Compiled by Barbour Staff - The Book Lovers Devotional: What We Learn About Life from 60 Great Works of Literature

If you like books, youll love this collection of sixty readings that draw engaging, contemporary spiritual points from literature.

From George Orwells 1984 to Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne, the books included in this devotional run the gamut from literary classics to lighthearted romps. Youll find several centuries worth of great reading profiled.

Each entry features details on the book itself, then describes a moment of truth to be found in the story. Though various writers take very different approaches to the Christian faith, they often pose insightful questionsquestions the Bible is ready and willing to tackle.

After each book profile, For Further Thought questions encourage you to think critically about the story and how its questions relate to your life.

We hope The Book Lovers Devotional will remind you of some great moments in your favorite stories introduce you to unfamiliar books you might want to readand, more importantly, get you thinking about the deeper meanings of both literature and life.

1984

A UTHOR

G EORGE O RWELL (BORN E RIC A RTHUR B lair),
19031950

F IRST PUBLISHED

1949

O RIGINAL PUBLISHER

S ECKER AND W ARBURG , L ONDON

N OTES

One of TIME Magazines
100 Best Modern Novels
Film version starring John Hurt, 1984,
Richard Burtons last film

A side from George Orwells beautiful writing style and wonderful imagination, there is nothing inspirational in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. It is a near-relentless nightmare where peace has come to mean war and love has come to mean hate, where the past is perpetually rewritten and the future is a jackboot grinding a human face forever.

This miserable, wretched world is controlled by the Party and the invisible-but-omnipresent Big Brother. Winston Smith, a party functionary, becomes convinced that he and others like him are the dead and decides to rebel. He has an illicit affair with Julia, a coworker, and approaches OBrien, whom he thinks is sympathetic to the rebellion, about a rebel group intent on deposing Big Brother.

He convinces himself that freedom is the ability to say, Two plus two equals four.

Its a short-lived rebellion. OBrien, the partys torturer, takes Winston Smith to the Ministry of Love, where he brainwashes him into believing that two plus two equals five. Despite this, Winston still manages to keep something of himself. He still hasnt betrayed his love for Julia.

OBrien takes his prisoner to Room 101, the place where everyone confronts his worst fear. For Winston Smith, this takes the form of a two-part cage: One part fits around his head and the other holds starving rats. As OBrien opens the dividing gate, the last decent part of Winston Smith disappears. He betrays Julia, knowing she will be tortured in his place. He puts her between himself and his nightmare.

Reintegrated into normal life, Winston Smith cries tears of gratitude as he realizes how much he loves Big Brotherthough at that moment he would love a bullet in the head every bit as much.

Orwells vision is a world without God. Human love has become worthless, and there is no hope. His world is indistinguishable from hell. Big Brother is indistinguishable from Satan.

We, on the other hand, do have Godand thats where we should find our inspiration. And theres more! Room 101, in whatever form it may take, can never steal our souls. We dont have to sacrifice love. God has already put someone between us and hell: His own Son.

Christ lifts us above Winston Smith and the dead to an everlasting future where peace means peace and love means more than we could ever imagine.

Who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.
G ALATIANS 1:4 NIV

For Further Thought

1. In what ways can you see or feel the world trying to get you to conform to its own way of thinking and behavior?

2. In your own words, how would you describe the love of God and what it means to you?

Ive read this book

My Star Review