I've Never read... Nineteen Eighty-Four | with Ariel Bissett

A podcast series exploring apocalyptic and dystopian classics that its host has somehow never got round to reading. The second episode turns to perhaps the most famous dystopian novel of all: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. The guest is Ariel Bissett, a YouTuber, podcaster and Orwell enthusiast. Together they discuss why the book remains so relevant, and whether it counts as an accessible classic for readers who might be intimidated by it. Spoiler level: Medium. There are no major plot spoilers, though a few specific scenes are discussed. ## Editions and formats worth knowing about - Penguin Modern Classics edition - Shepard Fairey edition - Audiobook read by Peter Capaldi - Audiobook read by Stephen Fry ## Other books mentioned - Politics and the English Language by George Orwell - Animal Farm by George Orwell - The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham - The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood - The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Professor Shoshana Zuboff - The Question Mark by Muriel Jaeger - We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, translated by Clarence Brown - The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder ## Also mentioned - The 1984 film adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four, starring John Hurt - Reporting on the spike in sales of Nineteen Eighty-Four following the use of the phrase “alternative facts” in 2017 - The Matrix (1999) Ariel Bissett also co-hosts the Books Unbound podcast and publishes book content on YouTube.