Why 1984?

I feel like this is a topic that I should talk about, since it's a question I ask myself sometimes; why did I choose to read 1984? Out of all of the books on Amazon, in Barnes and Nobles and libraries, why this book?

Well, the first thing that caught my eye about this book is that it was on my Amazon recommended list. I thought it looked intriguing (after skimming the synopsis), and so I brought my Kindle over to my mom to ask if I could buy it. Since, you know, my mom likes to make sure that I don't spend money left and right on things she doesn't know about. She looked over it briefly, and then said, "Actually, I read this book when I was in high school! We might still have it here..." And sure enough, after looking through the old books we had, there it was; 1984, my mom's original copy. At first I thought, oh great... now I get to carry around an old, worn down book. But my mom insisted that it was great.

I don't know what it is, but something about the fact that it's an old book, and my mom (as well as many other people in her generation) have read that book. I was curious to see how dystopian style books were written back then. I wanted to see how the future looked from the eyes of someone in the '50s or '60s. Call me weird, but I think it's kind of cool.

I have an even stronger connection to it now that I know that my mom read it. I try to imagine what her and her classmates thought as they read it... Were they scared for the future? Did they just ignore the messages throughout? I don't know, because I've never asked her. But one thing her and my dad have both told me is that I should find it very interesting. "I think you'll be shocked when you read this book and see that many of the things predicted in this book are actually happening today."