Animal Farm by George Orwell (#46, Classic)

I end the Classic category with George Orwell's Animal Farm, a book I managed to escape reading through both my high school and college years. Sometimes that baffles me--that certain essential books fall through the cracks of one's literary education. I believe that there is a canon of books that everyone who wants to be considered smart and well-educated should read. Animal Farm is definitely on that list.

I read 1984 a couple years ago at the insistence of my then-boyfriend and found it very chilling, especially when shortly thereafter we went to go see the remake of the Manchurian Candidate and Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. Moore takes an excerpt right from the pages of 1984 that certainly ring true to what is going on in our country right now. I liked 1984 but if I were to compare it with Animal Farm, I would say that I enjoyed the latter more. It too, pertains to what is going on in the world right now. One key phrase that seemed to be repeated throughout was "If the commander said it, it must be true." I had an English professor at USM who often said that if you say something enough times, people will start to think it is true. Politicians obviously use this tactic in their campaigns and once they are in power to retain power. The animals under the pig Napoleon trusted their leader and therefore everything he said must be true, even though if they really examined what he was saying, they would realize that most of what he said was not true. Hopefully people will still read this book as an example for what not to let happen in the future.