Guilty Secret

I was once told a joke which featured a new hire in an English Department at a university. This young teacher was getting to know the other faculty members when they introduced him to a game that they liked to play amongst themselves. The object of this game was for each participant to reveal a work of literature that he or she had never read-- the winner being the one whose unread work produced the most shock. They went around the circle, each person contributing some title, when the new hire's turn was reached. He thought for a moment and then revealed that he had never read Hamlet. The others were indeed shocked, and pronounced him the winner of the game-- but not without telling him his services would no longer be needed.

I thought it was a funny joke-- although I myself have never read Hamlet either. In all my courses that included Shakespeare, apparently each teacher thought that Hamlet surely would be covered in another course. Strange, really. I should probably get on that.

I started with this joke/story to prepare the way for me to announce my eighth read, Animal Farm, by George Orwell. Believe it or not, this was not a re-read. While most of the people I know were required to read this book at some point during high school, I guess this one fell into the same pile as Hamlet.

Additionally, since it is such a well known and oft-reviewed book, I don't think it's necessary for me to write a full review of it, at least plot- and summary-wise. As far as my opinion of it goes, I actually quite enjoyed it, and I think that's probably primarily because I didn't read it until now. Had I been forced to slog through it as a sophomore and write some inane five paragraph essay on it, I probably would have hated it. As it is, I give it three stars.

I also have to mention that the version I read of it was a larger print, illustrated version. Ralph Steadman provided some fantastic drawings to go along with the story, and I really enjoyed reading this non-traditional way. If you are like me and have managed to make it to your mid-late twenties without reading this one, you should definitely give it a shot-- and if you do, see if you can't find this version.