Animal Farm

Really liked this one. Was really invested in the characters and the way the events unfolded, coupled with the actions of the characters and their motivations, it made me deeply think about the current state of affairs, a revelation that I thoroughly enjoyed. The ending made me very sad.

The book was written very nicely too, very easy to read, and it did not feel pretentious. It was sometimes hard for me to remember which name referred to which animal with utmost confidence, so I had to frantically search for their first mention, often to no avail. But I would eventually realise, either through sheer memory or subsequent context, so clearly the writing had to be good.

Was talking to Bani about it and mentioned to him how it feels anti-capitalist and a very strong contender for communist propaganda, he was surprised by my take because one, according to him, its anti-communism, and two, majority of his amazement came from the fact that the book was branded as anti-capitalist in America and anti-communist in Soviet Union, being banned for a while in both those nations. Crazy.

I was trekking in Uttarakhand when I read all of it, in my tent, over a couple of days within a week itself. I took a small flower which had shed itself on Ranthan Top, nearly 13000 ft above sea level, and put it in the book.

I think Alok started to think that I was a major bookworm because he observed I was reading it, but the truth is, its the first book I have completed since 2021 December. Insane.

I had new revelations about my favorite Pink Floyd album after reading this, individual songs made more contextual sense. I am glad. Last book I read had a similar effect (Norwegian Wood by Murakami).

Words I am gonna add to my vocabulary include:

Caustic: Sarcastic in a bitter way

I have started using the word “Context” a lot more now. I am blaming you, my career in NLP Research.