Book Beginnings; Nineteen Eighty-Four

This week I want to share the beginning of Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell with you guys as I mentioned on Wednesday. I finished reading it late Wednesday evening but since I have a lot of thoughts about the book, I want to share it with you anyways.

Nineteen Eighty-Four is a classic, it's also a dystopia about a society where the past is always rewritten, thoughts aren't yours and you're always being watched.

This is the first paragraph;

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him. 

I quite like this beginning even though it's not as beautiful or poetic as other beginnings. The atmosphere in this particular paragraph is basically the atmosphere for the rest of the book. It's quite subdued and that fits the story well. I'm not sure I would choose to read this book based on the first paragraph alone - which I sometimes do if I'm unsure whether to read a book or not - but I'm glad I did.

I've been quite interested in this particular book without even knowing much about it. All I know going in to it was; Big Brother is always watching. I honestly didn't know much else and I liked going in blind because I'm usually surprised that way. I was also surprised this time, but for other reasons. I am not entirely sure what I expected from Nineteen Eighty-Four but when it suddenly turned to 'love' I was quite disappointed. It picked up in the end though but I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.


Have you ever read Nineteen Eighty-Four? If you haven't, is it on your TBR?