As the title suggests, it is a reminiscence of his time spent working as an assistant in a second-hand bookshop.
Orwell describes the irritating behaviour of bookshop customers - first edition snobs, oriental students, vague minded women and "the kind of people who would be a nuisance anywhere but have special opportunities in a bookshop". The...More
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, biting social criticism, opposition to totalitarianism, and outspoken support of democratic socialism.
As a writer, Orwell produced literary criticism and poetry, fiction and polemical journalism; and is best known for the allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949).
In 2008, The Times ranked George Orwell second among "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
Orwell's work remains influential in popular culture and in political culture, and the adjective "Orwellian"—describing totalitarian and...More
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, biting social criticism, opposition to totalitarianism, and outspoken support of democratic socialism.
As a writer, Orwell produced literary criticism and poetry, fiction and polemical journalism; and is best known for the allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949).
In 2008, The Times ranked George Orwell second among "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
Orwell's work remains influential in popular culture and in political culture, and the adjective "Orwellian"—describing totalitarian and authoritarian social practices—is part of the English language, like many of his neologisms, such as "Big Brother", "Thought Police", "Two Minutes Hate", "Room 101", "memory hole", "Newspeak", "doublethink", "proles", "unperson", and "thoughtcrime".
Book Summary
As the title suggests, it is a reminiscence of his time spent working as an assistant in a second-hand bookshop.
Orwell describes the irritating behaviour of bookshop customers - first edition snobs, oriental students, vague minded women and "the kind of people who would be a nuisance anywhere but have special opportunities in a bookshop". The shop had various sidelines including typewriters, stamps for collectors, horoscopes and Christmas novelties (Orwell was particularly amused by an invoice for these that included the phrase "2 doz. Infant Jesus with rabbits"). However, the main sideline was the lending library, which to Orwell shed a new light on readers: "In a lending library you see people's real tastes, not their pretended ones."
George Orwell
