The Trajectory of Today’s Topics

• The big bad pigs of Animal Farm as octogenarians

• New book by an Indie Author

• Delving into the secrets of NIMH

• Is Stephen King even trying anymore?

Hot Off The Press

Animal Farm at 80

Published on August 17, 1945, Animal Farm by George Orwell recently turned 80 years old. And we are still talking about it. What a legacy. I can only hope people will still talk about my books a few minutes after they read them. 80 years later? I’d have to live to be 120 and be lucid enough to still be shoving them into random strangers' faces in the nursing home. 😂

After seeing the atrocities of war and the effects of dictatorship, George Orwell penned the novel Animal Farm. If you haven’t read this book or are unfamiliar with the plot, it follows anthropomorphic animals who overthrow a drunken farmer. Old Farmer Jones is an abusive tyrant and is running his animals into the ground. They dream of a better life on their own.

The pigs, being the smartest of the animals, stage a revolt. It takes some convincing, but the other animals eventually band together and take over the farm. At first, everything is wonderful for the animals as they are all treated equally. But as it goes on the farm, so it goes in real life. Those in power seek more power. Soon, the mantra goes from “All animals are equal,” to “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Eventually, the pigs become more tyrannical than Farmer Jones was.

It’s a good book, and definitely shows a lot of parallels to life, even now. In many schools, Animal Farm was required reading. But recently it has become a hotly contested book and was banned in some schools, along with 1984, also written by Orwell. Ever heard that saying, “Big Brother,” or “Big Brother is watching you”? That’s from 1984. 

We’re still ruled by a group of pigs. Apparently, people are still talking about Animal Farm some eight decades later because we’re still living under our own pig rulers. We’re still horses, mules, sheep, goats, and other barnyard animals all being led by the rich and bloated pigs who control everything…

The TBR Files

A Good Thriller By a New Author!

I’m so ashamed! Before becoming an independently published author, I never left book reviews. I didn’t see the point. I would occasionally read a few here and there, but like movie reviews, I largely ignored them. I only wanted to read and enjoy the book, dissecting it, going into deep dives, and trying to figure out what insightful points the author was trying to convey through masterful metaphors, was work for high school English-Lit classes. I wanted nothing to do with school once I was out.

Oh, how the coin has flipped. I understand now how important reviews are, especially for small time authors trying to get their works into the hands of eager readers. Whenever I purchase anything now, I have to check the reviews. If they’re garbage, I run away and don’t look back. But if there are plenty of good reviews, then I can generally assume that the product is of good quality. I preface all of that to say that I’m trying to read more “Indie books,” share them here and on my socials, and leave reviews of them. 

I found How to Lose a Daughter on TikTok. It’s a psychological thriller about a mother who is helpless to save her daughter from a very blatant, insidious cult. Lily is a budding musician looking to make it in a saturated market. She finds a group who “truly believes in her” and promises to make her a star. Young and naive, she falls for the glitter. Mom, Karen Sinclair, has an uneasy feeling about the contract that Lily has signed, against her wishes, but can’t get Lily to see her side.

The cult is culting. Soon, Lily cuts off all contact with her mother and essentially disappears. Karen does everything she can to save Lily, but she’s thwarted at every turn. Eventually, she has to turn to the one person in the world who may be more manipulative and ruthless than an entire cult combined. Her mentally and emotionally abusive ex-husband. 

How to Lose a Daughter is a fast paced, exciting, psychological thriller. It had a lot of twists and turns and a good rug pull at the end. The only criticism I had was with Karen and her emotional instability. I felt like she was a little overreactive much of the time, but I chalked it up to her losing her only daughter and gave her a little bit of a pass.

Grading on a curve. I’m giving this book ☕☕☕☕☕. Yes, there were a few small things that detracted from the overall book, but it was still a very fun, exciting read. Just to explain my grading—I tend to be more lenient for independent authors (yes, I am definitely a little biased 😏) because they (we) don’t have the resources of giant publishing houses. We often can’t afford high-end editors, don’t have massive marketing budgets, and a team of readers, proofreaders, and all that. Just to put it into perspective, a good editor can cost $500 to $2,000. That doesn’t include cover art, formatting, publishing, marketing, and so many more costs. It adds up really quickly, so yes, I grade on a curve for indies, and I’m harsher on big publishing houses. FYI.

…And Then This Happened

Early Books With a Profound Impact

I’ve seen a lot of GenX nostalgia pieces recently, and it has brought back long suppressed memories. One such memory hit me recently. It was one of the first chapter books I ever received, and just seeing that book—even nearly 40 years later—evokes such a strong emotion. I can recall that day clearly. My dad came into my room where I was playing with some toys on the floor, and he handed me a book. That picture above was the exact book; the cover has changed multiple times since. 

I looked at it as he handed it to me, and I was intrigued. It looked neat, and I found myself wondering why a mouse would be riding on the back of a crow. I can’t remember exactly what he said, but it went something like this. “If you read that and you like it, we’ll go get some more.” First, I had to prove that I could read a “real chapter book.” What he didn’t know is that I had been reading chapter books long before this one. 

This story moved me. When I did open it up and started reading, that story ripped me away faster than a tornado in Kansas. I can’t explain how much I loved, no, still love this book. I lost it a little time later, but never forgot it. Eventually, I found it again at a little bookstore. My daughter was about the same age I was when I first got it. I snatched it up and soon began reading it to her as our nightly bedtime story. We would get through a few chapters a night, and she loved it too. If you have kids who are just getting into reading bigger books, I can’t recommend this book enough. It’s also a masterpiece of animation, called The Secret of Nimh. I think I’ll cover that movie in the next newsletter because it deserves its own section.