here one is up against the very great difficulty of knowing what a child really feels and thinks. A child which appears reasonably happy may actually be suffering horrors which it cannot or will not reveal. It lives in a sort of alien under-water world which we can only penetrate by memory or divination. Our chief clue is the fact that we were once children ourselves, and many people appear to forget the atmosphere of their own childhood almost entirely.
Think for instance of the unnecessary torments that people will inflict by sending a child back to school with clothes of the wrong pattern, and refusing to see that this matters! [between us, off the record, our parents always, but always, purchased clothes at least 2 sizes bigger than our current size. I, especially during primary school, was looking very funny in my winter jacket: almost like a grown-up that failed to reach at least an average height…of course, it was useless any outcry, my parents always telling me that there is no money to waste on changing clothes once a season…they were right and I accepted it as a matter of fact] Over things of this kind a child will sometimes utter a protest, but a great deal of the time its attitude is one of simple concealment. Not to expose your true feelings to an adult seems to be instinctive from the age of seven or eight onwards. Even the affection that one feels for a child, the desire to protect and cherish it, is a cause of misunderstanding. One can love a child, perhaps, more deeply than one can love another adult, but it is rash to assume that the child feels any love in return. [this was not true for me, as I recall that I have developed an obsessive affection towards my mother when a child…somehow I have terrorized my father, lol. Not much changed during adult years… lol].
Looking back on my own childhood, after the infant years were over, I do not believe that I ever felt love for any mature person, except my mother, and even her I did not trust, in the sense that shyness made me conceal most of my real feelings from her. Love, the spontaneous, unqualified emotion of love, was something I could only feel for people who were young. Towards people who were old-and remember that ‘old’ to a child means over thirty [goodness‼! I am overly old by now…], or even over twenty-five-I could feel reverence, respect, admiration or compunction, but I seemed cut off from them by a veil of fear and shyness mixed up with physical distaste. People are too ready to forget the child physical shrinking from the adult. The enormous size of grown-ups, their ungainly, rigid bodies, their coarse, wrinkled skins, their great relaxed eyelids, their yellow teeth, and the whiffs of musty clothes and beer and sweat and tobacco that disengage from them at every movement!
Part of the reason for the ugliness of adults, in a child’s eyes, is that the child is usually looking upward, and few faces are at their best when seen from below. Besides, being fresh and unmarked itself, the child has impossibly high standards in the matter of skin and teeth and complexion. But the greatest barrier of all is the child’s misconception about age. A child can hardly envisage life beyond thirty, and in judging people’s ages it will make fantastic mistakes. It will think that a person of 25 is 40, that a person of 40 is 65, and so on. And the child thinks of growing old as an almost obscene calamity, which for some mysterious reason will never happen to itself. All who have passed the age of 30 are joyless grotesques, endlessly fussing about things of no importance and staying alive without, so far as the child can see, having anything to live for. Only child life is real life.
[…] I base these generalizations on what I can recall of my own childhood outlook. Treacherous though memory is, it seems to me the chief means we have of discovering how a child’s mind works. Only by resurrecting our own memories can we realize how incredibly distorted is the child’s vision of the world.
[…] The child and the adult live in different worlds. If that is so, we cannot be certain that school, at any rate boarding school, is not still for many children as dreadful an experience as it used to be. Take away God, Latin, the cane, class distinctions and sexual taboos, and the Fear, the Hatred, the Snobbery and the Misunderstanding might still all be there.
[…] This led me to accept outrages and believe absurdities, and to suffer torments over things which were in fact of no importance. It is not enough to say that I was ‘silly’ and ‘ought to have known better’. Look back into your own childhood and think of the nonsense you used to believe and the trivialities which could make you suffer. Of course, my own case had its individual variations, but essentially it was that of countless other boys.
The weakness of the child is that is starts with a blank sheet. It neither understands nor questions the society in which it lives, and because of its credulity other people can work upon it, infecting it with the sense of inferiority and the dread of offending against mysterious, terrible laws. It may be that everything that happened to me at St Cyprian’s could happen in the most ‘enlightened’ school, though perhaps in subtler forms. Of one thing, however, I do feel fairly sure, and that is that boarding schools are worse than day schools. A child has a better chance with the sanctuary of its home near at hand. And I think the characteristic faults of the English upper and middle classes may be partly due to the practice, general until recently, of sending children away from home as young as nine, eight or even seven. […] ≫
I felt highly laughable the first 3 essays: Books v. Cigarettes, Bookshop Memories, Confessions of a Book reviewer, while the remaining 4, were much more serious, argumentative and fairly challenging: The Prevention of Literature, My country right or left, How the poor die, Such, such were the Joys.
This collection of essays 'Books v. cigarettes' is very entertaining, exploring various themes, more or less of actual significance, too.
‘Such, such were the Joys’ was the most emotional one, describing some of the early memories of Orwell’s childhood, during the years spent at the St Cyprian boarding school, which it turned out to have had a very strong impact on his future individual development. The style of storytelling is so amazing that I felt connected and immersed into his inner universe as I have been his double, someone that joined him, on his child's adventures, as an external observer but of an intimate quality.
≪ Regarding boarding schools […] The real question is whether it is still normal for a schoolchild to live for years amid irrational terrors and lunatic misunderstandings. And here one is up against the very great difficulty of knowing what a child really feels and thinks. A child which appears reasonably happy may actually be suffering horrors which it cannot or will not reveal. It lives in a sort of alien under-water world which we can only penetrate by memory or divination. Our chief clue is the fact that we were once children ourselves, and many people appear to forget the atmosphere of their own childhood almost entirely.
Think for instance of the unnecessary torments that people will inflict by sending a child back to school with clothes of the wrong pattern, and refusing to see that this matters! [between us, off the record, our parents always, but always, purchased clothes at least 2 sizes bigger than our current size. I, especially during primary school, was looking very funny in my winter jacket: almost like a grown-up that failed to reach at least an average height…of course, it was useless any outcry, my parents always telling me that there is no money to waste on changing clothes once a season…they were right and I accepted it as a matter of fact] Over things of this kind a child will sometimes utter a protest, but a great deal of the time its attitude is one of simple concealment. Not to expose your true feelings to an adult seems to be instinctive from the age of seven or eight onwards. Even the affection that one feels for a child, the desire to protect and cherish it, is a cause of misunderstanding. One can love a child, perhaps, more deeply than one can love another adult, but it is rash to assume that the child feels any love in return. [this was not true for me, as I recall that I have developed an obsessive affection towards my mother when a child…somehow I have terrorized my father, lol. Not much changed during adult years… lol].
Looking back on my own childhood, after the infant years were over, I do not believe that I ever felt love for any mature person, except my mother, and even her I did not trust, in the sense that shyness made me conceal most of my real feelings from her. Love, the spontaneous, unqualified emotion of love, was something I could only feel for people who were young. Towards people who were old-and remember that ‘old’ to a child means over thirty [goodness‼! I am overly old by now…], or even over twenty-five-I could feel reverence, respect, admiration or compunction, but I seemed cut off from them by a veil of fear and shyness mixed up with physical distaste. People are too ready to forget the child physical shrinking from the adult. The enormous size of grown-ups, their ungainly, rigid bodies, their coarse, wrinkled skins, their great relaxed eyelids, their yellow teeth, and the whiffs of musty clothes and beer and sweat and tobacco that disengage from them at every movement!
Part of the reason for the ugliness of adults, in a child’s eyes, is that the child is usually looking upward, and few faces are at their best when seen from below. Besides, being fresh and unmarked itself, the child has impossibly high standards in the matter of skin and teeth and complexion. But the greatest barrier of all is the child’s misconception about age. A child can hardly envisage life beyond thirty, and in judging people’s ages it will make fantastic mistakes. It will think that a person of 25 is 40, that a person of 40 is 65, and so on. And the child thinks of growing old as an almost obscene calamity, which for some mysterious reason will never happen to itself. All who have passed the age of 30 are joyless grotesques, endlessly fussing about things of no importance and staying alive without, so far as the child can see, having anything to live for. Only child life is real life.
[…] I base these generalizations on what I can recall of my own childhood outlook. Treacherous though memory is, it seems to me the chief means we have of discovering how a child’s mind works. Only by resurrecting our own memories can we realize how incredibly distorted is the child’s vision of the world.
[…] The child and the adult live in different worlds. If that is so, we cannot be certain that school, at any rate boarding school, is not still for many children as dreadful an experience as it used to be. Take away God, Latin, the cane, class distinctions and sexual taboos, and the Fear, the Hatred, the Snobbery and the Misunderstanding might still all be there.
[…] This led me to accept outrages and believe absurdities, and to suffer torments over things which were in fact of no importance. It is not enough to say that I was ‘silly’ and ‘ought to have known better’. Look back into your own childhood and think of the nonsense you used to believe and the trivialities which could make you suffer. Of course, my own case had its individual variations, but essentially it was that of countless other boys.
The weakness of the child is that is starts with a blank sheet. It neither understands nor questions the society in which it lives, and because of its credulity other people can work upon it, infecting it with the sense of inferiority and the dread of offending against mysterious, terrible laws. It may be that everything that happened to me at St Cyprian’s could happen in the most ‘enlightened’ school, though perhaps in subtler forms. Of one thing, however, I do feel fairly sure, and that is that boarding schools are worse than day schools. A child has a better chance with the sanctuary of its home near at hand. And I think the characteristic faults of the English upper and middle classes may be partly due to the practice, general until recently, of sending children away from home as young as nine, eight or even seven. […] ≫
I felt highly laughable the first 3 essays: Books v. Cigarettes, Bookshop Memories, Confessions of a Book reviewer, while the remaining 4, were much more serious, argumentative and fairly challenging: The Prevention of Literature, My country right or left, How the poor die, Such, such were the Joys.
December 16, 2022
مردی که در کتاب و سیگار غرق شده و از آزادی(🕊)مینویسه.
این کتابو به عنوان جایزه برای رضایتم از رتبه کنکورم خریدم👀😂و از انتخابم راضیم✨اولین کتابم از جورج اورول بود.شامل چند تا مقاله که مثل خوندن دفترخاطراتش بود.کلا ظاهرا دوست دارم اول با شخص خود این نویسندههای محبوب و طرز نگاهشون به زندگی آشنا بشم بعد برم سراغ رمانهاشون.مثل همینگوی که اول "پاریس جشن بیکران" رو خوندم یا مارسل پروست که "جستار در باب خواندن" رو خوندم.
دو تا مقالهی اول راجع به وضعیت سرانهی کتابخوانی بود و اینکه مردم سر قیمت کتاب غر میزنند اما همونقدر حاضرند برای خوشگذرانی هاشون خرج کنن که خیلی برام جذاب بود.(تازه اینا تو دههی ۴۰ نوشته شده اگه وضعیت الانو ببینه که سکته میکنه!!)بعدش یه مقالهی سیاسی داشت که علاقهای نداشتم و نخوندمش و بعد نصف دیگهی کتاب هم راجع به خاطرات ناخوشایندش از مدرسهی شبانه روزی کودکیش بود که خیلی دارک و غمگین بود که البته کاملا تصور همیشگی خودم از فرهنگ و تربیت سالهای اولیهی قرن بیستم بود.
نمیدونم چه چیزی داشت که باعث میشد کتاب رو زمین نذارم و یک روز و نیمه تمومش کنم اما بنظرم جدای قلم ساده و شیرینش،خیلی حرفها و نگرشش قابل درک بود و میشه گفت که لذت بردم✨
3.5⭐
این کتابو به عنوان جایزه برای رضایتم از رتبه کنکورم خریدم👀😂و از انتخابم راضیم✨اولین کتابم از جورج اورول بود.شامل چند تا مقاله که مثل خوندن دفترخاطراتش بود.کلا ظاهرا دوست دارم اول با شخص خود این نویسندههای محبوب و طرز نگاهشون به زندگی آشنا بشم بعد برم سراغ رمانهاشون.مثل همینگوی که اول "پاریس جشن بیکران" رو خوندم یا مارسل پروست که "جستار در باب خواندن" رو خوندم.
دو تا مقالهی اول راجع به وضعیت سرانهی کتابخوانی بود و اینکه مردم سر قیمت کتاب غر میزنند اما همونقدر حاضرند برای خوشگذرانی هاشون خرج کنن که خیلی برام جذاب بود.(تازه اینا تو دههی ۴۰ نوشته شده اگه وضعیت الانو ببینه که سکته میکنه!!)بعدش یه مقالهی سیاسی داشت که علاقهای نداشتم و نخوندمش و بعد نصف دیگهی کتاب هم راجع به خاطرات ناخوشایندش از مدرسهی شبانه روزی کودکیش بود که خیلی دارک و غمگین بود که البته کاملا تصور همیشگی خودم از فرهنگ و تربیت سالهای اولیهی قرن بیستم بود.
نمیدونم چه چیزی داشت که باعث میشد کتاب رو زمین نذارم و یک روز و نیمه تمومش کنم اما بنظرم جدای قلم ساده و شیرینش،خیلی حرفها و نگرشش قابل درک بود و میشه گفت که لذت بردم✨
3.5⭐
July 5, 2019
The perfect collection of essays for booklovers. Read it. Read it now!
I could actually slap myself that I didn't write an extensive Review for this as I read it 6 months ago and know I have to work my way through random dog-eared pages and try to make sense of this...
1 - Books v. Cigarettes
• George is basically such a dork (and literally me) because he counted all the books in his flat (442 in total not counting junky books; and he is about the same amount in another space so really that man owned 900 BOOKS)
• he also states that he has 143 Review copies in his flat, he would have been an awesome booktuber man :D
• I loved the message of this book because George basically calls People out on their hypocrisy and says that People who state that reading is an expensive Hobby but in the same breath smoke are just fucking stupid because reading is so much cheaper than Smoking and healthier either way
2 - Bookshop Memories
• George reminisces about the time he used to work in a bookshop and vents about the stupid costumers (it was also relatable af)
• he talks about how Little bookish People actually frequented the bookshop and how a lot of book Snobs came in, ordered some fancy challenging classic and then never return to pick said ordered book up
• he also analyzes which authors get bought by which gender, Age Group etc it is quite fascinating
• in resume he states that he wouldn't like to work in the book trade forever because whilst doing it he lost his pleasure in reading because as a bookseller you constantly have to lie about the books you want to sell
3 - Confessions of a Book Reviewer
• 'he is a man of thirty-five but Looks fifty' - oh George, I feel ya, reviewing books can be quite strenuous :D
• the atmosphere in this Essay was super intriguing and on Point, George really has a knack for creating a visual Image in my head, I could smell the dusty books, feel the exhausting and squint through the dimmed lighting
• 'Until one has some kind of professional realtionship with books one does not discover how bad the majority of them are.'
4 - The Prevention of Literature
• 'freedom of the press means [...] freedom to critique and oppose'
• 'the Journalist is unfree, and conscious of his unfreedom, when he is forced to write lies or suppress what seems to him important news'
• George also states that in the times of oppression literature (that is not political) almost ceases to exist (as seen in Germany or Italy in the 20th century)
• 'At present we know only that the imagination [...] will not breed in captivity.'
5 - My Country Right or Left
• this is one of George's political essays and it didn't do much for me because I'm too stupid to understand it and so I could take nothing from it, I'm sorry (will revisit this in the future probably)
6 - How the Poor Die
• I loved how this is reminiscent of his time in Paris and goes along very well with his accounts in "Down and Out in Paris in London"
• in 1929 George had to stay in a shabby hospital in Paris
• he describes the humiliating and disgusting cumpolsatory routines he had to go through (kind of like a medical check up and Hygiene Treatment just not done in the way to help the patient but to be on the safe side with the law) and it was quite sickening
• he talks how there was just too Little staff for all the Patients who were crammed together and that People would literally piss themselves because no one would take them to the toilet
7 - Such, such were the joys
• I def have to reread this one in the future because it was one of my favorite essays because it gave such great insight into George's childhood
• he talks about what it was like to grow up in an all-Boys School where everything about sex was surpressed (basically not talked about but when Masturbation and homosexuality surfaced they were punished immediately)
• I also liked how reflective he was and that he is not blaming his teachers at the time because he sees that through the eyes of a child everything is much more terrifying than it really is
• he also recounts how he got physically beaten by the director and Overall his honesty in These essays really got to me
• he also talked about how early "class and class distinction" got ingrained in the children and how the rich Kids made fun of the poor Kids (basically Kids like George who got a studentship in order to stay in the School
OVERALL A VERY TERRIFIC ESSAY COLLECTION and def one of my favorites from George Orwell.
I could actually slap myself that I didn't write an extensive Review for this as I read it 6 months ago and know I have to work my way through random dog-eared pages and try to make sense of this...
1 - Books v. Cigarettes
• George is basically such a dork (and literally me) because he counted all the books in his flat (442 in total not counting junky books; and he is about the same amount in another space so really that man owned 900 BOOKS)
• he also states that he has 143 Review copies in his flat, he would have been an awesome booktuber man :D
• I loved the message of this book because George basically calls People out on their hypocrisy and says that People who state that reading is an expensive Hobby but in the same breath smoke are just fucking stupid because reading is so much cheaper than Smoking and healthier either way
2 - Bookshop Memories
• George reminisces about the time he used to work in a bookshop and vents about the stupid costumers (it was also relatable af)
• he talks about how Little bookish People actually frequented the bookshop and how a lot of book Snobs came in, ordered some fancy challenging classic and then never return to pick said ordered book up
• he also analyzes which authors get bought by which gender, Age Group etc it is quite fascinating
• in resume he states that he wouldn't like to work in the book trade forever because whilst doing it he lost his pleasure in reading because as a bookseller you constantly have to lie about the books you want to sell
3 - Confessions of a Book Reviewer
• 'he is a man of thirty-five but Looks fifty' - oh George, I feel ya, reviewing books can be quite strenuous :D
• the atmosphere in this Essay was super intriguing and on Point, George really has a knack for creating a visual Image in my head, I could smell the dusty books, feel the exhausting and squint through the dimmed lighting
• 'Until one has some kind of professional realtionship with books one does not discover how bad the majority of them are.'
4 - The Prevention of Literature
• 'freedom of the press means [...] freedom to critique and oppose'
• 'the Journalist is unfree, and conscious of his unfreedom, when he is forced to write lies or suppress what seems to him important news'
• George also states that in the times of oppression literature (that is not political) almost ceases to exist (as seen in Germany or Italy in the 20th century)
• 'At present we know only that the imagination [...] will not breed in captivity.'
5 - My Country Right or Left
• this is one of George's political essays and it didn't do much for me because I'm too stupid to understand it and so I could take nothing from it, I'm sorry (will revisit this in the future probably)
6 - How the Poor Die
• I loved how this is reminiscent of his time in Paris and goes along very well with his accounts in "Down and Out in Paris in London"
• in 1929 George had to stay in a shabby hospital in Paris
• he describes the humiliating and disgusting cumpolsatory routines he had to go through (kind of like a medical check up and Hygiene Treatment just not done in the way to help the patient but to be on the safe side with the law) and it was quite sickening
• he talks how there was just too Little staff for all the Patients who were crammed together and that People would literally piss themselves because no one would take them to the toilet
7 - Such, such were the joys
• I def have to reread this one in the future because it was one of my favorite essays because it gave such great insight into George's childhood
• he talks about what it was like to grow up in an all-Boys School where everything about sex was surpressed (basically not talked about but when Masturbation and homosexuality surfaced they were punished immediately)
• I also liked how reflective he was and that he is not blaming his teachers at the time because he sees that through the eyes of a child everything is much more terrifying than it really is
• he also recounts how he got physically beaten by the director and Overall his honesty in These essays really got to me
• he also talked about how early "class and class distinction" got ingrained in the children and how the rich Kids made fun of the poor Kids (basically Kids like George who got a studentship in order to stay in the School
OVERALL A VERY TERRIFIC ESSAY COLLECTION and def one of my favorites from George Orwell.
May 5, 2010
“A child which appears reasonably happy may actually be suffering horrors which it cannot or will not reveal,” George Orwell, Such, Such Were The Joys
I should do a George Orwell month, where I read nothing else. Honestly, I love his writing so much — fiction or essays, no matter.
This edition of mine includes the following essays: Books v. Cigarettes, Bookshop Memories, Confessions of a Book Reviewer, The Prevention of Literature, My Country Left or Right, How The Poor Die and Such, Such Were The Joys. Every single one is interesting. The first, for instance, points out how the people who say they have no money to spend on books often would spend quite a lot on cigarettes and beer, the second has anecdotes and observations from his time working in a secondhand bookstore. I loved how personal most of these were, especially the last (Such, Such Were the Joys), which was basically a mini-biography of his childhood years.
It is written with the wit and wonderful turn of phrase Orwell naturally possesses, and it is a wonderful insight into his mind. For some reason during this I felt much the same as when I read Dahl’s Going Solo. Maybe it’s because two writers I admire writing about their childhood and not making a dog’s dinner of it, but I will definitely treasure this book.
I should do a George Orwell month, where I read nothing else. Honestly, I love his writing so much — fiction or essays, no matter.
This edition of mine includes the following essays: Books v. Cigarettes, Bookshop Memories, Confessions of a Book Reviewer, The Prevention of Literature, My Country Left or Right, How The Poor Die and Such, Such Were The Joys. Every single one is interesting. The first, for instance, points out how the people who say they have no money to spend on books often would spend quite a lot on cigarettes and beer, the second has anecdotes and observations from his time working in a secondhand bookstore. I loved how personal most of these were, especially the last (Such, Such Were the Joys), which was basically a mini-biography of his childhood years.
It is written with the wit and wonderful turn of phrase Orwell naturally possesses, and it is a wonderful insight into his mind. For some reason during this I felt much the same as when I read Dahl’s Going Solo. Maybe it’s because two writers I admire writing about their childhood and not making a dog’s dinner of it, but I will definitely treasure this book.
September 26, 2022
É sempre um privilégio poder encarar o estilo cativante da escrita de George Orwell, mas também os seus posicionamentos ideológicos.
Neste livro de sete ensaios, George Orwell, pega nos livros como mote para tecer as suas já habituais críticas à sociedade, à censura, à política, aos estados totalitários e às guerras.
“Memórias de Um Livreiro, 1936
Hoje em dia, compro um ou outro (livro) esporadicamente, mas apenas quando se trata de uma obra que quero ler e não posso pedir de empréstimo, e nunca compro refugo. O cheiro agradável do papel velho já não me seduz. No meu espírito, associo-o demasiado a clientes paranóicos e a varejeiras mortas.”
Neste livro de sete ensaios, George Orwell, pega nos livros como mote para tecer as suas já habituais críticas à sociedade, à censura, à política, aos estados totalitários e às guerras.
“Memórias de Um Livreiro, 1936
Hoje em dia, compro um ou outro (livro) esporadicamente, mas apenas quando se trata de uma obra que quero ler e não posso pedir de empréstimo, e nunca compro refugo. O cheiro agradável do papel velho já não me seduz. No meu espírito, associo-o demasiado a clientes paranóicos e a varejeiras mortas.”
January 1, 2025
3.5
مقالات اولش که درباره کتاب و کتابفروشی بودن رو خیلی دوست داشتم:)
مقالات اولش که درباره کتاب و کتابفروشی بودن رو خیلی دوست داشتم:)
May 10, 2021
Cartea conține 6 eseuri. Autorul scrie despre cărțile pe care le are, face o contabilizare a lor, cum și când le cumpără, care e statutul unui cititor în societate.
Mai scrie despre jurnalism, despre război, despre situația oamenilor săraci prin spitale și ce mi-a plăcut cel mai mult, despre situația școlară a multor copii în acele vremuri.
Eseurile sunt foarte bine scrise, concise și toate situațiile descrise în carte te pun pe gânduri.
Mai scrie despre jurnalism, despre război, despre situația oamenilor săraci prin spitale și ce mi-a plăcut cel mai mult, despre situația școlară a multor copii în acele vremuri.
Eseurile sunt foarte bine scrise, concise și toate situațiile descrise în carte te pun pe gânduri.
May 14, 2014
Parfois, certains livres nous font voyager dans nos souvenirs simplement en les regardant: c'est le cas de celui-là. J'ai l'ai acheté dans une librairie hippie de l'île de Waieheke, en face de Auckland en Nouvelle-Zélande; un pays superbe dont la nature est une des plus amènes en ces terres australes. Là-bas, c'était l'été. Ils étaient plutôt bon marché, et assez maigres pour vaincre mon appréhension. Je voulais améliorer mon anglais étique, mais il fallait faire attention. Là-bas, aux antipodes, les francophones sont regardés avec méfiance depuis le funeste attentat du Rainbow Warrior.
Ça n'a pas raté: la libraire, visiblement heureuse de trouver une oreille où verser des reproches vigoureux et exhaler un courroux indigné, m'avait soumis à un long interrogatoire inquisiteur auquel je me suis prêté de mauvais gré, pour sonder mes sentiments et mes opinions sur un sujet délicat. Elle finit par m’édifier par une longue tirade brûlante de vertu et de droiture, mais peut-être pas aussi éclairée que j'aurais souhaité pour oser y répondre franchement. De toute façon, aucune réplique n'était attendue: il fallait entendre en faisant mine d'écouter, il fallait faire preuve de résipiscence.
Enfin, tout ce que j'aurais su répliquer dans la langue de Molière serait devenu des pauvretés si j'avais voulu les transporter dans celle de Shakespear. J'étais malheureux. Beaucoup de politique, de caresses et peut-être quelques mensonges pour ne pas envenimer la situation m'ont finalement tiré de ce mauvais pas. L'âme pleine de doutes et de réflexions, j'ai acheté des cigarettes, et puis je suis parti lire sur la plage d'Oneroa pour chasser mes préoccupations et me consacrer à la lecture. J'ai encore envie d'y retourner...
September 15, 2017
Yazarın sağdan soldan toplanmış yazılarından oluşan kimi zaman siyasi kimi zaman da anılarından yola çıkarak oluşturduğu denemeler. Birkaç küçük yazı dışında kitaplarla çok da ilgili olmayan ( sigarayla hiç ilgisiz ) adının neden böyle konduğunu anlayamadığım, Orwell'ı daha yakından tanımak için okunası...
October 8, 2022
این کتاب مجموعه ای از بخشی از نوشته های پراکنده اورول در مجلات و... است که جمع اوری و چاپ شده و حقیقتش به نظر من به کار شما نمیاد مکر اینکه طرفدار ارول باشید.
https://taaghche.com/book/124854
https://taaghche.com/book/124854
December 6, 2025
• کتاب فروشی از معدود جاهایی است که میشود بدون خرج کردن هیچ پولی، زمان زیادی را در آن گذراند.
• کتاب هایی هستند که بارها و بارها خوانده می شوند ،بخشی از ساختار ذهن فرد می شوند و دیدگاه او نسبت به زندگی را به کلی تغییر می دهند.
• به سختی می توان رابطه ای برقرار کرد میان قیمت کتاب و ارزشی که آدم ها از خواندنش به دست می آورند.
• کتاب هایی هستند که بارها و بارها خوانده می شوند ،بخشی از ساختار ذهن فرد می شوند و دیدگاه او نسبت به زندگی را به کلی تغییر می دهند.
• به سختی می توان رابطه ای برقرار کرد میان قیمت کتاب و ارزشی که آدم ها از خواندنش به دست می آورند.
January 13, 2018
What a wonderful book. Seven essays - all of which are interesting, insightful and readable - and it definitely saves the best until last...
As with so much of his work the final essay, "Such, Such Were The Joys", is an account of Orwell's school days that combines the personal with the polemical. One minute we're reading a wince-inducing account of the brutality of St Cyprians (Orwell's prep school) and the next this meanders into social history, philosophy and a deconstruction of the pre-WW1 class system. And all of it written with George Orwell's customary clarity and readability.
Interestingly I came across an article online, on a website set up to celebrate St Cyprians, that pours scorn over Orwell's version of events. Click here to read it. I must admit, and having read both, I think Orwell's version is more credible.
All the essays are interesting. In the opener, Books v. Cigarettes, Orwell argues, in 1946, that books are a relatively cheap form of entertainment despite many people's assertions to the contrary. He compares the cost of the books he's bought over the years with the amount he's spent on beer and cigarettes, and finds that even with his relatively high book consumption, books cost less than other vices. The same must surely still apply.
When Orwell wrote his essay, he states that there were 15,000 books published annually in the UK. According to Wikipedia, in 2011 there were 149,800 books published in the UK. What does that tell us? Has the market for reading expanded ten fold in the interim?
Who'd be a book reviewer if Orwell's description in Confessions Of A Book Reviewer is accurate? What's the value of a professional review? Worthless, according to Orwell. Still a book reviewer is better off than a film reviewer who doesn't get to work at home and sells his honour for a glass of inferior sherry
The Prevention of Literature makes a passionate, and when written, a topical, argument describing how totalitarianism, or other all prevailing orthodoxies, crush worthwhile literature, and how the destruction of individual liberty cripples the journalist, the sociological writer, the historian, the novelist, the critic and the poet, in that order. Imagination will not breed in captivity.
Patriotism comes under the Orwell gaze in My Country Right or Left, and Orwell concludes that no substitute has yet been found for patriotism. He even confesses to a faint feeling of sacrilege when he does not to stand to attention during God Save The King.
The penultimate essay How the Poor Die is a real eye opener. I was particularly struck how in the Parisian hospital Orwell describes in 1929, and as a non-paying patient in the uniform nightshirt, the patient primarily a specimen. The doctors and medical students ignoring the individual and discussing the patient as if he were not there. Orwell states he did not resent this but could never get used to it.
This book is a mere 125 pages and every page contains something interesting and enlightening. Proof that good writing never dates.
As with so much of his work the final essay, "Such, Such Were The Joys", is an account of Orwell's school days that combines the personal with the polemical. One minute we're reading a wince-inducing account of the brutality of St Cyprians (Orwell's prep school) and the next this meanders into social history, philosophy and a deconstruction of the pre-WW1 class system. And all of it written with George Orwell's customary clarity and readability.
Interestingly I came across an article online, on a website set up to celebrate St Cyprians, that pours scorn over Orwell's version of events. Click here to read it. I must admit, and having read both, I think Orwell's version is more credible.
All the essays are interesting. In the opener, Books v. Cigarettes, Orwell argues, in 1946, that books are a relatively cheap form of entertainment despite many people's assertions to the contrary. He compares the cost of the books he's bought over the years with the amount he's spent on beer and cigarettes, and finds that even with his relatively high book consumption, books cost less than other vices. The same must surely still apply.
When Orwell wrote his essay, he states that there were 15,000 books published annually in the UK. According to Wikipedia, in 2011 there were 149,800 books published in the UK. What does that tell us? Has the market for reading expanded ten fold in the interim?
Who'd be a book reviewer if Orwell's description in Confessions Of A Book Reviewer is accurate? What's the value of a professional review? Worthless, according to Orwell. Still a book reviewer is better off than a film reviewer who doesn't get to work at home and sells his honour for a glass of inferior sherry
The Prevention of Literature makes a passionate, and when written, a topical, argument describing how totalitarianism, or other all prevailing orthodoxies, crush worthwhile literature, and how the destruction of individual liberty cripples the journalist, the sociological writer, the historian, the novelist, the critic and the poet, in that order. Imagination will not breed in captivity.
Patriotism comes under the Orwell gaze in My Country Right or Left, and Orwell concludes that no substitute has yet been found for patriotism. He even confesses to a faint feeling of sacrilege when he does not to stand to attention during God Save The King.
The penultimate essay How the Poor Die is a real eye opener. I was particularly struck how in the Parisian hospital Orwell describes in 1929, and as a non-paying patient in the uniform nightshirt, the patient primarily a specimen. The doctors and medical students ignoring the individual and discussing the patient as if he were not there. Orwell states he did not resent this but could never get used to it.
This book is a mere 125 pages and every page contains something interesting and enlightening. Proof that good writing never dates.
February 19, 2024
روایت کتاب یا سیگار و خاطرات کتاب فروشی رو خیلی دوست داشتم،روایتی که از مدرسه دوران کودکیش هم نوشته بود برام جالب بود فقط یه کم زیادی طولانی بود!
March 30, 2019
Kitabın ismi her ne kadar Kitaplar ve Sigaralar olsa da içeriğe baktığımızda yalnızca kitabın başındaki bir-iki denemenin kitaplar ve sigaralar hakkında olduğunu; sonraki bir-iki denemenin de siyaset içerikli ve diğer yarısının tamamen Orwell’ın çocukluk, okul anılarından oluştuğunu görüyoruz. Bu biraz yanıltıcı okur açısından, pek hoş bulmadım ama çocukluk anılarını da okumak keyifliydi kendi adıma.
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