Down and Out in Paris and London, George Orwell - Book Review

[@amazingvidguyz]

I enjoyed listening to your stories of Budapest , have you read People of the Abyss - Jack London ? It a similar type of book that obviously inspired Orwell to some degree

[@grantlovesbooks]

Thanks, I think I will always have a lot of Budapest stories to tell. While I was preparing my video I came across People of the Abyss, and realized exactly what you said, it is really quite a lot like Orwell's book. I only know Jack London for Call of the Wild, so I will certainly have to read this one.

[@Cittamatra]

Really enjoyed this video. I like your relaxed style in telling your story. I will read Down and Out after watching this. Subscribed. All the best, from London..

[@grantlovesbooks]

Thanks a lot for the comment Cit, I really appreciate it. London! Wow, lucky you. It must be an amazing place to live. I miss my life in Europe, and it makes it hard for me to live in Canada where nothing happens, and the people like it that way. I hope you will find some other videos you enjoy. Thanks for subscribing. It's taking me a long time to get to 1000 subscribers, but recently the channel has been gaining some momentum. Cheers from New Westminster!

[@jasminm8647]

2000-2001 I was in the same condition. My food was quesadillas. I worked as a bartender *for tips*, and had to save everything for rent. So, if I had enough for two quesadillas and an horchata ($1.50) it was an amazing night. My best memories were drinking a modelo between shifts/after work with a friend and playing pool. I've written it, and it's long. But, I want to put out something more like Down and Out in Paris and London. Short, vivid, impactful.

[@Curt_Sampson]

_Coming up for Air's_ opening line is indeed good, but not nearly as good as the opening line for _Earthly Powers_ by Anthony Burgess. “It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me.”

[@grantlovesbooks]

Very nice! I haven't read Earthly Powers, but it's on my big list. And I always seem to get confused in the used bookstore between Burgess and William Golding. And think I think, 'Which one wrote that boring as hell 'Point Counterpoint.' Which is probably why I end up bringing home so many Japanese novels. I'll get round to Earthly Powers by and by.

[@book_rants]

There's great content on this channel, man! It's edifying to see. Keep it up.

[@grantlovesbooks]

Thanks a lot, I'm not sure how edifying my videos are, but I hope you enjoy watching them. It's been a fun 7 months and I hope I will keep improving. The one thing I am Quite sure is that I'm not going to run out of books to review. Really appreciate the support!

[@book_rants]

@@grantlovesbooks I can see you playing with editing techniques and having fun, but what's edifying is your knowledge of books, how well-read you are, and how that can carry a KZbin channel. No, you´ll never run out of material.

[@grantlovesbooks]

@@book_rants Thanks a lot John, it really helps me to hear that and maintain my own enthusiasm for this project. One of the best things about reading great books is telling your like-minded friends about the great books you read. And then telling stories about the authors, and then talking about the reactions those authors got from their contemporaries, and then, and then... I suppose you know, reading books and talking about those books is just the best stuff.

[@book_rants]

@@grantlovesbooks Absolutely.

[@scottgraham1143]

That book is one of my all time favourites, and what I love about Orwell is his love/hate relationship with England. Having been gifted with the ultimate privilege of an Eton education, being tutored by Aldous Huxley - no less,

[@grantlovesbooks]

I keep forgetting that I have Burmese Days on my shelf waiting to be read. People have told me that if I want to really get an understanding of Orwell this is the book to read. Orwell tutored by Huxley? I didn't know that. I always think of the rather catty afterward in Brave New World where Huxley has an essay about why his vision of the future is much more realistic than Orwell's.

[@scottgraham1143]

@@grantlovesbooks Probably like Anthony Burgess and Graham Greene who were friends, but ended up dissing each others work.

[@grantlovesbooks]

@@scottgraham1143 I've heard of that. I have a professor at university who is a big fan of both of them, I think he was the one who told me about this literary feud. I really like Greene, but I've only read A Clockwork Orange by Burgess. Somehow I never seem to see any in the used book shops.

[@Toracube]

Such a great review and vid.

[@grantlovesbooks]

Thanks Toracube! That was the first video I tried to play with all the editing tools and see what I could do. I think I had the most fun with that video, and wouldn't mind making my present videos a little more exciting, but I've been busy with university recently and have only had the bare minimum of time to spend on KZbin. That video is still the most popular every month!

[@samhailess]

Godbless. This book meant a lot to me. At a time I was living off 60p a day on a can of soup, this book was there for me. It fuelled me with that sense of excitement you need when without calories. I appreciate money a lot more now, and whilst Orwell experienced it a lot harder, with a better grip on French, this is a great book for that time; a fine review too. Life is always as it needs to be.

[@grantlovesbooks]

Thanks samhailes, I appreciate the comment. It sounds like you've known some hard times. Hope you are well. I'm glad you enjoyed the review. Even though it's one of my earlier videos people are still watching that one quite a lot. I think that's because the book is so good, and not the video-review.

[@scottgraham1143]

He took a different path and questioned everything, although he obviously remained in elite circles as 1984 was less a work of imagination, than a fairly accurate account of the plans of British elite circles at the time.

[@daikiyuasa6752]

I’ve read the book and I really enjoyed it. I read it in Japanese so I’m not quite sure how this sounds but I like the part when Orwell wrote something like” being poor and rich has essentially no difference. If the poor had enough opportunities,they’d do good” Anyway, now I really wanna know more about your story in Budapest. What you did there and so on!

[@grantlovesbooks]

Hello Daiki Yuasa, My life in Budapest was a little wild. Now I have been in Canada 6 years it almost feels like a dream. I am sure I will talk about Budapest in some of my other videos. It's one of my favourite subjects. I liked your quote from Orwell, I don't think I've read that one before. Hope you are well!

[@daikiyuasa6752]

I’m waiting for the new videos :))

[@grantlovesbooks]

@@daikiyuasa6752 Thanks for the encouragement Daiki! I'm quite busy these days, and it's hard to find the time for the videos, but I hope soon I'll have more time to make some really good videos that I'm happy with and people enjoy. Grant

[@karenohanlon4183]

I like the fact he wanted to find out how the social classes had to survive.

[@grantlovesbooks]

That was really something incredible about Orwell!

[@TaxingIsThieving]

5:39 7:00 11:00

[@TaxingIsThieving]

Did he not have family?

[@grantlovesbooks]

I don't remember. I find it very hard to keep 'facts' about Orwell in my mind. I believe he had a wife, but I don't think he had any children. I could easily be wrong.

[@johnmchugh8049]

I’m not defending or denying your statement of Canada being easy living, anywhere can be rough if you have no real support system. I’ve been down and out in Southern California and New York and my biggest problem was that I had no real friends or family to speak of. I guess I should have been writing during those rough times

[@grantlovesbooks]

I have always found that writing helps to alleviate and clarify a troubled mind. I don't think it would be a waste of time to try to accumulate some friends. I have always been something of a pariah, but I've been lucky that I have always been able to have at least one good friend wherever I was.

[@merakibeats]

I could go on reading Orwell's books. And 1984 perhaps the least of all. His book about his time in Burma I think may be one of the better ones, with 'coming up for air', for me. His writing style sucks you in and makes you feel like you are there and smelling, feeling and hearing everything as described.

[@grantlovesbooks]

I'm a big fan of the "other" Orwell books. Coming Up For Air has my favourite opening sentence in any novel, and Keep The Aspidistra Flying is really great fun if you've ever harboured any feeling about being a writer. I haven't read his Burma book, but I won't forget your recommendation.

[@karenohanlon4183]

If you like the sucked in feeling then Stefan Zweig is a great writer. I read beware of pity which is brilliant. He was from a wealthy family so there is a difference right there. But it so vivid you travel through the book with the protagonist.

[@SmorgasLord]

good shit!

[@grantlovesbooks]

thanks!

[@karenohanlon4183]

Very interesting the land of easy money. But being a dishwasher is not easy at all. Glad you tried to live the arty life. Life isn't about things its about experiences.

[@grantlovesbooks]

Thanks Karen 1

[@geoffpoole483]

Orwell came from an affluent family; he could have gone back to his family if things got too much.

[@чужак303]

i agree - for me there seemed to be an underlying feeling of security to Orwell’s poverty during the book, almost as if it was just a bit of fun to him and as if he saw himself as above the other characters and that he could turn back to a good life if things ever got too much…

[@geoffpoole483]

A shame you didn't mention Orwell's antisemitism. He's the most overrated writer in the English language.

[@чужак303]

shush