George Orwells 1984 frequently tops surveys of our greatest books: its not a celebration of poetic language. Its decidedly anti-literary, a masterpiece of personal and political narrative sequence. And its subject matter is crucial, because what 1984 shows is that language can be a dirty trick.

Because two people in love don't make a hive mind. Neither should they want to be a hive mind, to think the same, to know the same. It's about being separate and still loving each other, being distinct from each other. One is the violin string one is the bow.

No one needs a first edition. Whoever wrote it; even if it was Moses.

The mist hung in the air like a prancing unicorn.

Rome is a place almost worn out by being looked at, a city collapsing under the weight of reference.

The overintellectualization of surrealism can be a bromide. A dream interpreted is a deflated dream.

Perhaps living souls had greater phantom powers than the dead.