Biblio File

Is 2015 Still 1984?

In honor of George Orwell's birthday, we're thinking about one of his seminal works, 1984, and all the other prescient authors who told stories that still seem painfully topical.

We asked our NYPL librarians to name some of these all-too-relevant titles and explain why they’re still important for readers to consider today.

Race, Gender, and Identity

Handmaid's Tale

Given the recharged battles over the question of whether women’s bodies are theirs or the group property of the state, as well as renewed fights against separation of church and state, I’ll add 1985’s The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. Taking place in a Christian totalitarian world where there's a social class of forced surrogates, it's a chronicle of slowly developing personal strength, seeing behind the curtain, and revolution. —Jill Rothstein, Andrew Heiskell

I’m gonna go with The Sneetches, because clearly, some in our society still insist on ostracizing and mistreating people who are “different,” however one might define that word.  Dr. Seuss, as always, teaches a wonderful lesson about tolerance and diversity that so many still need to learn. —Ronni Krasnow, Morningside Heights

Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man is an especially relevant novel today because of the discussion of second class status for many minorities (particularly applicable with the trend of legislation in the D.R. (proposed) and Canada), racial division, protest, and the fight for civil rights and equality. —Katrina Ortega, Hamilton Grange

I just read Ursula Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness for the first time a few months ago; though originally published in 1969, its discussions of gender, identity, and xenophobia are (still) so relevant today. A thought provoking must read. —Amie Wright, MyLibraryNYC

I just finished reading Natchez Burning by Greg Iles. It's the first in a trilogy set in contemporary Mississippi across the river from Louisiana. A series of unsolved racially motivated murders committed during 1964-1968 have surfaced. The killers are still free, still prejudiced, and still killing. Sadly, in the wake of the Charleston shootings, it seems all too relevant. Recently published, The Bone Tree is the second in the trilogy. —Lois Moore, Mid-Manhattan

Sexuality and Growing Up

Margaret

Judy Blume’s Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret  and Forever, remain major sources for young girls (and boys) to learn about the woes of puberty and the “oh!”s of your first time. I've yet to stumble across another youth book, let alone a parent, who talks openly about sex to youth the way Blume writes about Ralph. While the world today continues to dodge sex education in schools or avoids “the talk” with their kids, Blume’s books remain relevant to help keep our youth from becoming as tragic as those clueless kids in Spring Awakening. —Anna Taylor, Children’s Programming

Even though some of the pop culture references in the Are You There God, It's Me Margaret? 
may be dated, the overall sentiment is still applicable. What tween girl didn't feel that sense of awkwardness in their bodies as puberty kicked in, feeling like you were alone in that experience? —Christel Ellis, George Bruce

Go Ask Alice by Anonymous. While it is dated, the subject matter and feelings that lead to addiction as well as the addiction experience are still relevant. —Dawn Zimmerer, Wakefield

Walter Dean Myers’ Monster is still a relevant way for teens and young adults to read about being in the wrong place at the wrong time, mixing with the wrong crowd, and the possibility of being incarcerated as a teen. It feels especially applicable today, as society copes with the idea of an individual hurting strangers for widely incomprehensible reasons, especially when those reasons are or seem racially charged. It also offers a nice change in medium from prose, and can be a good suggestion for reluctant readers. —Katrina Ortega, Hamilton Grange

Poverty and Income Inequality

Outsiders

How about Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal? Or, to give it its full title, A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People From Being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick. I fear today’s readers will find this satire from 1729 only all too relevant in a society where burgeoning income inequality leaves those on the bottom rungs sinking ever deeper into the lower depths. —Kathie Coblentz, Rare Materials

The Outsiders. Teens feeling like they didn’t belong because they were poorer... had little to no parental involvement… being reared by people other than their parents and being involved in gangs. It would be a fight that led to the turmoil all the teens are entrenched in. Still rings true today with youth who get involved in gangs now and the results than come from those decisions. —Christel Ellis, George Bruce

War and Conflict

Miami

In college I read Norman Mailer’s non-fiction novel, Miami and the Siege of Chicago, about the violence surrounding the 1968 Democratic Convention. The Vietnam War was a conflagration gone wrong, anti-war activists in and out of the Democratic Party were beating down President Johnson’s door, MLK had just been assassinated earlier in the year, and there were mass protests devolving into riots. Flip a few names around and it could be 2015 with Hillary Clinton facing challenges within her own party for the nomination, mass protests, riots over police tacticsand, of course, a never-ending war on terrorism. —Joshua Soule, Spuyten Duyvil

Written as a response to 1950’s McCarthy Era politics and Nazi Fascisim, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 portrayed a world and society of full of fear, book burning, and the discouragement of new ideas. It’s not hard to picture that happening today with the current climate of religious right-wing extremism and anti-intellectualism. —Anne Rouyer, Mulberry Street

Technology and the Environment

Lorax

I’d go with M.T. Anderson’s Feed and Dr. Suess’s The Lorax. Both deal in the harm with technology and corporate greed in different ways. In The Lorax, technology, along with corporate greed harm the environment, and in Feed, they harm our mind and the ability to think for ourselves. —Sandra Farag, Mid-Manhattan

I’ll second The Lorax. Originally published in 1971, it tells the story of corporate greed and its effects on our environment. As we experience global warming, deforestation, and the disappearance of species at an ever-increasing rate, the book is especially relevant today. —Maura Muller, Volunteers Program

I’d like to second Feed. In one part of the book, the author describes how advertising companies and big business take over the Internet and how the characters shopped or made purchases. The chip in their brains learns what they like and what brands they shop for, and it starts to personalize to their tastes and their online presence. When I read that I thought “how creepy, how Big Brother,” but now look at us. We may not have chips in our head yet, but almost all the tech in that book is coming or has come to fruition. —Anne Rouyer, Mulberry Street

I’d like to third (fourth, fifth?) Feed, specifically the idea of material objects at our fingertips and the bombardment of different advertisements as they try to analyze our “profiles.” Also on Facebook, the actual language of “feed” and the idea of the detached millennial is very similar to the technology and its effects as described in this dystopian piece. —Alessandra Affinito, Chatham Square

I’d also like to reference Stainslaw Lem’s The Cyberiad, a collection of sci-fi short stories reminiscent of folklore. These tales describe the trials and tribulations of two engineers competing to make varying levels of robotic perfection. These robots embody tasks and ideas that we once only thought were possible for humans (poetry, omniscience), and I find the similarity to current robotics endeavors eerily relevant despite the fact that it was published in 1965.—Alessandra Affinito, Chatham Square

Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. What books do you find all too relevant? Leave a comment and let us know.