The Orwell Diaries

For those who don't already know, The Orwell Prize is publishing George Orwell's diaries as a blog, each entry posted 70 years to the day after it was written. Similar to the Pepys blog I mentioned earlier.

I'm going to be following along, and thought you might like to as well. If you've never read anything by Orwell, I highly recommend him. Animal Farm and 1984 are the ones everyone reads in school, but there are lots of others. I recommend Down and Out in Paris and London which comes with the Anthony Bourdain seal of approval.

Quick Links

First, if you're in New York anytime between yesterday (woops, sorry!) and this Sunday, you should try to check out the PEN World Voices Festival. I haven't made it to any part yet, but I hope to soon. I'm disappointed because the most exciting thing, to me, will be taking place in Rochester, and I just can't go that far on short notice, even to see Umberto Eco and Salman Rushdie together.

Second, as described at Paper Cuts, it is now possible to follow Samuel Pepys through the past as if he were blogging it right now. I've wanted to read Pepys' diary, ever since I read Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle. Now I can!