davidgagne.net

Happy birthday to Eric Blair — better known as George Orwell — born on this date in 1903, seventy years and one day before yours truly.

My dad told me to read Animal Farm when I was seven years old. I thought it was really wild, but that there had to be something that I just didn’t understand. (Why would grown ups think a story about a bunch of talking pigs and cows was so good?!) I only halfheartedly read 1984 in high school because I thought Orwell was a flake children’s book author.

It wasn’t until I got to college that I read 1984 again (on my own) and enjoyed it. Then I read Animal Farm again and was stunned for days afterward.