What's Shirin Reading?

Unfortunately, I haven’t really had much time to read recently mainly due to juggling school, writing and extracurricular activities. What makes it worse is that I’ll buy books even though I haven’t got the time, so I’m currently backlogged—I have about twenty books I need to read! I have read quite a few that I enjoyed, though, and I’ll be sharing two of them.

The first is the latest novel I finished reading back in August: Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) by George Orwell. It follows the story of Winston Smith, a man who lived in a British dystopia. The government (Big Brother) has a secret police, uses indoctrination/brainwashing and propaganda to oppress the population. The novel demonstrates the dangers of any totalitarian government, be it Communist or Fascist. While the story’s pace was slower than what I am into and there wasn’t much dialogue, what I found intriguing was the concept behind the story. It was a bit creepy, no doubt, because it depicts a dystopian society of the not-so-distant which is quite possible. And it’s strange, as some things have already begun to unfold in our world, i.e. government surveillance of the regular folk by means of technology. The story did not have a happy ending, but I find that books, movies and TV shows that do not have conclusions with rainbows and unicorns are actually quite memorable.

The second novel is either one that people seem to like or hate, and that would be Hidden Empire by Orson Scott Card. It follows the events of Empire (which I very much enjoyed as well) and depicts a future after an American civil war between the red states and blue states with a ‘bipartisan consensus’ president who seems to be interested in turning the States into a global empire; democracy is kept solely as a facade. This novel didn’t have a happy ending either, but I liked it nonetheless because it shows the dangers of politics and war, but was action-oriented and about people stepping up to make hard decisions and sacrifices (some of which the reader may not like, but understands).

AMAZON || BARNES & NOBLE 

S.S.Segran is the bestselling author of AEGIS RISING, the first book in the Aegis League Series. In crafting the premise for the novel, she drew from the inspiring imagery of the Pacific Northwest, the intriguing potential of the human mind and above all, her abiding love for adventure, science fiction and mystery stories. She enjoys drawing, horseback riding and is an ardent fan of parkour and freerunning. S.S.Segran is a proud member of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets in British Columbia.

S.S.Segran is also the founder of Aegis League (www.aegisleague.org), a non-profit organization whose goal is to support youths living in places and conditions that deny them opportunities to grow. The mission of the organization is to provide life-skills training and micro-loan funding to help them launch small businesses in the communities where they reside. Partial proceeds from the sale of her books go to this cause.

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