1984 -George Orwell
Big brother is watching, I mean come on who doesn’t love this book.
Me. The book is far too obvious, far too politically involved, with characterization and imagination cast aside in order to pound home Orwell's message about government. Certainly a step up over "Animal Farm", but not very good. I've found it odd that Orwell's last two books are undoubtedly his worst. I mean, his first, "Down and Out in Paris and London" is easily one of my favourite books. But then he felt the need to paint his message in bold face instead of engaging writing. Even in the realm of dystopian novels, "1984" doesn't stand up well, in my mind. "Farenheit 451", "Bend Sinister", "A Handmaiden's Tale", even the more recent "Gun, With Occasional Music". All much more interesting, much more engaging.
I've recently started reading the novels of the English novelist Elizabeth Taylor (1912-1975). She was a superb writer: although quite narrow in focus (she wrote pretty much exclusively about the post-war English middle class), her books are beautifully and acutely observed, and very wry, and just generally wonderful. I think a few of her books are currently in print (two of them, Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont and Angel, have recently been made into films), and she's definitely a writer who deserves to be rediscovered.
She sounds quite excellent, and I'm certainly going to check her out when I get the chance. I've heard the name tossed around once or twice by my mother, I believe, but this description and the paragraph you pasted seems to have sealed it for me. Sounds a lot like
Barbara Pym (1913-1980), another excellent, excellent writer who deserves a wide audience. She also wrote about the same subject, essentially. She published a number of books early in her career, but then, between the early 60s and the late 70s, was unable to find a publisher willing to do anything with her novels. She continued to write, but without anything being released, until the Times in London asked a number of critics who they thought the most underrated writer of the century was. Pym's was the only name which came up twice. Her novels are also very wry, and incredibly honest, observant, an powerful. At times she's reminded me of Jane Austen, writing in 20th Century London, but she definitely has a voice which is all her own. I'd highly recommend "Excellent Women" or "Quartet in Autumn".
EDIT: Well, here we are: "Anne Tyler once compared Taylor to Jane Austen, Barbara Pym and Elizabeth Bowen -- "soul sisters all," in Tyler's words."