I have loved Orwell since reading Animal Farm and 1984 as a teenager.  I've also read a couple of biographies, and other random books he wrote like Keep the Apidistra Flying and Burmese Days.  Two books always were mentioned in things I read or listened to that it took me a while to getting around to read.  Finally it was Chomsky saying Homage to Catalonia was one of his favourite books that made me want to read it.

I think it was about 2004 and I was working at the University of Queensland.  To find the book I went to the multi story Library and went to a random floor which I remembered having books on it (as opposed to some of the floors which just had study spaces etc).  It was exam time, the place was packed, and all the computers one could use to look up books were hotly contested.  I turned to my friend Mark who had come with me and said "I don't think I'm going to get on one of those computers anytime soon".  He nodded and asked what I was looking for, to which I replied Homage to Catalonia.  I then turned my head, and there it was, exactly at the height and place I was looking.  There are hundreds of thousands of books in the library, and I just happen to look straight at the very one I wanted.

The book details the Spanish Civil War and Orwell's part in the International Brigade that tried to help fight against faschisms spread in Europe.  I loved it and it taught me much about the narcissism of small differences, the power that can be given away by bickering amongst supposed allies, and about the simple humanity of war.  

When Marten and I arrived in Barcelona, a lot of this came back to me.  Standing here, where no doubt Orwell did, perhaps with a rifle and comrages at his side, brought back thoughts and memories.  I would love to go back one day and read the book in the city, and walk to the places he describes.

And the other book, Down and Out in Paris and London, I'll get to it one day.