Books v. Cigarettes by George Orwell

 

BOOKS V. CIGARETTES is a very funny essay by George Orwell in which he maps out his book buying habits and then compares it to what he spends on booze and cigarettes. Be forewarned, if you are buying this on Amazon, that the 99-cent essay only contains the ten-page-ish essay about Books v. Cigarettes. It's a bit of a rip-off, but I just love George Orwell's nonfiction so much that I decided I was okay with being scammed just this once. Seriously, though, if you-- like me-- were kind of put off by his fiction, I really recommend his essays and memoirs. DOWN AND OUT IN LONDON AND PARIS is lovely and so evocative of the times. Similarly, in this essay, Orwell demonstrates how so many of the characteristics of the bookworm endure over time. He sounds like one of those TikTok girlies struggling to validate their ebook purchases with his, "Well, most of them were secondhand" and "I probably spend just as much if not more on ciggies" rhetoric.

3 to 3.5 out of 5 stars