May 2025 Book of the Month:  "Animal Farm" or any other Orwellian nightmare you choose!

Looks like we’re going “Orwell Dark” again this month. We had a spirited discussion as usual, at our last meeting, and we couldn’t get enough of the Debbie Downer discussions, so we’re going for it again next month.
(see the above item from today's news, for why we're all still feeling a bit down right now!) .


We decided on the following, more or less:
Orwell: preferred book is “Animal Farm”. Edwina pointed out that it’s actually even MORE on-the-nose than “1984”.


But we like to be flexible, so for anyone who prefers a different “flavor of the month”, we’d propose choosing another Orwell book, or “Brave New World”, or anything by Ann Applebaum.
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Or...what the heck? Surprise us, with your own book report on something else. I think we all love hearing about other books to read.


In fact, here is a list of what folks recommended, this week (snappy descriptions by ChatGpt):


  • Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault is a chilling deep dive into how modern society controls people—not with chains, but with surveillance, bureaucracy, and the internalization of authority. Think dungeons to data sheets.
  • Rhinocéros by Eugène Ionesco is a darkly absurd play in which the inhabitants of a small town transform into rhinoceroses—an allegory for the seductive power of conformity and the rise of totalitarianism. It’s Kafka meets a stampede.
  • Ur-Fascism (a.k.a. On Fascism) by Umberto Eco: Eco lays out the warning signs of fascism as a shape-shifting ideology—less a fixed doctrine than a toxic mood that keeps coming back. It's a checklist for spotting creeping authoritarianism before it kicks in the door.
  • The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is a harrowing, first-person exposé of the Soviet forced labor camps, blending history, memoir, and moral outcry. It's a literary sledgehammer swung at totalitarian cruelty—and it hits hard.
  • Alexi Navalny-- "Patriot", was published posthumously in April 2024. Navalny had been working on it secretly while imprisoned in Russia. It’s part memoir, part political manifesto—a defiant, sharply written account of his personal journey, his vision for a democratic Russia, and the brutal machinery of Putin’s regime.   Early readers describe it as both tragic and inspiring—full of gallows humor, moral clarity, and the stubborn optimism that made him such a threat to the Kremlin.


PS: For those who asked for some relief from all this, we hear you and we get it.
So I asked ChatGpt for suggestions in a somewhat lighter vein, and here is what he/she came up with:  (warning-- chat added "Maus" to this list, but I gotta disagree about it being "light"):
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From ChatGpt:
Here’s a book club handout-style shortlist for your next meeting—lightly irreverent, but packed with good options. You could copy/paste this into a doc or email, or I can format it into a printable PDF if you’d like.

Beyond Animal Farm: Light(er), Smart Reads for Our Book Club BrainiacsFeeling a little dystopia'd out? You're not alone. This month, we're mixing it up with some clever, engaging, and (mostly) easier reads that still offer rich discussion without making you stare into the abyss. Here's our shortlist:

Satire & Wordplay1. Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
A charming little island bans letters of the alphabet... and watches its society unravel letter by letter. A whimsical Orwellian fable, minus the trauma.
Short & sweet | Fun language games | Great for word nerds
Graphic Novels That Punch Above Their Weight2. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Growing up in Iran during the revolution, told with humor, grit, and gorgeous black-and-white drawings. Think memoir meets comic strip with political bite.
Quick read | Visual & powerful | Sparks big conversations3. March by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell
Civil Rights legend John Lewis tells his own story, from Selma to Washington, in this vivid and inspiring graphic memoir trilogy.
True story | Inspiring and timely | Beautifully drawn
Funny, Feisty Fiction with a Message4. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
A teenage cartoonist navigates life between his Spokane reservation and a white high school. Funny, raw, and deeply human.
YA crossover | Illustrated | Laughs and tears5. Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
The First Son of the U.S. falls in love with the Prince of England. Enemies to lovers, but make it political and adorable.
LGBTQ+ romance | + Politics with flair | Full-on feel-good
Honorable Mention for Serious-but-Worth-It6. Maus by Art Spiegelman
The Holocaust, reimagined through cats and mice. A Pulitzer-winning graphic novel that hits hard but tells its story in an unforgettable way.
Visual metaphor | Important classic | Still heavy, but short