今年書展無甚收穫。只湊熱鬧買了韓寒的獨唱團，和在kubrick買的Susan Sontag Death Kit.
Archive for the 'Books' Category
Written by Richard Yates. It’s a story set in 1950s about an US middle-class couple, April and Frank, who was bored with their suburban lives and decided to move to Paris. It ended up in betrayal and tragedy.
The story lingers in my mind for a very long time after I finished reading the book. I keep thinking how much it resonates my life, or even lives of people around me. We are bored by our surrounding and our neighbours and our jobs, we want to make some change but have no courage, and we don’t know how to love. We are never getting anywhere.
A very good read.
I bought this at HK$1 at a book fair today.
I am glad that I haven’t become an author.
Bought a couple of books from Alain de Botton and Susan Sontag at Book Fair. It was purely impulsive buying. I rarely read books these days ( how come I sound very proud of this?) and I ain’t sure if I’ll find time to read them. But at least it’s a first step - having them on my bookshelves.
The Chinese name of this book is 擁有太多愛情的男人. It’s a story about a middle-aged man (50s) whose health is deteriorating and has no retirement fund since he does not have a regular job. He has two girlfriends, and is struggling on whether he should choose one of them to spend the rest of his life with. In the end he realises that picking either one of the women would not help solve his financial and physical problems, but would instead break the precarious balance in life he’s enjoying at the moment.
Genazino’s writing is very sharp and sometimes quite mean. But then it suits the mood of the novel and of the characters - when everyone is in their middle-age, there’s really no need to pretend that life is sweet and tomorrow will be a better day. The feeling of fatique roams in the book - both physical and mental. The problems don’t go away, they stay there and they get worse when time goes by. No one is trying whole-heartedly to improve their situation, especially our protagonist. Life’s fading and everybody is struggling pathetically.
其實不指是寫blog，看書，聽歌，看電影等活動都完全停頓了… 生活除了工作還是工作。幸好這些刻苦的日子终於過去了!現在我又有心情享受人生啦！
書：
沒有人猜到我在書展買了什麼書。答案是「納蘭性德詞」和「李清照詞」。以前一直想買，終於在書展中遇上。什麼時候看？哈哈．．．
歌：
Carla Bruni: Comme si de rien n’était (I like it more than the last album No Promises. Her singing was much more natural and attractive this time.)
Vitas: The myth of the shaking soul voice (Russian singer, very beautiful voice, the songs were so-so)
Amethystium: Isabliss (ok, not particularly special)
影：
在看動漫和The West Wing，總之是些輕鬆的東西。
本書嘗試把一連串地誌幻想小說以地理環境作分類，如月亮，海底，沙漠等，透視古今文人那無窮的想像力。
全書資料豐富，但因撮要太多，難免有點左抄右抄之感。
A 12-year-old boy became an orphan after his father killed the whole family with a ship wreck because of his bad debts. The boy, Arne, was taken in by his father’s best friend. Being an intelligent and introvert child, he tried to overcome his grief and fit into the new family, including doing everything to get himself accepted by the new siblings. His effort was not much appreciated and turned into a disaster in the end…
The story was simple and the writing was very plain. The whole tragedy was told very gently and it lured the reader to read straightly to the end, and afterwards, to re-read the whole or parts of it. It also makes one think about how difficult it is to fit in to new environment, or new social circle in life.
Poulet aux prunes (Chicken with Plums in english) is a graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi about the last eight days of the life of Nasser Ali Khan in November 1958. Nasser Ali was a musician whose beloved musical instrument tar was destroyed by his wife. Feeling very depressed, he chose to lie down and end his life. During the last days, he thought a lot about his family and friends, and his unforgettable love.
The whole book was realistic and sarcastic, funny and sad at times. An easy and good read.
「我是愛她們，非常愛，而且非常珍惜，正如妳所說的。不過我知道──這樣是不夠的。我有家庭，有工作。我對兩方面都沒有不滿，到目前為止，我想兩方面都很順利。我想甚至可以說我很幸福。不過，只是這樣還不夠。我知道。自從一年前遇到妳之後，我變得非常清楚。最大的問題是我欠缺了什麼。我這樣一個人，我的人生，空空的缺少了什麼，失去了什麼，而那個部份一直飢餓著，乾渴著。那個部份不是妻子，也不是孩子能夠填滿的。這個世界上，只有你一個人能夠做到這個。跟妳在一起，我才感覺到那個部份滿足了。而且滿足之後，我才第一次發現，過去的漫長歲月，自己是多麼飢餓、多麼乾渴。我再也沒辦法回到那樣的世界去了。」
得不到的，就是最好的。
只是，真得到了一個莫名其妙、不肯坦白的女人，又會幸福嗎?
為什麼女主角自動消失後，男主角不去想方法找她? 又為什麼不離開妻女，用餘生堅守女主角回來?
村上春樹不只精於描述都市人的孤寂，還非常善於刻劃男人於感情困局中優柔寡斷不敢行動的懦弱。
既然沒有拋棄一切追求快樂的勇氣，那一生要活在空空的世界也是活該。
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