Welcome to Litsy!

A friend is the right companion in adversity. Love how when George was struck with poverty he was willing to share it out with the Russian guy.

Clearly a first… novel. There are no real moments of craft or stylistic brilliance, but I felt some of these raw impressions did resonate out to inform his later worlds and characters. Winston Smith has some archetypal characteristics and the poverty in 1984 has its blueprint here.

Orwell's memoir of working in Paris hotels and living in London lodging houses. I thoroughly enjoyed it :)

This work by Orwell is billed as fiction but it reads like a personal account of narrative non-fiction about the experiences of impecunious men in the 1930s. It‘s certainly an important social document about poverty (and the basics haven‘t changed nearly a century later). The flaws are typical of the time: mild sexism & anti-semitism. No one (not even Dickens) portrays the humanity in society‘s outcasts better than Orwell! A true master! Loved it!

@JamieArc Thank you for the beautiful and sweet goodies! I‘m seriously thrilled to put this puzzle together. How cool! 😎 And George Orwell is one of my favorite authors! SOUR CHERRIES ARE MY MOST FAVORITE CANDY!!!!! I really appreciate your kindness. 🥰 I hope you have a wonderful new year!! #LitsyLove

Orwell is a crucial thinker!

According to a review on Goodreads, it‘s best to take a nice long bubble bath after reading this book. Since that‘s a logistical headache where I‘m currently living, I‘ll just let this one stay on my TBR backlist for now. #Paris #JulyJourneys

#OppositeDay @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @TheKidUpstairs
Prompt: Up

Love George Orwell / Eric Blair, his humanity, empathy and adventurous soul shine bright here. Orwell finds himself broke and becomes very familiar with the lodgings and options available to the destitute in late 1920‘s London and Paris. An insightful look at the circumstances of the poor during the time and places. Lead me to go and read more about English workhouses which is an interesting and grim history.

This book was fascinating. It's the true story of a time in Orwell's life when he was often close to starvation. His description of working in kitchens in Paris was very disturbing.

One of George Orwell‘s lesser known works. Speculated to have been inspired by his own misadventures while living hand to mouth, in dire poverty in Paris and London, this book is an unfiltered view into the lives of the poor- the beggars, the tramps, and the people who are generally down on luck. Orwell also ventures an opinion on how we can alleviate tramps from their begging and unemployment. Throughout, he reminds us they are humans and equals.

Too many stories about poverty reduce the people in them to cliches. Maybe that's why I liked this book so much. The people that populate its pages are fully alive - creative, resilient and resourceful - which only makes the difficulty of their circumstances that much more profound. Full of humor and moving moments that offset the painfully vivid descriptions of destitution that Orwell pulls off so successfully.

#Paris #jamminjune

Orwell‘s inside look at the immigrant and poor populations in Paris and London was a vivid reminder that some things never change. Today the poor are still ostracized and blamed for their own conditions as though they are moral failings and not bad luck in a system that‘s stacked against them. The descriptions of Paris hotel restaurant kitchens and London shelters were dynamic to the point of making me feel claustrophobic. 4⭐️

My family and I just booked our next trip to visit @AnnieD in London! 💂🏼‍♂️ This time we are spending a couple days in Paris and making a visit to Versailles! I'm pulling all of my relevant books and think I will focus much of the next 8 weeks of reading this stack. Does anyone have any recommendations for books on Versailles?? 👑

Part autobiography, part fiction, Orwell writes movingly but without sentiment about homelessness as he meets assorted down-and-out characters as he moves through Paris and Lond0n. Orwell's writing is always insightful and keenly observed, but not without humor.

Book review for Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
Check out the full review here:
http://www.athinsliceofanxiety.com/2019/09/review-down-and-out-in-paris-and-lond...
#athinsliceofanxiety #georgeorwell #downandoutinparisandlondon #endpoverty

If you set yourself to it, you can live the same life, rich or poor. You can keep on with your books and your ideas. You just got to say to yourself, "I'm a free man in here" - he tapped his forehead - "and you're all right.

What a different world this book is set in and it contains such thought provoking notions. For instance on begging, it "is a trade like any other; quite useless, of course - but, then many reputable trades are quite useless.".

It also contains interesting notions that could be instructive to economic policy making, for instance on cash, as opposed to charity / meal tickets, being better tools to fight poverty.

I tore through this one. Unusual for me. After reading 4 works from Orwell, I'm convinced I could read anything from him and enjoy it. I have been “down and out“ more than once myself and I found Orwell's account fascinating.

This wasn't a gripping read for me, but I did enjoy it. I read it in between other, more exciting things, which worked well. I thought the last chapters had some great insights.

I enjoyed the second half about London more than the first half about Paris. I find both cities fascinating, so I'm not sure why this should be. This is an excellent book and unflinching in its descriptions of poverty and how economically disadvantage people are treated.

A little Orwell with my morning ☕

Readathon review blog post soon on blog!

This is a story about orwell himself, living in poverty in both paris and london. Poverty is something that no one will ever wanted to get back to, but it can teach one's soul to see things differently and understand human being.

Thoughts as I go along:

1. I have always been bothered by the mild boy's own adventure feel. The worst that can happen to Orwell is that he has to return to his well to do parents' house. Would his view of poverty be different without this?
2. The misogyny! Ok, sex sells, but do we have to start off with a rape fantasy. (At least I hope it's a fantasy.)

#londoncalling | In this semi-autobiographical novel, Orwell chronicles a struggling British writer‘s experiences in two amazing cities.

#marchintothe70s
📷: Evening Standard

“One cannot say that it is mere idleness in their part, for an idle man cannot be a plongeur. They have simply been trapped by a routine that makes thought impossible.”

Poverty frees them from their ordinary standards of behaviour, just as money frees people from work.

Brilliant

#Orwell is the greatest thing to ever happen. ❤️

This book is fascinating. Orwell chronicles his time first as a kitchen worker in Paris, barely scraping by, and then as a tramp in London. He offers plenty of insight into day labour and poverty in the 1920s, all from the perspective of someone who never expected to live so.

This is definitely a qualified pick, though, because there are a number of anti-Semitic passages, plenty of xenophobia, and some casual anti-Black statements. Ugh.

This book is full of fascinating passages, but I found the chapter on the ever-shifting nature of slang and profanity especially interesting. Some of the things Orwell cites as obsolete in the 1920s, like rhyming slang, have since cycled back around.

I finally had a NORMAL DAY (if you don't count the 5am coughing fit)! This included a 6-mile walk and some reading time on a hilltop.

Lunchtime nonfiction with wafer pie from Sal's.

I stopped in a fancy-ass park to read some more of my current nonfiction, but it was way too windy. Plus, all the fancy-ass benches were backless and thus way too uncomfortable to sit on for more than five minutes.

I'm a total sucker for these matte Penguin editions and I've wanted to read DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS AND LONDON ever since I found an excerpt in LUCKY PEACH, so today was my lucky day.

I also thrifted a ginormous Mr. Snuffleupagus Funko Pop! He was my fave when I was a kid. It took me years to realize he's the reason I'm super into mammoths.

#meteor #quotsyaug18 @TK-421

This is the latest selection for the #DavidBowieBookClub . I was only able to find it at my library as part of a George Orwell collection of his writings. So, unfortunately, it was not the complete story of a young man who is down on his luck in Paris during the 1930‘s. Very atmospheric. The waiter in a fine restaurant was a coveted job. What went on behind the scenes was quite astounding!

After seeing the David Bowie exhibit, I decided that I would try harder to keep up with the David Bowie Book Club. The tagged book is the one chosen for the current read, but my Library only had it as part of this collection. Not planning on reading the entire book. #davidbowiebookclub

Found some more Orwell to enjoy while waiting another 6 months for the 1984 audiobook. Nothing like spending an hour in the morning with my tea and a good audiobook on days I don‘t work. #audiobook #georgeorwell #downandoutinparisandlondon

I keep trying really hard to like George Orwell cause everyone else sees so much in him but I just sort of... can‘t. I think he writes about really important issues obviously, though from a bizarre angle with a lot of misogyny, I just struggle to feel emotionally involved with anything he writes. I have one more book by him which I‘ll listen to cause I paid for it but 🤷‍♀️

Finished #bowiebookclub. A stark reminder of what can happen if we take social welfare programs away.

Listening to #GeorgeOrwell talk of poverty and buying in small portions, resulted in my supermarket visit to be the cheapest grocery shopping ever! 😂

#Aprella Day 21: In Orwell‘s memoir documenting his first-hand immersive experience with poverty, he talked about #CleaninOutMyCloset as he sold everything he owns that is of value in order to earn a few coins to buy sustenance that will last him through the day and the next. Almost like an anthropological documentation of what it is like to be poor written by someone who was clearly not born into it.

The characters in this are #busyearning when they can find work but even then just earning enough to basically survive from one day to the next. #aprella

For those who are part of the #BowieBookClub, Duncan has revealed the April title, not included in David Bowie‘s 100 list but a book that he once asked Duncan to read. For those of you who want to get their own copy, here is the link:
http://bit.ly/parisandlondon

Interesting read...review on my blog for anyone who is interested: themisanthropologist.wordpress.com/2018/01/09/down-and-out-in-paris-and-london/

#publishedinthe1930s #uncannyoctober

#authorbirthdays #bookishbirthdays On this date in 1903 ,George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair) was born in India.
In 1857 on this date, Les Fleurs du Mal is published.Both publisher and author is promptly prosecuted for offending public morals .