Up Next: 1984

Reading schedule and covers through the years

It’s either the best time or the worst time to read George Orwell’s 1984, a dystopian novel so famous for its depictions of totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and oppression that you hear the word “Orwellian” pretty every time you turn on the news in 2022 (regardless of the political affiliation of the network you are watching). At this point, 1984 is practically the Platonic ideal of the form. I imagine the next decades will produce myriad attempts by a slew of authors attempting to achieve the heights Orwell reaches here.

Orwell was a brilliant, troubled, fascinating, eloquent, outspoken, deeply influential figure—one of the most important minds of the twentieth century, a century so littered with the minefields of bad ideas that people like Orwell became more essential than ever. So while it might seem a little bleak, a tad sadistic, to read 1984 immediately after finishing As I Lay Dying, it is also true that, as another very famous writer put it, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Personally, I don’t read much dystopian fiction so I am excited to dig into this book for the first time in a long time, to be reminded of the ways it achieves its greatness.

Still need to snag a copy? You can grab one from the Goldberry Bookshop.org page here.

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Reading Schedule

1984 is made up of three parts, part two being the longest of the three (part 2, chapter 9 is quite long), so we have divided up the reading like this:

• Episode 1 ( March 11): Part 1

• Episode 2 (March 18): Part 2, chapters 1-8

• Episode 3 (March 25): Part 2, chapters 9-10

• Episode 4 (April 1): To the end of the book (aka, part 3)

• Episode 5 (April 8): Q&A episode

Please note: episode one will cover the most total pages.

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1984 Covers Over the Years

1984 has a long and illustrious (no pun intended) history of fascinating (and occasionally provocative) book covers, including many famous takes by international book jacket designers, one of which I share below. Back in 2017, Book Riot published a whole article on the topic, dividing the designs by theme: covers that feature eyes, covers that feature surveillance cameras, covers that feature “big scary men,” more covers that feature eyes, and so forth. It’s worth checking out their whole post, but I’ll share a few of my favorites here.

These two covers are first editions and when found with in-tact jackets are worth quite a lot (thousands, in fact), but the jackets are notoriously thin and so are rarely found in good condition.

1984 turned seventy-five in 2020 and so, naturally, a slew of new editions were released, including this one I like quite a bit, which is Berkley’s anniversary edition. I like the simplicity of the design, but also the way the eyes themselves convey multiple meanings and themes:

You probably have seen this edition quite a bit, it being an earlier edition of Berkley’s trade paperback:

Folio’s design is great (as usual):

But I think my favorite covers are these three, each for very different reasons:

First, this Spanish edition is downright mesmerizing. It’s simple, to the point, and still manages to capture the themes in a fairly brilliant way. Love it. I want a poster of it.

I also really like the art for the new graphic novel edition of the book. I think it captures the vibe and tone that so many covers have been trying for since the middle of the last century.

But my all-time favorite cover of 1984 comes from Penguin.

It’s got the usual Penguin classics design that we all recognize but with one really clever touch that smacks you in the face. So good. But here’s the kicker: the more wear the book gets, the less censored the book is! Simple, clever, on-point.

There are certainly a lot of choices in cover design for this book, so you’ll have some options. What is your favorite?

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In Case You Missed It

• Tim, Heidi, and Brandon have been discussing Anna Karenina for the bonus pods and they’re doing a bang up job of it, too.

• And our friend Kate Albus, the author of the wonderful book, A Place to Hang the Moon, shared some of her favorite middle grade books as part of our new Substack bonus content.

• Over on “The Play’s the Thing”, Tim, Heidi, and co. have been discussing Henry IV, Part I

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Coming up Next on Close Reads

A Raisin in the Sun: April 15
Tess of the D'urbervilles (featuring Karen Swallow Prior!): April 22 - June 24
A Month in the Country: July 1-15
Week off / No show: July 22
Laurus: July 29 - September 9
A Gentleman in Moscow (featuring Ian Andrews!): September 16 - November 4
My Name is Asher Lev: November 11 - December 23
End of the Year (2022) Pods: December 30

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Until next time, happy reading!