1984. It's really good.

[Oricolt]

I'd never read it and picked it up at a charity store. Started it because I thought it was one of those books I 'ought' to read - if only to be able to nod meaningfully when people make current geopolitical comparisons. But - actually - it's really good. Not a hard read at all. Am enjoying it.

I am also listening to it on audible and finding the paralells with today quite alarming.

i think it should be back on the currículum. I am encouraging my teenagers to read it

Interesting as I find dystopia the easiest genre to escape into - I think it's a combination of it being so plausible and yet so different to everyday life that I find it easy to get pulled into that world and really feel like I'm in the story itself.

Some of my favourite books have been 1984, Brave New World, Handmaid's Tale, and The Eyre Affair.

Weirdly find fantasy sometimes the hardest to escape into as it takes a lot of skill to make the world too jarring or the story too cliche (although Lord of the Rings is one of my favourite books, and Harry Potter is still a guilty pleasure of mine)

I'm reading it aloud (in small sections) to improve my spoken Portuguese. Knowing the story so well makes it far easier to understand.

@senua , Light and popular books where the protagonist is usually female and young, and is finding her way in life and love.

Jane Austen's novels do fit that but they're literary classics.

Madame Bovary and Atonement aren't considered chick lit. I wonder why?

although Lord of the Rings is one of my favourite books, and Harry Potter is still a guilty pleasure of mine

Mine too. I'll add Philip Pullman to that as well.

I think most people mean light reading chick lit when they are talking about it. Authors like Millie Johnson and Jilly Cooper for example.

There are authors that probably appeal more to women than men such as Jane Austen, the Brontes, George Eliot, Louisa May Alcott etc, but most people wouldn't usually class their books as chick lit.

Can't something be a classic and Chick Lit.

Madame B and Atonement aren't exactly humorous and happy-ever-after, are they!?

@senua , they can but 'chick lit' is a somewhat dismissive term used to imply an insubstantial novel of no importance.

Not read Atonement. I tried but after a couple of pages decided that it wasn't for me.
Would you describe Jane Austen's novels, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights as humorous and happy-ever-after?

I wouldn't call any Bronte work ChickLiit, more like MiseryLit!

I'd say 'chick lit' was the literary equivalent of a rom-com film.

1984 is pretty miserable.

I don't remember all the comments. It was a couple of years ago. One comment was "it's a horrible book, so I didn't finish it"

In a book group, the purpose of which is to discuss the book being read, I would hope members would draw a strong distinction between "a horrible book" and "a book about something horrible".

I call it RomCom. I think chic- lit is a bit of a derogatory label. I love a bit of chic-lit, recently re-read some Jilly Cooper and currently working through all Beth Moran's books. Light, witty, entertaining and fun.

@NotWavingButReading , I'm not sure I'd call Jilly Cooper's novels chick lit either, I'd call it a bonkbuster. I tried to re-read Rivals but couldn't. I also failed to finish the one about a teacher.

A chick lit novel for me generally is:

• written by a woman
• about a woman
• she usually is young - in her 20s or 30s
• gets the guy at the end
• a fairly undemanding read where you go Ahhh!Lovely! or laugh out loud
• can read it when feeling unwell or sad and it makes you feel better
• usually forgettable

I don't generally read them but have read some. There's a well known one that I almost managed to read twice because I had completely forgotten it. It was only when I realised that the details seemed awfully familiar that I twigged.

Julia, mentioned upthread is on Kindle for 99p today

To be fair Jane Eyre does end pretty much as a happy ever after (aside from poor Mrs Rochester and slightly Mr Rochester). I did also think Jane was quite funny and wry but get your point!

Orwell’s ‘Down and Out in Paris and London’ is very good and will give you a good insight into his life (poverty and vagrancy).

I found it fascinating and am going to read it again.

Great! Congratulations!
And, really, often many books that you "ought" to read are very rewarding.

And so are many other books.

I thought that was what I said.

I have read this book today on the back of this thread, so thankyou. Its double plus good

This thread is really highlighting what a slow reader I am. I'm still going!

Oh I totally agree and find the genre similarly compelling. Perhaps I meant more escapism in the enjoyable sense haha! I find I get so invested/ absorbed into the main characters world and when they get further entrapped and threatened it gets quite stressful. I don’t want to reveal the conclusion of the book for OP’s sake and others yet to read it but I’ll just say I really cared about Winston and Julia, for their hope, happiness and freedom and was rooting hard for them. So as far as the final third of the book and its conclusion goes it is quite an emotional pull on the reader when you’re so invested in the characters.
It is a truly great book with parallels so striking to the times we are living in now.

Makes sense! I have a few days of what I call "reading hangover" where I feel a bit at loss after reading something heavy.

I did like the ending of 1984 though as it felt realistic and provided answers to some questions from the start of the book.

I think that's also why I'm not interested in reading the second book of the Handmaid's Tale - I prefer it having lots of open questions at the end.

For light reads, I enjoyed Secret Diary of a Shopaholic and Ths Undomestic Goddess more than I'd like to admit 😁

Yes - reading hangover! That’s a great way of putting it! I’ve had that with different books and films too. I think people are hard wired for storytelling, it is such an instinctive and ancient part of our nature so think the meaning, themes and conclusions can have real impact on us, the reader/ viewer. I don’t pick up a ‘heavy’ book or one that gets heavy unless I’m in the right mental space for it, same as war films. I can’t handle them unless I have the energy and resilience to dive in.
I thought the end of 1984 was hard but good, like you said answering a lot of things that had been suggested but not answered until the end. But I definitely had a reading hangover for a bit after!

I like your approach to the Handmaid’s Tale and preferring it with open questions at the end. There are some works left unanswered which can feel unsatisfying but done the right way can be refreshing too, like we get to decide as the reader.

I find the dystopia genre v engaging (the fight to survive against all odds) that I’m actually in the middle of writing my own! I’m focusing on the main character narratives at the moment and getting a real sense of who they are and their motives. I like them a lot and hope others will if I ever get it into a publishable state! I have vowed to look after them through the various trials and perils they face, but nagging at the back of my mind is also the thought that loss is unavoidable (not in death, though I haven’t ruled that out, but a tragic loss in keeping with the book’s main theme). Am in two minds though as I really care about the (two main) characters and want them to be ok and survive. I love free writing but think need to get down to some serious story arc planning or it will end up being idea soup :)

For those talking about the second handmaid's tale book - if there is a?way of explaining without spoilers for anyone reading this- do they address the very end of a handmaid's tale? The bit that turns everything on it's head (being deliberately vague and probably not explaining very well)