I definitely recommend reading 1984 . It ' s the only novel I read twice , once as a 12 th grader my English teacher introduced the class to Animal Farm and I liked it , so I picked up another Orwell , and the second time as a college student . I read it as science fiction the first time , and as a political dystopian novel the second . Come to think of it , it was during this time when I fully woke up , realizing that I have to make an escape somehow sometime . If I remember correctly , there ' s a long commentary or afterword about Newspeak at the end of the book . I suggest reading that before the main text , as it helps greatly in understanding the philosophy behind the language use as employed in the book .