It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Please Dearest Reader allow me to make a simple introduction, I am Miss Bookish Girl, Bibliophile, Dandywannabe, Hookah Smoker, Absinthe Drinker, Student of Self Education and Life. I am simply a bookish girl.
This novel was originally written by Zamyatin during 1920-1921, and paints an interesting picture of a dystopian totalitarian state. The tale itself centers around D-503, a cipher of the One State, and is written in almost a journal entry style.
The One State, a world where buildings are created of glass and the Guardians/Spies can watch every ciphers movement and behaviors. Daily life is regimented by a time table that clearly lays out how each Cipher is to expend their time in the most efficient way and is the most beneficial to the one state. D-503, as stated previously, is a cipher of the One State. He is a mathematician who is working on building the Integral, a spaceship designed to help the One State conquer the universe. The book is actually a record that he plans to send along inside the Integral during it's maiden voyage. During the course of the novel he becomes entangled with a female cipher who he develops an obsessiveness for and may or may not be his undoing.
I found the novel to be a quiet enjoyable read and rather intriguing, but as I have stated before I enjoy dystopian literature. Although at times the novel seemed a bit dry and the ending seemed a little forced and possibly even quite predictable I would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed Orwell's 1984.
9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
If I could actually force anyone to read one book, they are like perfume they are not liked by all, but I would have to say The Last Lecture
10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for literature?
Since I have not kept up to date on who is being nominated for the Nobel Prize I cannot voice an opinion.
11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Honestly I worry about most books that have been turned into movies, there are too many liberties taken and the actual meaning of the book is lost for commercial gain. I fear what they will do to Gatsby by Fitzgerald when it is released.
12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
Any book by Kerouac
13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
I have yet to have any weird or disturbing dreams involving a writer, book or literary character.
14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
I am not much for actually watching plays.
17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
I have a new found appreciation for the Russians.
18) Roth or Updike?
Updike, although it is unfair because I have not read enough Roth.
19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
Sedaris, most definitely.
20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Don't make me choose between any of the Holy Trinity :)
21) Austen or Eliot?
Austen
22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
I think the fact that I tend to get into books but get sidetracked easily at times that I don't finish most books that I would prefer to finish.
23) What is your favorite novel?
My absolute favorite no matter how cliche it is, Catcher in the Rye... followed perhaps by Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri.. the idea behind struggling against your cultural identity was amazing.
